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Mt. View Girls' Basketball Team Makes History With Appearance In State Championship Game

By Tom Robinson

Mountain View became the first Susquehanna County girls' basketball team to reach a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship game.

Montrose had gotten as close as the semifinals twice, including last season when Mountain View was also one step away. Elk Lake got as far as the semifinals once and Susquehanna was in the quarterfinals when the tournament was halted because of COVID in 2020.

"The last two years have been incredible," Mountain View coach Bill Simons said after a loss in the title game. "You could see it in the support they have at our elementary school – they had a parade there the other day – and in the infectious nature the team has created in our community.

"…They'll understand it as the time passes a little bit more, what they've accomplished over the past two years. We tried to reiterate to them what they've done and what it has meant to everybody. Once the moment passes I think they'll realize how big this was and what they've done for our community."

The last county basketball team to get to the state final was the Elk Lake boys in 1982.

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

HERSHEY – Mountain View battled defensively, but in turn could not solve the Bishop Guilfoyle defense in Friday's state Class A title game.

The Lady Marauders from Altoona defeated the Lady Eagles, 35-17, in what was the lowest-scoring state final in PIAA girls' basketball history both in terms of one team and the two teams combined.

Bishop Guilfoyle forced 23 turnovers, held Mountain View without a 3-pointer and limited the Lady Eagles to 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) shooting overall.

Mountain View managed just five points in the second quarter and four in each of the other three quarters.

"We just couldn't get into a rhythm early on offensively," Simons said. "We couldn't get into our sets and their pressure was tough. But defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job.

"To hold that team to 35 points, I thought that was pretty good."

Mountain View opened the game with a defensive stop and a rebound by Addison Kilmer.

On the other end of the floor, Kilmer assisted Riley Turner's basket 45 seconds in for Mountain View's only lead at 2-0.

The Lady Eagles managed just two more points over the next 11:10.

Bishop Guilfoyle took a 16-4 lead after one quarter and expanded it to 21-4.

Mountain View got to within 14 points three times in the second and third quarters, but no closer.

With the score at 25-11 with 3:59 left in the third quarter, Kilmer left the game after hitting her head on the floor. She was not cleared to return until 5:58 remained and Bishop Guilfoyle leading 35-13.

Kilmer led Mountain View with eight points, nine defensive rebounds and four blocked shots.

Turner went 3-for-4 while adding six points and four rebounds. Lily Sedlak had three points, five rebounds and two assists. Aubrey Sanders added two assists and two steals.

Morgan Ruggery led Bishop Guilfoyle with eight points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

After Kilmer's opening basket, Bishop Guilfoyle's full-court pressure created three straight steals, which produced eight points for an 8-2 lead just 3:20 into the game.

The Lady Eagles, who won Lackawanna League Division 4 and District 2-11 Class A Subregional titles, finished 24-5.

Mountain View was one of three Lackawanna League teams to make the state final, a first for the league and just the second time District 2 had three finalists (1994 was the other time).

All three teams lost.

Aliquippa defeated Holy Cross, 74-52, in Class 2A boys in Friday's second game.

Sophomore guard Josh Pratt went 14-for-19 from the floor, scored 36 points and made five steals to lead Aliquippa. He had 20 points in the first half.

Blackhawk went 11-for-12 from the line in the last 2:11 Saturday to turn back a Scranton Prep comeback for a 56-44 victory in Class 4A girls.

Aubree Hupp was 11-for-12 at the line and made both her 3-pointers to finish with 21 points and nine rebounds. Alena Fusetti had 18 points, 10 defensive rebounds and four assists.

Jenna Hillebrand led Scranton Prep with 16 points.

Marion Center, the team that eliminated Montrose in the second round of the Class 2A girls' tournament, reached the final, but lost, 42-40, to Kennedy Christian.

Layke Fields went 14-for-21 while leading Kennedy Christian with 29 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots.

STATE SEMIFINAL GAME

BERWICK – Mountain View allowed just eight points over the final 19:40, breaking away from a tie game for a 46-23 rout of Greenwood in the March 19 state semifinal.

"It feels so great," Addison Kilmer said of qualifying to play in the final in Hershey. "We've definitely been on the grind since Day One. This was one of our goals and it feels so awesome."

The Lady Eagles went on a 24-3 run to turn a 15-15 game with 3:40 left in the second quarter into a 39-18 romp with six minutes left on Ryleigh Kilmer's 3-pointer to open the fourth-quarter scoring.

Mountain View scored 14 straight points – the last five of the first half and the first nine of the second.

Sanders came off the bench to score the five points at the start of the streak. Riley Turner, who hit a 3-pointer, and Claire Getz each had four points and Sedlak added one in the 14-0 run.

"When we went into the locker room (at halftime), we talked about what we did well," Sedlak said. "We decided that we did pretty well on rebounding and we just wanted to get into a better groove on offense."

Improved spacing helped make that happen, according to Sedlak.

At that same time, Mountain View's defense had stalled the Greenwood offense.

Greenwood, which had four turnovers and just three shots while Mountain View was scoring the first nine points of the third quarter, broke the streak with a free throw, but Addison Kilmer followed with a 3-pointer to make it 32-16 with 2:20 left in the third.

By the time Sophia Jezewski connected, Greenwood had gone 9:47 without a field goal, including 9:03 without a point.

"We weren't too concerned about their outside shots," said Addison Kilmer, who finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, seven blocked shots, three steals and two assists. "We watched a lot of film on them. We tried to stop them in the paint, which was a little rough at times, but ultimately, we got it done."

Lily Sedlak added nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. She had four rebounds on the offensive end, helping Mountain View to rebounding advantages of 12-5 on offense and 34-25 overall.

"I know what I can contribute, which is rebounding, so I just wanted to do the best I could," Sedlak said.

Ryleigh Kilmer had seven points and six rebounds while Turner had six points, five rebounds and three assists.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Logan Ayotte went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored as Elk Lake opened the baseball season with a 5-2, non-league victory over Western Wayne March 18.

Braydon McMicken, Noah Gesford and Dalton Sherman combined on a four-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

Gesford struck out six in four innings. McMicken worked two scoreless innings. Sherman tossed a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Susquehanna lost 1-0 to Wyoming Seminary in a pitchers' duel Thursday.

Theodore Kraus threw a two-hitter with 14 strikeouts and two walks for Sem.

Travis Rooney and Colton Stone combined on a four-hitter for Susquehanna.

Matthew Callender and Parker Overbaugh had the hits for the Sabers.

In softball, Elk Lake opened with a 10-0 win over Friends Select Sunday.

COLLEGE CORNER

Derrick DeMann from Montrose and Zachary Staria from Susquehanna are throwers on the Keystone College men's track and field team that is scheduled to open its season Friday at Misericordia University.

DeMann is also a wrestler for the Giants.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Lackawanna League newcomer Lackawanna Trail plays at defending champion Blue Ridge in boys' volleyball Thursday.

Forest City, last year's fourth-place team, is at Mountain View, which was third a year ago.

The league season opened Tuesday.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

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