Bailey Trell couldn’t have looked more relaxed.
She’d gone through the motion hundreds of times: Get the ball, square and shoot.
The Lourdes senior guard swished home the 3-pointer with six minutes to play in Wednesday’s PIAA Class A second-round game against Williams Valley at Martz Hall.
The bucket spurred a 16-point Lourdes run to end the game, handing the Red Raiders a 47-34 victory over their Schuylkill League Division II rivals and a berth in the state quarterfinals.
Lourdes (20-7) plays District 2 champion Old Forge in Saturday’s quarters at a time and location to be determined.
“When I hit that 3, I felt really good,” Trell said. “The look on everyone’s face, you could tell everyone was pumped up. It really was a game-changer. It got us back in the swing of things.”
Trell’s timing couldn’t have been better. After leading at halftime and through much of the third quarter, Lourdes’ lead was slipping.
Kate Whelski scored the final eight points of a 10-point run for Williams Valley, including back-to-back 3s, to give the Vikings (17-9) a 34-31 lead with 6:15 to play.
On the next possession, Raiders’ sophomore guard Carmella Bickel found Trell at the top of the key for her crucial trey.
Bickel scored nine of her game-high 22 points during the Raiders’ game-ending run that put the Vikings in their rear-view.
“Every time we got the momentum, they seemed to have an answer,” Williams Valley coach Brian Unger said. “Bickel seemed to have an answer, Trell seemed to have an answer.”
Even from the start of the game, Lourdes refused to fall too far behind. Williams Valley scored the game’s first seven points and employed an effective
3-2 zone that prevented Trell and Bickel from getting good looks at the basket.
Selena Albert, the Red Raiders’ 5-foot-8 freshman forward, was boxed out, as Williams Valley held a 6-2 rebounding edge and 4-1 turnover advantage after the game’s first four minutes.
“I think it was a matter of our freshman Selena Albert being overwhelmed with the atmosphere,” Lourdes coach Mike Klembara said. “She never played at (Martz Hall) before; none of them ever played at this place before.”
But once the Raiders got acclimated to the raucous environment, the game turned around.
Albert finished with nine rebounds and Lourdes started cashing in her boards for points.
Kendall Krebs put back a rebound for the Raiders’ first points at the 3:15 mark of the first quarter, Lourdes went on a 17-3 run to take a 17-10 lead with four minutes until halftime.
“We just had to look for each other, look to get good, crisp passes,” said Trell, who finished with 15 points, eight steals and a block. “All of us, we wanted this game more than them, I think, and that’s what really helped us out.”
A Krissy Komara baseline jumper at the buzzer gave the Raiders a 21-13 lead at intermission.
Williams Valley cut its deficit to two to open the third on two buckets by forward Jenna Daniel, who had a game-high 10 rebounds, and a drive by Hannah Nestor that stemmed from a Daniel steal.
Again, Lourdes had an answer.
Caitlin Funk recycled a rebound and Bickel hit back-to-back baskets to put the Raiders back ahead eight (27-19) with 4:35 to play in the quarter.
Whelski, who tallied a team-high 17 points, hit one of her four 3-pointers and Haley Nestor scored off an offensive rebound to bring the Vikings back within three (27-24).
But again, the Raiders were calm, setting up safe shots for Trell and Bickel to take a 31-24 lead.
“We were patient,” Klembara said. “We’re not going to beat teams by scoring 50, 60 points. If the game’s in the 40s ... I was happy at halftime because we had 20s and they were in the teens. And that’s the kind of game we want to play. We want to play defense because we’re not going to outscore people.”
Whelski looked primed to lead the Vikings to victory on Williams Valley’s final run, but Trell took over guarding the junior sharpshooter and the Vikings’ offense was silenced for the remainder of the game.
“I thought there in the fourth quarter when Katie hit that 3 and we took a 3-point lead, I thought that we could keep that momentum on our side,” Unger said. “They had an answer for everything.”
Now, the Red Raiders need to find an answer to Old Forge, which beat District 1 champion Phil-Mont Christian 49-34 in the second round Wednesday.
That doesn’t mean Lourdes can’t enjoy the win over its divisional rival for now, and relish the fact that it is among the final eight teams remaining in the state playoffs.
“I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think we’d make it this far,” Trell said. “But it feels great and I’m glad I’m with these girls.”
Game Summary
PIAA Class A Second Round
At Martz Hall
WILLIAMS VALLEY (34) — Hawk 3 1-2 7, Han. Nestor 0 2-2 2, Daniel 3 0-0 6, Hal. Nestor 1 0-3 2, Whelski 6 1-3 17, Schadle 0 0-0 0, Pinchorski 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 4-10 34.
LOURDES (47) — K. Komara 1 0-0 2, Trell 4 5-7 15, Bickel 9 3-6 22, Funk 3 0-0 6, Albert 0 0-1 0, Krebs 1 0-0 2, Khanna 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-14 47.
WV (17-9) 7 6 15 6 — 34 Lrd (20-7) 5 16 10 16 — 47
3-point FGs: Whelski 4, Trell 2, Bickel