MILTON - All season, Shamokin needed grit and determination to compete.
The Indians started the season 5-5, but put together a string of 14 straight wins, including nailbiters and blowouts.
For their collective efforts, the Indians were rewarded with their first District 4 Class AAA title in five years after beating Danville by a 34-31 margin Friday night at Milton High School.
The Indians will play with loser of the District 2 title game being played today between Nanticoke and Honesdale.
"I'm proud of these girls for everything they've gone through," Shamokin head coach Bill Callahan said, holding the title plaque tightly. "I can't say enough about them and the assistant coaches we have.
"It's been a hard road and I'm glad I could take this journey with them.
"These girls did a nice job tonight, and I appreciate that. All year it's been a team effort."
The team effort was led, as it has been for much of the year, by Steph Pancher with 14 points and 14 rebounds, but key contributions from Keena Zalar (five points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists), Kelsey Yacko (four points, three rebounds and five assists) and Olivia Bonshock (eight points and nine assists) sealed the Indians' win.
"This feels amazing," Zalar said. "I can't describe it. It's my first district gold medal.
"We improved a lot since the beginning of the year. We worked hard at practice, together as a team. Part of us winning is working like that as a team. We all have our job and pitch in."
This was Shamokin's third win this season over Danville, after the No. 1 seed Indians were ousted by the Ironmen in the first game of the district playoffs last year.
The Indians and Ironmen played two games this season decided by a total of five points.
Friday night, they traded the lead through the first quarter, with Zalar being the catalyst for everything the Indians did well.
The ball was spread around evenly with four of the Indians' starters scoring.
And then the air went out of the ball. Neither team scored over a stretch of six minutes covering the end of the first quarter and deep into the second, and Shamokin went in at the half up 14-8.
It took Danville another two minutes of the third quarter to score again, but by that time the Indians had built a 10-point lead after quick buckets by Zalar and Pancher.
Four straight possessions with points at the end of the third quarter had the Indians sitting pretty with a 29-18 lead.
The Indians would need every inch of that advantage.
The things that Shamokin had trouble with - shooting (25 percent for the game) and turnovers (17 given away) - stood out in the final quarter, but so did the things the Indians did well - rebounding (Shamokin finished with a 38-19 advantage) and playing with resilience (up by just one with 30 seconds to go, Pancher put back a rebound for a score).
Danville's Rachel Herman tried her best to make it interesting, scoring five of her team-high 12 in the last 1 minute, 33 seconds, as the Ironmen tried to win consecutive games after trailing by at least eight points.
"Both teams are hard working. You have to give Steve (Danville head coach Steve Moser), his staff and his kids credit," Callahan said. "Neither of us shot real well tonight, but we made enough to survive at the end. Their two games in the playoffs they had really strong fourth quarters and we knew that was coming.
"I thought we did a nice job hustling. We just couldn't shoot in the first half."
This Shamokin team, which was written off by casual observers after losing four starters to graduation, rallied around the doubt from the outside.
"We overcame everything and it feels great to win because no one thought we would be here in the first place," said Jess Britton, a senior who missed most of the last two seasons with injuries but returned to be the team's first player off the bench this year.
"It shows that hard work paid off."
The last time the Indians were in the state playoffs was two years ago when a 36-22 loss to Allentown Central Catholic ended their season.
Game Summary
SHAMOKIN (34) - S. Pancher 5 4-7 14, Schiccatano 1 0-1 3, Britton 0 0-0 0, C. Pancher 0 0-0 0, Bonshock 4 0-0 8, Yacko 2 0-1 4, Zalar 2 0-0 5. Totals 14 4-9 34.
DANVILLE (31) - Herman 5 2-4 12, James 2 2-2 6, Moser 2 0-0 5, Beaver 0 0-0 0, Bross 3 0-4 6, Romeo 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 2-10 31.
Shamokin 12 2 15 5 - 34
Danville 8 0 10 13 - 31
3-point FGs: Zalar, Moser.