The Lourdes girls rise for the national anthem prior to Saturday afternoon's PIAA Class A state quarterfinal game against Delaware County Christian at Hamburg Area High School (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

HAMBURG — Anyone who has watched the Lourdes girls’ basketball team play this season knows the Red Raiders revolve around center Hannah Lokitis.

The 6-foot-1 sophomore filled up the stat sheet again in Lourdes’ 54-39 victory over Delaware County Christian in a PIAA Class A quarterfinal at Hamburg Area High School, scoring a game-high 22 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.

Lokitis, however, will be the first to tell you that the numbers she puts up wouldn’t be possible without the outside shooting of guards Kylla Sandri and Onaleigh Barnes.

That was exactly the case Saturday afternoon atop Hawk Hill.

Sandri excelled at both ends of the floor, hitting three 3-pointers and finishing with 15 points while running the point in Lourdes’ pressure defense.

Barnes hit a trio of first-half 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, combining with Sandri to score 13 points in an 18-0 Lourdes run that decided the game early.

“It makes it easier, because a lot of players will step back and crash the middle if they’re not making their shots,” Lokitis said about the shooting of Sandri and Barnes. “Them knocking shots down expanded the floor defensively and opened things up for me.

“When they get covered it opens up me. But if the defense is more worried about me, they can knock the shots down. It’s a very balanced offense. Having three of those shooters it makes our offense move swiftly.”

Barnes’ first 3-pointer came as part of an 8-0 Red Raiders run that gave the District 4 champions (23-6) a 13-3 edge after one frame.

After District 1 runner-up Delco Christian (22-5) sliced the deficit to 13-10 with a mini run of its own, Barnes and Sandri hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 19-10. Barnes canned another triple moments later as Lourdes closed the half on a 13-0 run to take a 26-10 lead at intermission.

“I try to work on it before the game to make sure I know I can make them,” Barnes said of her 3-point shooting. “It’s really exciting to make them and see all our girls get excited and our score go up.

“Today I knew how good I was shooting in warm-ups and that carried over through the whole game. I was really confident to shoot (the 3-pointer).”

As equally impressive as its guards’ outside shooting was Lourdes’ defense, which held the Knights to a 3-for-27 shooting performance in the first two frames.

The Red Raiders played a box-and-one on sharpshooter Ella Stinger, with Anna Keer holding the freshman to just two shots and three points the entire game.

Delco Christian got open shots from the perimeter, but most of them were nowhere close to going in. Most of the time Lokitis and Vivian Reiprish (6 first-half rebounds) were there to corral the misses.

“We were playing a box-and-one and moving depending on where (Stinger) was on the floor,” Lourdes coach Michael Klembara said. “We knew coming into the ballgame that we had to limit her points.

“It’s a tribute to the way Anna Keer plays. She’s done this a couple of times during the year. She does what she does best. She’s got long arms, she’s aggressive, she’s smart.”

A 3-pointer by Sandri and a layup by Lokitis off a feed by Vivian Reiprish extended Lourdes’ run to 18-0 and gave the Red Raiders a 31-10 lead before Mary O’Donnell ended
Delco Christian’s 10-minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer.

Lourdes led 40-18 after three quarters before Lokitis helped ice it, scoring 10 of her points in the fourth quarter on layups and offensive putbacks.

“It’s very important (to hit the 3-pointer) because it takes a lot of pressure off Hannah inside,” Klembara said. “In most cases, very few teams have anybody to match up with her if they’re going to play man. But every step we take, we’re going to play a better team.”

O’Donnell paced Delaware Christian with 18 points, 12 of which came in the final frame as the Knights made the final score must closer than the game actually was.

It’s the second time in three years the Red Raiders have reached the state semifinals. Lourdes will take on District 3 champion Linville Hill, which defeated Greenwood in the second game Saturday at Hamburg, in the state semifinals Friday.

Linville Hill ended Lourdes’ season a year ago with a 47-27 victory in the second round.

“We’ve opened up to what time of the season we’re at,” Lokitis said. “All of us want it and all of want to go really far. Last year, getting cut short, for most of us made us come into the season having a plan, having a goal.”

Game Summary

PIAA Girls’ Basketball

Class A Quarterfinal

At Hamburg Area High School

DELAWARE COUNTY CHRISTIAN (39) — Ireland 1 0-2 3, Kees 3 3-4 10, Latchford 0 0-2 0, O’Donnell 6 3-4 18, Stinger 1 0-0 3, Bechtel 1 1-2 3, Rhoads 1 0-0 2, Thomas 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 7-14 39.

LOURDES (54) — Sandri 5 2-4 15, Barnes 3 2-2 11, Lokitis 10 2-6 22, Keer 1 0-0 2, Reiprish 1 0-0 2, Karlovich 1 0-0 2, Shingara 0 0-0 0, Schu 0 0-0 0, Gonzalez 0 0-0 0, Macaluso 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-12 54.

DC (22-5)           3 … 7 … 8 … 21 — 39

Lou (23-6)          13 … 13 … 14 … 14 — 54

3-point FGs: Ireland, Kees, O’Donnell 3, Stinger, Sandri 3, Barnes 3