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YATESVILLE — A district title, that was something new for this group at Holy Redeemer. A state tournament win? Just add it to the pile.
“I came off the bench (at the end) and I was saying, ‘Guys! We won a state game!’ ” team newcomer Talia Kosierowski joked. “And they’re like, ‘Talia — we’ve done this before. Just relax. You’ll get used to it.’”
Pretty much.
On Friday, the Royals looked every bit the battle-tested team that reached the state semifinals each of the last two years. And when the District 2 champs got going in the second quarter of their PIAA Class 2A opener, Southern Columbia couldn’t slow them down.
Redeemer took control before halftime of a 55-32 win at Pittston Area High School, using strong defense and an effective transition game to tame the Tigers. The Royals advanced to take on District 3 runner-up York Catholic in Tuesday’s second round.
Rebecca Prociak (18 points) and Kosierowski (12) both helped fuel the Royals’ second-quarter outburst as they outscored the Tigers 22-5 in the frame to take a commanding 33-11 lead into halftime.
The Royals (23-3) were able to catch the Tigers flat-footed a few times during that stretch, leading to some breakaway layups, including one play where two Redeemer players got completely behind the defense.
“That’s our game,” Redeemer coach Chris Parker said. “We want to run up and down. We don’t want to have to set up offensive sets in the halfcourt if we don’t have to. … I was very pleased with the overall effort of the kids.”
Though both teams struggled to finish in the first quarter, the Royals began the second with 3-pointers by Kosierowski and Sara Flannelly to open things up.
A little later in the frame, Prociak keyed an 11-0 run that helped Redeemer put Southern away early.
“We went cold in the second quarter and they went hot,” Tigers coach Kim Chaundy said. “We just couldn’t pull a basket together. … That’s sort of the story of our season. We can’t put four quarters together.
“If you look at the stats, we were even for three quarters. It was that second quarter that hurt us.”
Southern Columbia (20-7) had trouble getting into a rhythm against Redeemer’s up-tempo pace. The No. 3 seed out of District 4 wasn’t able to get that big shot to fall to slow the Royals’ momentum. The Tigers missed on their first 10 tries from behind the arc and didn’t knock down a three until the fourth quarter.
Redeemer, meanwhile, hit seven times from long range with Kosierowski, Flannelly and Lydia Lawson each draining two apiece.
If there was one lingering concern for the Royals, it was that the Tigers were able to hit double digits in offensive rebounds. And while they weren’t able to take advantage of the extra shots, it was enough to irk Parker.
“We got beat pretty good on the glass,” Parker said. “That’s one of the things watching film we talked about all week. We have to keep them off the glass. And I didn’t think we did a good job of that tonight.
“We cannot afford to give teams two, three, four opportunities.”
That will be particularly true next week as the Royals prepare for York Catholic — a fellow perennial tournament qualifier that reached the state championship game in 2013.
Beyond that, a rematch with defending PIAA champ Neumann-Goretti or a meeting with undefeated Minersville would be waiting in the quarterfinals.
“We’re going to have to play better, but we’ll take one game at a time,” Parker said. “We’ll continue to be confident. And we’ll see where this journey will take us.”
PIAA Class 2A first round
Holy Redeemer 55, So. Columbia 32
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (32) — Abby Hager 0 0-0 0, Christina Podpora 1 0-0 2, Madison Klock 2 0-0 4, Jill Oley 2 0-0 4, Haley Levan 5 3-4 14, Sarah Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Hanna Davis 0 0-0 0, Kari Cambria 0 0-0 0, Sami Palacz 0 0-0 0, Abby Shimock 0 0-0 0, Mackenzie Chaundy 4 0-0 8, Jill Marks 0 0-0 0, Morgan Cole 0 0-0 0, Jadyn Brezinski 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 3-4 32.
HOLY REDEEMER (55) — Lydia Lawson 2 0-0 5, Talia Kosierowski 5 0-0 12, Sam Rajza 2 0-0 6, Meghan Corridoni 3 1-2 7, Rebecca Prociak 7 4-5 18, Kayla Hons 0 0-0 0, Jocelyn Kosik 0 0-0 0, Madison Guido 0 0-0 0, Sara Kuderka 0 1-2 1, Sara Flannelly 2 0-0 6, Randie Kuhar 0 0-0 0, Samantha Carr 0 0-0 0, Julia Andrejko 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-9 55.
South. Columbia`6`5`10`11`—`32
Holy Redeemer`11`22`13`9`—`55
3-point goals — SC 1 (Levan); HR 7 (Kosierowski 2, Rajza 2, Flannelly 2, Lawson)
