When they were not facing each other, Riverside had a better Lackawanna League record and better overall mark than Mid Valley.
The Lady Vikes used those other games to land a higher seed in the District 2 Class 3A girls basketball playoffs and the home court for Thursday night’s third meeting of the season in the quarterfinal round.
Krista Cortazar and a strong supporting cast made sure Mid Valley continued to rule their head-to-head meetings, producing a 58-43 road victory.
Cortazar scored 17 points as the Spartanettes advanced into Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal against defending champion Dunmore.
Mid Valley had seven players produce at least five points in the win while improving to 15-8 overall. Riverside’s season ended at 13-10. The teams finished second and third, behind Dunmore, in Division 3 of the Lackawanna.
The Spartanettes opened leads of 18-7 after one quarter and 30-13 at halftime.
Mid Valley had at least five players score in each of the first three quarters before Christa Zavislak scored 8 of her 11 points in the fourth quarter when Cortazar also scored 6.
Abbie Larson, who scored all nine of her points in the first half, had seven in the first quarter.
Elise Larson added six points. Grace Goetz, Mackenzie Adolfson and Natalie Barrett scored five each.
Lillie Pon scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 3 shots for Riverside. While the Spartanettes were showing off their balance, Pon was the only Lady Vike to score in the second quarter.
Lexi Kostoff scored eight points and dished out five assists.
Thursday’s win was the most decisive of the three meetings.
Mid Valley won at home, 41-36, Jan. 16 and at Riverside, 45-38, Feb. 9.
The Spartanettes went 9-3 in Lackawanna Division 3 while Riverside was 8-4.
