D-11 3A Girls’ Basketball: Siket, fast start propel Hurricanes past New Hope-Solebury, into title game
Schuylkill Haven's Mckenna Runkle begins the fast break during Tuesday's District 11 Class 3A girls' basketball semifinal win over New Hope-Solebury (Photo by Mel Rose).
POTTSVILLE — Kylie Siket likes shooting at Martz Hall.
The Schuylkill Haven sophomore canned four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 12 points Tuesday as the Hurricanes pounded New Hope-Solebury 51-26 in a District 11/1 Class 3A girls’ basketball semifinal.
The victory advances Schuylkill Haven (22-5) to a girls’ district championship game for the first time in 40 years. The second-seeded Hurricanes will take on top-seeded Notre Dame-Green Pond (22-5) at 6 p.m. Friday at Easton High School.
“It seems like Martz Hall is the place for her to play,” Schuylkill Haven coach Tony Sanders said of Siket. “She comes in here and she’s on fire. That’s good for her.”
Siket’s outside shooting was a big reason the Hurricanes stormed through the Schuylkill League playoffs en route to their first-ever championship. In a semifinal win over Marian, Siket hit a pair of early shots and scored 13 points in Haven’s 41-39 win.
In the championship game against North Schuylkill, Siket hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter to give the Hurricanes a lead they would never relinquish in a 38-31 victory.
She did it again Tuesday, opening the game with two 3-pointers to trigger a 12-0 run that gave Haven a double-digit lead it maintained the rest of the way.
“Once I shot one I just got comfortable and kept shooting,” Siket said. “My teammates were finding me open and if I did miss we were getting the rebounds down low and putting them right back up.”
Siket’s shooting success was combined with an aggressive defense that forced 20 first-half turnovers, 12 in the first quarter.
New Hope-Solebury (14-10) entered the game with a veteran club that started three seniors, possessed two 1,000-point career scorers in senior guards Isabella Elizondo and Emily Wilson and had a 6-foot-1 center in senior Ella Dudick.
The Lions, who compete in the Suburban One League, were no match for the Schuylkill League champions’ speed and physicality, however, as Haven beat New Hope to every loose ball, outmuscled the Lions on the boards and made life miserable every time New Hope wanted to shoot the ball.
It was a tough outing for the Lions, who traveled roughly 2.5 hours from the Doylestown area for Tuesday’s game.
“Our defense was a huge factor today,” Siket said. “Audrey (Hutchinson) and Anna (Schaeffer) played the best defense I’ve ever seen them play. It just translates to offense for us.
“Our defense was really amazing today and helped us get the lead that we did.”
Schuylkill Haven used that 12-0 run to build a 12-2 lead midway through the first and led 18-5 after one frame. Siket opened the second period with another 3-pointer as part of a 14-5 quarter that gave the Hurricanes a 32-10 halftime lead.
New Hope-Solebury never threatened in the second half, with the benches emptying on both sides over the final 3-4 minutes.
“We told them all week at practice that we wanted to start fast … and they did it,” Sanders said. “We came out on fire. It was awesome for us tonight.”
The Hurricanes held Elizondo to seven points and Wilson to three. Dudick was limited to just two shots and three rebounds. Freshman forward Mary Tresler led New Hope with nine points and eight rebounds.
“We face guarded their two shooters and denied everybody else. I thought we did a good job with that,” Sanders said. “I thought Mckenna did a great job on (Dudick), keeping her out of the paint and pushing her out to the 3-point line.
“Defensively, we did what we do.”
Schaeffer added 10 points for the Hurricanes, while Mckenna Runkle and Alea Porter had seven points and Hutchinson tallied six points. Porter had nine rebounds.
After becoming the first team in school history to win a Schuylkill League title, the Hurricanes now set their sights on winning the program’s first District 11 crown since the 1985 squad beat Cardinal Brennan in the Class A final.
Schuylkill Haven has won seven straight and 11 of its last 12 games.
“Playing in tough games, during the regular season, like North Schuylkill and Marian, those prepared us for games like these,” Siket said. “Now we’re all comfortable in the playoffs. We just want to keep going.”
