Pittston Area and Abington Heights won big at home against Philadelphia teams Saturday to advance in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A girls basketball tournament while Scranton put up an early fight before falling on the road.
The Lady Patriots and Lady Comets advance to play in a Wednesday doubleheader at Pottsville’s Martz Hall in the second round of the state tournament.
Abington Heights (18-8) will face West Chester Rustin (25-3) in the 6:30 p.m. opener. Pittston Area will take on Bishop Shanahan (23-5) at 8.
Pittston Area 51, Samuel Fels 18
Pittston Area held the upstart Philadelphia team without a field goal for the first 9:46 on the way to an historic victory.
It was the first state tournament win by the Lady Patriots in six tries and gave Pittston Area a school-record 25 wins against just two losses.
Kallie Booth continued her strong postseason with 18 points. She is averaging more than 20 points in the four district and state playoffs.
Booth had six points and Daniella Ranieli added four as Pittston Area took a 14-1 lead after one quarter.
The Lady Patriots scored the first four points of the second quarter for an 18-1 lead before a layup by Senaya Parker with 6:14 left in the second quarter.
Booth and Ranieli had 11 points each while Pittston Area built a 34-9 halftime lead. Taylor Baiera had all six of her points in the half.
Ranieli finished with 15 points.
Parker, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, came in averaging 43 points per game, possibly making her the national leader.
The Lady Patriots limited Parker to a season-low 16 points and the rest of the team to 2.
Parker had seven 50-point games in her first season with a team that was winless a year ago.
Pittston Area did not come close in a state tournament game until a year ago when it lost a Class 5A game to Bangor, 40-39.
The program made its state debut in 1980 with a 48-32 loss to Spingfield-Delco. Mary Beth Sheerer scored 16 points for coach Sue O’Brien’s team, which was in a tie at halftime.
The next two games were losses to Penn Manor, 65-34, in 1989 and to Central Dauphin East, 59-20, the next year, both in Class 4A.
Pittston Area went to the state tournament as a district and subregional champion for the first team in Class 4A in 2015 and lost to Lansdale North Penn, 53-37.
Abington Heights 59, Archbishop Ryan 36
Madison Zalewski scored 18 points and Maggie Coleman led Abington Heights’ climb out of an early hole to get the Lady Comets started toward a runaway victory.
Archbishop Ryan led 8-2 in the first quarter before Coleman started and ended a 9-0 run.
Coleman made a 3-pointer to begin the run and another to open the second-quarter scoring and break an 8-8 tie. She finished with 13 points.
Archbishop Ryan never led again.
Zalewski had 8 points and Peyton Houlihan 7 of her 11 during a 22-point second quarter to help the Lady Comets open a 30-15 halftime lead.
Reynah Ratliff led Archbishop Ryan with 15 points.
Villa Maria Academy 48, Scranton 32
Scranton led 7-5 after one quarter, but scored just two points in the second quarter and fell behind on the way to elimination.
Villa Maria Academy took a 22-9 lead at halftime and extended it to 40-20 after three quarters.
