ORWIGSBURG - During Saturday's District 11 Class A girls' basketball quarterfinal, Williams Valley head coach Christina Thompson kept reminding her team about teamwork.
"I know what they're capable of if they play together," she said after Williams Valley's 55-39 victory over Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg at Blue Mountain High School. "And that's key, working together and getting the best shot opportunity for each other. It showed tonight. Nobody was selfish with the ball. We had great passes.
"They were pumped up, and that's what it takes to play Schuylkill County basketball."
Behind 29 points from guards Cassidy Pinchorski and Rayanne Hawk, Williams Valley (14-9) earned the school's first girls' basketball victory in a District 11 playoff game in 14 years, a season when, Thompson noted, she herself was a freshman.
"It means the world to us because we worked all season to, first, beat last year," Pinchorski, a senior who finished with 16 points, said. "Last year, we lost our first district game, so we wanted to get farther than we did last year. And
it's been a long time, so it feels amazing."
The victory advances Williams Valley to Wednesday's semifinals against No. 1 Marian, a 61-21 winner over Lehigh Valley Christian, at 7:30 p.m. at Martz Hall.
The fifth seed entering Saturday's matchup against fourth-seeded Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg (15-7), Williams Valley trailed 5-0 before scoring the next 13 points and led the rest of the first half. Hannah Nestor tallied back-to-back 3-pointers during the surge, and Pinchorski followed with one of her own.
From there, Notre Dame-ES rallied within three points at halftime, a margin which occurred when Notre Dame's Krista Kissell banged a midcourt shot off the basket's back iron and deflected straight down for an improbable 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"I went in and I told the girls at halftime, 'There's really nothing you can do about that,' " Thompson said. "But, from playing basketball, I feel that third quarters are a deciding factor in a lot of games. We knew we had to come out, stop them defensively and really keep pushing the ball."
The lead dropped to one point, 29-28, on Kendall Farley's offensive rebound and putback with 5:55 left in the third period, but again Williams Valley found its offense and tallied the next nine points to take a 38-28 edge. Pinchorski scored five points and Hawk added a bucket in the Vikings' surge.
Notre Dame answered with a three-point play from Elizabeth Pope, but Williams Valley closed the period with its own traditional three-point play. Haley Nestor took a pass from Maura Kreiser, scored the layup and was fouled by Pope. Nestor's foul shot gave Williams Valley a 43-31 lead.
After a steal and basket off the dribble for two points from Hawk to open the fourth period, Williams Valley took the pace away from the Spartans, working the ball until layups were available.
"We knew the clock was on our side, and we took our time and worked for a good shot," Nestor said.
The deliberate tempo took any remaining fight out of the taller Spartans.
"They kind of ran out of gas," Notre Dame-ES head coach Frank Bertola said of his team. "They never really got started from the beginning.
"Typically, we're an up-tempo team and like to run the court, but we couldn't get our rebounds, couldn't get our outlet passes to work."
Notre Dame did gain 14 points each from Kissell and Angelica Bertola, but Williams Valley, helped by Haley Nestor's eight rebounds, had more balance.
"Four years ago, we won one game," Thompson said. "And to be where we are now, it's really a great tribute to them and their parents for sticking with the program and working so hard to get to this point."
Boys' basketball Hanover 69 Upper Dauphin 35
HANOVER - Matthew Miller scored 11 points and Joe Trently added seven points and 11 rebounds, but Upper Dauphin fell to Hanover in a District 3 Class AA quarterfinal game.
The Trojans allowed 25 points in the third quarter and trailed 55-27 heading into the fourth.