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COVINGTON TWP. – Holy Redeemer could not find an answer for Kylie Lavelle Saturday afternoon.
Instead, they used four.
The Royals combined the efforts of four double-figure scorers with a strong bench to maintain their status as the only Wyoming Valley Conference team to make it to Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in all five years of District 2 basketball championships there.
Sam Yencha had 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead the third-seeded Royals past second-seeded Riverside, 78-65, in a highly anticipated Class 3A semifinal where the winner went to the arena and the loser went home.
Lavelle did everything she could to prevent that from becoming Riverside’s fate for the second straight season, but her 40 points and 11 offensive rebounds (14 total) were not enough.
The Lady Vikes finished 21-3 for the best record by any District 2 girls team that will not be continuing into PIAA play.
“We got contributions from players one through 10, all over the place,” Holy Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said.
Win or lose, the spot in the final also means Holy Redeemer goes to the state tournament.
The Royals are 2-2 in championship games at the arena, including 1-2 against Dunmore, the team they will face Feb. 29 at noon.
Karissa Spade, Aubrey Curley and Liv Moore were part of the balanced offense.
Spade finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Curley had eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter. Moore had 13 points.
“We know when our bench comes in, we have another five that can do what the first five did,” Spade said.
That theory was tested as Holy Redeemer navigated foul trouble while trying to protect its lead.
Both teams were getting to the basket – Holy Redeemer on its drives, Riverside on Lavelle’s offensive rebounds. That led both coaches down the path of repeated offensive/defensive subs, often with multiple players, beginning in the third quarter as they tried to manage fouls and come up with stops in the paint.
Lavelle had 20 of her points in the final 9:28. Two of her baskets brought Riverside within 49-47 with 6:45 left and 51-49 with 5:25 remaining.
“She’s just a super player,” Jezorwski said. “ … I feel bad for her that she’s not going to be the state tournament and for their team.”
Holy Redeemer led for all but a matter of seconds from the last three minutes of the first quarter on, but neither team could open an advantage of more than six points until Faith Sekol hit from the left baseline with 2:35 left.
The basket, Sekol’s only one of the game, came 23 seconds after a daring Curley 3-pointer and made it 61-53 with 2:35 left.
From there, Holy Redeemer stretched the lead by going 11-for-12 from the line to finish 14-for-16 for the fourth quarter and 20-for-24 for the game.
Free throws were not the only shots the Royals made in their highest-scoring effort of the season.
They made six 3-pointers, half of them by Curley.
The effective drive-and-kick game that was part of setting up the 3-pointers also helped Holy Redeemer shoot 56 percent from inside the arc, including a handful of seemingly difficult runners.
“We could not keep them in front of us, no matter what defense we were in, no matter what match-up we came up with,” Riverside coach Jack Mekilo said.
As a result, the Royals scored 17 more points than any team had managed against Riverside this season.
District 2 Class 3A Semifinals
Holy Redeemer 78, Riverside 65
HOLY REDEEMER (78) — Karissa Spade 7 3-4 17, Sam Yencha 7 4-6 18, Livia Moore 4 4-4 13, Aubrey Curley 3 5-6 14, Jillian DelBalso 2 0-0 5, Aleia Atherton 1 2-2 5, Faith Sekol 1 2-2 4, Alesha Pekarovsky 1 0-0 2, Mia Ashton 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 20-24 78.
RIVERSIDE (65) — Alese Karpinski 0 3-4 3, Leah Hodick 1 0-0 2, Kylie Lavelle 17 6-11 40, Kayla Rose 2 4-10 8, Emily Taylor 4 0-1 8, Bella McKeefery 1 0-0 2, Slaboda 0 0-0 0, Morgan Antoniacci 1 0-0 2, Paige Olienawicz 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 13-26 65.
Holy Redeemer`18`17`12`31`—`78
Riverside`19`10`14`22`—`65
Three-point field goals — HR 6 (Curley 3, DelBalso, Atherton, Moore).