Nanticoke Area’s Claire Aufiero (20) goes up for a shot while Lake-Lehman’s Ella Wilson defends during Tuesday night’s District 2 Class 4A third-place game.
Baylee Guedes | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman’s Lia Keefe (15) goes up for a shot while being defended by Nanticoke Area’s Shaylee Heffron (22) and Brooklyn Biehl defend during Tuesday night’s District 2 Class 4A semifinal game.
Baylee Guedes | For Times Leader
Nanticoke Area’s Riley Baird drives to the basket as Lake-Lehman’s Ella Wilson defends during Tuesday night’s District 2 Class 4A third-place game.
Baylee Guedes | For Times Leader
LEHMAN TWP. — The third meeting on Tuesday resembled the second meeting three weeks earlier.
That was good for Lake-Lehman and bad for Nanticoke Area.
Lehman shut down Nanticoke Area’s 3-point shooting and dominated inside with its size just like last time as the Black Knights posted a 55-33 win in the District 2 Class 4A girls basketball third-place game.
Ella Wilson led the scoring with 15 followed by Claire Dougherty with 14 and eight rebounds. Brenna Hunt had 11 and Hailey Kline scored eight and had a game-high 10 boards. Lia Keefe’s defense at the top of the zone constantly disrupted Nanticoke Area’s perimeter shooting.
“Keefe just adds to that,” Nanticoke Area coach Ed Grant said. “She’s long, she’s aggressive, she’s relentless. And Dougherty is good inside. Wilson can hit some shots and she’ll be a problem for a while.”
Lehman (20-4) secured a spot in the PIAA Class 4A state playoffs with the victory. The Black Knights will play the District 3 runner-up — either Delone Catholic (25-1) or Berks Catholic (21-5) — in the first round next week. The District 3 title game is Saturday afternoon.
“It’s big,” Lehman coach Charlie Lavan said. “Last year, they only took one team (because of the pandemic). We’re in a tough bracket. You’d like to be at the arena and like to come home with a district title, but you have to know who you’re in there with.”
Nanticoke Area ended its season at 13-12. The Trojanettes, though, were the only team to defeat eventual Division 2 champion Lehman in during the Wyoming Valley Conference regular season. They did so with an array of 3-pointers. Riley Baird had eight of the 14 treys and finished with 42 points in the 70-58 win on Jan. 18.
Lehman shut down Nanticoke Area’s perimeter shooting three weeks ago in a 63-39 win and did so again Tuesday. The Trojanettes were 1-of-14 on 3-pointers through the first three quarters. They hit four in the fourth, but they entered that period down 41-18.
“We had a huge advantage on the boards,” Lavan said. “Shot the ball well early in the first quarter. Second quarter, not so much. Third quarter, we wore them down. When they went man, we wore them down.”
Three starters played in their final game for Nanticoke Area. Baird, a 1,000-point scorer, finished with a game-high 13 points. Brooklyn Biehl had seven points and seven rebounds, while Kylie Albert had four rebounds.
District 2 Class 4A third-place game
Lake-Lehman 55, Nanticoke Area 33
NANTICOKE AREA (33) — Hailey Husted 0 0-0 0, Grace Reed 0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Majiros 0 3-4 3, Brooklyn Biehl 3 0-0 7, Claire Aufiero 4 3-7 13, Shaylee Heffron 0 0-0 0, Riley Baird 3 2-2 10, Kylie Albert 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 8-13 33.
LAKE-LEHMAN (55) — Hailey Kline 4 0-2 8, Brenna Hunt 4 3-4 11, Claire Dougherty 6 2-2 14, Ella Wilson 6 0-0 15, Lia Keefe 2 1-2 5, Molly Jenkins 1 0-0 2, Melanie Selner 0 0-0 0, Krista Scoblick 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-10 55.
Nanticoke Area`6`5`7`15 — 33
Lake-Lehman`20`6`15`14 — 55
Three-point goals — NAN 5 (Aufiero 2, Baird 2, Biehl); LL 3 (Wilson 3)
