MINERSVILLE — Kelsey Conroy and the rest of the Mahanoy Area girls’ basketball team weren’t content with simply making the District 11 playoffs for the first time in seven years.
They wanted to advance.
Saturday afternoon they did, escaping with a 30-29 victory over Tri-Valley in the Class A quarterfinals at Minersville’s Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium after suffering two losses to the Dawgs during the regular season.
The fifth-seeded Golden Bears (13-10) play divisional foe and backyard rival No. 1 Shenandoah Valley in Wednesday’s semifinals at 6 p.m. at Blue Mountain High School.
“When we were on the bus down here, we couldn’t actually believe it. Like, we’re in the playoffs,” Conroy said. “... We said in the locker room, third time’s the charm.”
Conroy stood tall on Tri-Valley’s final chance with 5 seconds remaining Saturday. Mahanoy held its one-point lead with a shot at the final possession, but
was pressured into turning the ball over with 13.5 seconds left on the clock.
The Dawgs (14-9) got a shot off inside the paint, but it didn’t get around Conroy’s outstretched hands. A held-ball was eventually called with 1.2 on the clock, but Tri-Valley’s shot at the buzzer missed wide right.
“We stuck with them and I saw her coming in from behind,” Conroy said of her block. Conroy is the granddaughter of former Shenandoah Valley baseball coach Babe Conroy and the niece of current Shenandoah Valley girls’ basketball coach Chris Conroy.
“I just kind of stepped in there, hoping somebody would take my girl, and I stood straight up and it worked out for the best.”
The Bears started the game hot, taking a 12-3 lead after the first quarter. Laura Bisco scored the game’s first five points, finishing with seven in the quarter and 10 in the game. Megan Bisco added three of her team-high 11 points in the opening frame, while Conroy recycled one of her 12 rebounds for Mahanoy Area’s other basket in the first.
The second quarter, however, was much different. Tri-Valley held Mahanoy scoreless, but could only muster seven points for itself. Reagan Newswanger nailed a 3-pointer and put in a layup off a steal, but the Golden Bears still led 12-10 at halftime.
“You gotta give their defense credit,” Mahanoy Area coach Tom Scheeler said. “They’re quick, they got out in passing lanes, they pressured our guards real well and we just started rushing things a little bit. We were getting good shots, we were just a little quick with the release — things like that.
“Our defense all game was fabulous,” Scheeler added. “I mean ... 29 points ... I can’t say enough. We didn’t score that second quarter and we’re still winning by two. We preached defense from day one and the girls just played great tonight.”
The Golden Bears finished second in the Schuylkill League to Shenandoah Valley in points allowed per game (31.7). Saturday the Bears held Tri-Valley point guard Paige Doyle, who averages 10.9 points per game, to just one point.
Tri-Valley didn’t take its first lead until of the contest until the third quarter, after Madison Scheib hit a free throw for the Dawgs and Newswanger buried a shot for a 13-12 lead.
But it didn’t last. Megan Bisco canned a 3-pointer seconds later to start an eight-point run that featured buckets by Megan Babinsky and Kiera Van Horn that put Mahanoy back ahead 20-13.
Kori Deibert completed a three-point play for Tri-Valley to get back within four points, but Megan Bisco drew a foul with 2 seconds left on the third-quarter clock, hitting 1-of-2 free throws to hand the Bears a 21-16 lead going into the final eight minutes.
The fourth quarter belonged to Newswanger, who scored 10 of her game-high 20 points during the frame. The junior guard drew four trips to the line — making 5-of-7 shots — and had three steals in the fourth alone, but Mahanoy Area’s defense did too much damage elsewhere.
“We got a couple of steals with her going to the basket. She made some big shots,” Tri-Valley coach Clark Romberger said of Newswanger. “Mahanoy did a good job on our point guard, Paige, keeping her out of the lane, which drives our offense a lot. So they kind of took us out of what we wanted to do.”
Newswanger’s 3 with a minute left cut Mahanoy Area’s lead to 29-27. Jayda Byrne hit a free-throw for the Golden Bears and Tri-Valley’s Kelly Romberger put back a rebound to set the stage for the final seconds and Conroy’s block.
Mahanoy Area’s last win in the District 11 playoffs came over Lehigh Valley Christian 65-36 in the 2008 Class A quarterfinals. The Bears lost to Nativity 45-20 in the semifinals.
They hope to turn that trend around Wednesday when they face off with Shenandoah Valley. The Blue Devils beat the Golden Bears both times during the regular season, but, as Mahanoy Area displayed Saturday, that holds little value in the playoffs.
“We’re not going in just to be pushed around or anything else,” Scheeler said. “We’re going in to try to win games and be competitive. I didn’t want us to be satisfied with making the playoffs. We wanted to win games.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class A quarterfinals
At Minersville
MAHANOY AREA (30) — M. Babinsky 2 0-0 4, L. Bisco 4 1-2 10, Conroy 1 0-0 2, Van Horn 1 0-0 2, Byrne 0 1-2 1, Davidson 0 0-0 0, M. Bisco 3 4-6 11. Totals 11 6-10 30.
TRI-VALLEY (29) — Newswanger 6 5-9 20, Doyle 0 1-2 1, Header 1 0-0 2, Dietrich 0 0-0 0, Scheib 0 1-4 1, Romberger 1 0-0 2, Deibert 1 1-1 3, B. Pacenta 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 8-16 29.
MA (13-10) 12 0 9 9 — 30 TV (14-9) 3 7 6 13 — 29
3-point FGs: L. Bisco, M. Bisco, Newswanger 3