LEBANON — In a 1,600-seat gym filled overwhelmingly by one team’s fans, you could have a heard a pin drop for 32 minutes.
Playing Lebanon Catholic, the District 3 champion, less than a mile and a half from the Beavers’ home floor, Lourdes had no problem silencing the crowd and coming away with a 45-29 win in the first round of the PIAA Class A girls playoffs Saturday.
The Red Raiders will now play Schuylkill League rival Williams Valley, a 67-43 winner over Philadelphia’s West Catholic, on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. The teams split during the regular season.
But with the way Lourdes played Saturday it would be tough to count them out of anything.
The Red Raiders got balanced scoring, solid rebounding and played a level of defense absent from their last loss to Mansfield in the District 4 semis.
“It hasn’t been balanced, but that’s the key — for us to get points from Caity (Funk) and Krissy (Komara) in spots,” Lourdes head coach Mike Klembara said. “If we get points from everyone, we’re in great shape.”
Lourdes’ Carmella Bickel and Bailey Trell were both in double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively, but the 20 combined points by Funk, Selina Albert and Komara was the difference in the game.
“I think we played really well and I’m proud of everyone,” Trell said. “All five of us contributing to the game is very important. We like playing together.”
Down by two early, Trell got the Raiders going with a 3-pointer, then a jumper by Komara and six-straight points by Bickel staked the Raiders to an early 12-4 lead.
But Lebanon Catholic, with three freshman starters, battled back within two at the close of the quarter.
Part of what worked so well for the Raiders was a strategy of crisp passes and clock management that kept each team to an average of 10 possessions per quarter for the last three frames.
Factor in Lourdes’ shooting more than 40 percent better from beyond the arc than the Beavers on the same number of attempts, having a 27-13 rebounding advantage and creating turnovers left and right and the game played out exactly how the Raiders drew it up.
“We have to be a very efficient team — no turnovers, take great shots and play great defense,” Klembara said.
Now the Raiders can add even more experience to a total of five state playoff games in the last four years.
“We think we can win the next one, but we’ll take them one at a time,” Klembara said. “We don’t have to play everybody at once. Starting Wednesday, there’s only eight teams left in the East. ”
Game Summary
PIAA Class A First Round
At Lebanon High School
LOURDES (45) — K. Komara 2 1-2 5, Trell 3 3-5 12, Krebs 0 0-0 0, Khanna 0 0-0 0, Bickel 5 2-2 13, Funk 3 0-0 7, Albert 3 1-2 8, M. Komara 0 0-0 0, Baskin 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-11 45.
LEBANON CATHOLIC (29) — Sholly 3 1-2 9, Callihan 1 0-0 2, Pierre 1 2-2 4, Witmer 4 0-4 8, Pastal 3 0-0 6, Mars 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 3-8 29.
Lrd. (19-7) 12 12 11 10 — 45 LC (19-8) 10 7 5 7 — 29
3-point FGs: Trell 3, Bickel, Funk, Albert, Sholly 2