COAL TOWNSHIP - Lourdes Regional girls basketball coach Mike Klembara said people kept telling him that all his team had to do to beat Tri-Valley was "stop two girls."
Maybe, but when those two girls are playing very well, and getting some help too, beating the Bulldogs any time is going to be a tough chore.
Six-foot-three-inch Tara Nahodil scored 23 points, hitting 9 of 12 shots from the floor, and added eight rebounds and two blocked shots, and point guard Juli Weber scored 18 points, hitting 7 of 10 shots, and controlled things on the floor to lead Tri-Valley to a 58-50 win over Lourdes in a PIAA Class A second round state playoff game Wednesday at Shamokin Area High School.
Oh yeah, and there was that help, too. Kylie Spickler came off the bench to score 10 points, all in the first half, for the Bulldogs. That's a combined total of 51 of the Bulldogs' 58 points, by two sophomores and a freshman.
Tri-Valley (23-4) beat Lourdes (19-8) for the third time this season for the fifth straight time.
"They (Nahodil and Weber) played very well, but the thing that makes them very good is that the things they do, they do very well, and you can tell they're well coached," Klembara said. "And then that number 15 (Spickler) came in and hit some big shots on the baseline."
Nahodil got off to a good start, scoring 10 points in the first quarter as Tri-Valley took a 17-11 lead. She said that was important.
"We knew it definitely was going to be a good game," she said. "Lourdes is a lot better now than the first two times we played them. We talked about getting off to a good start."
The Red Raiders, for their part, played well. They actually had a 9-8 lead midway through the first quarter before Tri-Valley went on a 6-0 spurt, and from that point on, Lourdes was chasing. The Raiders got real close a couple of times, cutting the lead to 24-22 just before halftime, and they still only trailed 47-40 with about three-and-a-half minutes to play but couldn't come up with a big defensive stop near the end.
"They're significantly improved," said Tri-Valley coach Careen Caulfield. "They're playing with a lot of confidence and they're a strong program. One of the things that hurt us was Taylor Troutman getting in foul trouble early. When she came out, they made a good adjustment and really cut into the lead. In the second half, Taylor was on the floor more. But that team wasn't going to back down and we knew it."
Similarly, Lourdes' best defender, Devan Dyszel, was in foul trouble most of the game. She only scored three points and was probably only on the floor no more than 10 or 12 minutes.
"Devan is so active defensively that we miss her on that end when she's out of the game," Klembara said. "She anticipates so well on defense. We had Ali Singh and Molly Loftus come in and they both played well, but we miss Devan's defense."
Christina Perles scored 14 points with eight rebounds for Lourdes, and Nikki Komara came on strong in the second half and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Tri-Valley moves on to play Delaware County Christian, a 36-25 winner over Reading Central Catholic, in the next round.
Klembara said the future is bright for Lourdes, and reflected on his three seniors.
"They were part of three district championships, and we hadn't won a first round state game in some time, and that was important," he said.
TRI-VALLEY (58) - Weber 7 4-8 18, Newswanger 0 1-2 1, Troutman 1 2-3 4, C. Stutzman 1 0-2 2, Nahodil 9 5-7 23, Spickler 4 2-2 10, Smeltz 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 14-24 58.
LOURDES (50) - Dyszel 1 0-0 3, Komara 3 3-4 10, Getchey 4 1-1 9, Perles 5 4-5 14, Kenney 4 0-1 8, Singh 1 2-2 4, Loftus 0 0-0 0, Reybuck 1 0-0 2, O'Donnell 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-13 50.
Tri-Valley (23-4) 17 11 17 13 - 58
Lourdes (19-8) 11 13 12 14 - 50
3-point FGs: Tri-Valley - None; Lourdes (2) - Dyszel, Komara.