Williams Valley's starter get ready for action to resume following a timeout in a District 11 Class AA girls' semifinals game against Lincoln Leadership. The Vikings defeated the Lions 65-15 (Photo by Eli Doyle).

ORWIGSBURG — It was all Williams Valley from start to finish.

Sage Smeltz, a senior, led all scorers with 28 points and surpassed 1,000 career points as Williams Valley rolled past Lincoln Leadership 65-15 in a District 11 Class AA girls’ basketball semifinal Tuesday at Blue Mountain High School.

“She’s a great role model for the younger girls,” Vikings head coach Shane Zellers said about Smeltz. “She’s getting pictures with the elementary girls; she does her community service and everything. She’s just a great girl and I’m very, very fortunate that I got to play a small part in her success.

“Playing three sports, and being the goalie, basketball player, and pitcher that she is,” Zellars continued, “and to be able to do this and accomplish what she has accomplished in four years, it went by fast. But it is incredible. She’s a great girl with great parents. It is a no-brainer, and her sister is coming through too and doing the same thing.”

Smeltz was a force to be reckoned with in the paint, where she set up camp on both sides of the ball. She collected all 28 points on baskets near the block off exceptional feeds from a variety of teammates.

Defensively, Smeltz, a center, was the anchor of a stifling Vikings’ zone defense that held the Lions south of 20 points, along with a press that didn’t make it easy for Lincoln Leadership to get the ball past half court.

Smeltz and Ella Kobularik each netted buckets for Williams Valley to build up an early 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Aroyale Fields split a pair of free throws for the Lions with 4:41 remaining on the clock as that would be the only point for Lincoln in the frame.

The Vikings went on a 15-0 scoring run to end the first quarter, highlighted by nine points off a trio of 3-pointers by Mallory Miller. Smeltz collected eight points in the first and Ireland Kasper chipped in a 3 as Williams Valley led 19-1 at the end of the frame.

In the second quarter, Smeltz turned it up a notch. The senior center totaled 12 points in the frame as the Vikings continued to dominate on both sides of the ball. Lincoln turned the ball over 10 times total in the first half, five in each quarter, and Williams Valley added 21 points in the second quarter to increase its lead 40-5 at the half. Miller and Kasper each tallied another 3. Smeltz netted her 1,000th-point off another assist by Kobularik with 18.2 remaining in the half.

After halftime, the game was still all Vikings.

“I feel like we kept (Lincoln Leadership) off-balanced,” Zellers said. “Them not having (Bria Kringe) because she was ineligible due to the transfer rule, which I didn’t know — she was all over the chalkboard. Losing her kind of helped our strategy, we were able to get out and put more pressure on them than what we had before. Our zone has been relatively good all year and we made it a little bit difficult to swing the ball and get the ball to the middle.”

Smeltz went back to work on the offensive end and the rest of Williams Valley continued to excel at feeding her the ball. She added eight more points in the third quarter and seemingly put the game out of reach. Kasper tallied another triple, while Miller, Isabella Ziegler and Olivia Hand each added a bucket as the Vikings led the Lions 57-10 after three quarters.

Miller chipped in four points in the fourth quarter, Kasper added two and Emma Estes got on the board for Williams Valley in the fourth quarter. The Vikings outscored Lincoln 8-5 in the frame, sealing the semifinal victory.

Miller finished with 18 points for Williams Valley, Kasper added 11 and Kobularik added 10 assists.

With the win, Williams Valley advances to the District 11 Class AA championship against Marian (21-3), which downed Shenandoah Valley 42-24 in the other semifinal. The game is set for 8 p.m. Friday at Blue Mountain High School.

It will be the third meeting between the Vikes and Fillies, who shared the Schuylkill League Division II championship after both finishing 13-1 in league play and splitting head-to-head matchups.

“We want to check another box,” Zellers said. “You know, we wanted to win the Christmas Tournament, win the division and make the playoffs. So, to be able to make the district final, it is going to be a great atmosphere and experience for our girls. We look forward to the challenge and we’re ready for it.”

Game Summary

District 11 Girls’ Basketball

Class AA Semifinals
At Blue Mountain

LINCOLN LEADERSHIP (15) — Taylor 1 0-0 2, Quinones 0 0-0 0, Morales 0 0-0 0, Landis 2 0-2 5, Lopez 0 0-0 0, Martinez 0 2-2 2, Henigan 1 0-0 3, Fields 0 2-4 2, Hamilton 0 1-2 1. Totals 4 5-10 15.

WILLIAMS VALLEY (65) — Kobularik 3 0-0 6, Q. Smeltz 0 0-0 0, Ziegler 0 0-0 0, Kasper 4 0-0 11, Miller 7 0-0 18, S. Smeltz 14 0-0 28, Estes 1 0-0 2, Adams 0 0-0 0, Hand 1 0-0 2, Bixler 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 0-0 56.

LL (13-7)  1 … 4 … 5 … 5 — 15

WV (21-3) 19 … 21 … 17 … 8 — 65

3-point FGs: Martinez, Miller 4, Kasper 3

Officials: Wood, Scheeler, Merwine