Williams Valley celebrates with the District 11 championship trophy and placard after defeating Marian 51-29 in Friday's Class AA championship game at Martz Hall (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

Kasper pours in 17 as Vikings capture 51-29 victory

POTTSVILLE — There’s something about playing Marian that gets Ireland Kasper fired up.

Kasper was definitely fired up Friday night.

The Williams Valley senior forward drained four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 17 points as the Vikings captured their second straight District 11 Class AA girls’ basketball championship with a 51-29 victory over the Fillies at Martz Hall.

It was a performance nearly identical to her play in last year’s district title game against Marian at Blue Mountain, where Kasper also drained four 3-pointers and scored 16 points in Williams Valley’s 34-30 win.

“They kind of made it a rivalry game,” Kasper said of playing Marian, “and it never really was a rivalry game until they created it as one. So I just take it as our biggest game of the year.

“I was nervous all day, nervous all week. My nerves kind of work me up, so that gets me fired up. When my shots start going in, that gets me relaxed.”

Kasper scored 12 of her points in the first half as Williams Valley (18-6) led from start to finish.

The key for the Vikings was their ability to get the ball down low and into the lane to create scoring chances in the post.

Mallory Miller did the damage early, scoring six of her 12 points in the first quarter. Ella Kobularik then tallied four of her eight points in the second quarter as Williams Valley built a 24-16 halftime lead.

The Vikings’ success inside then opened things up on the outside, where Kasper was hitting nothing but net.

“Get the ball inside, if we had to kick out, take the kick out, but we couldn’t rely on the kick out,” Williams Valley coach Shane Zellers said. “All night long we wanted to attack the close outs, get the ball in the paint and finish inside. I thought we did a good job of that.”

Despite Williams Valley’s success in the first half, Marian (14-11) didn’t go away. The Fillies used 3-pointers by Brooke Hannis-Miskar and Addy Marek and a runner by DeAnna Pugh to slice Williams Valley’s lead to 28-24 with 5:17 left in the third.

That’s when the Vikings’ defense took over.

Williams Valley closed the game on a 23-5 run that included a 12-0 spurt that finished the third quarter and stretched into the fourth.

The Vikings held Marian scoreless for an 8-minute, 20-second stretch, expanding a 32-26 lead to 44-26 with 3 minutes remaining.

Quin Smeltz had a pair of inside buckets, Kasper drained a 3-pointer, freshman Presley Shomper had four points and Miller hit a free throw in the run.

“We practiced defense all week, focused heavily on it, more than we did earlier in the season,” Kasper said.

Added Smeltz: “We just focused. Against Shenandoah we tried to stop the middle and pack it in. (Against Marian) We tried to focus on their shooters but keep an eye on Marek and limit those passing lanes.”

Katie Knock’s 3-pointer with 2:55 left to play ended the scoreless drought. It was, however, Marian’s only points of the fourth quarter.

Williams Valley’s patience offensively, running minutes off the clock until the Vikings got a good shot, and the Vikes’ strong play defensively broke the game open.

Marian only had nine fourth-quarter possessions, with four shots and five turnovers.

Marek led Marian with 11 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:35 remaining. Pugh, Hannis-Miskar and Knock each finished with six points.

“We knew we had to get to their shooters,” Zellers said. “Marek and Pugh, we knew we had to get to clamp down on them and I thought we did a great job.

“We wanted to make it hard for (Marek) to catch it. And when she did catch it, we wanted to get it out of her hands as soon as she got it. … We executed.”

Another key for Williams Valley in the second half was its play on the boards. Smeltz and Kobularik each pulled down nine rebounds, while Kasper had seven. The determined effort on the glass limited Marian to one shot and done most of the game.

“I just tried to get a body on someone and as soon as I knew where that ball was going, I just wanted to run for it and get it before they did,” Smeltz said.

Both teams will continue their seasons in the PIAA Tournament. Williams Valley will host District 4 runner-up Southern Columbia in Friday’s first round, while Marian will trek to Philadelphia to play the District 12 runner-up.

Zellers raised a good point after the game. Since the summer, Williams Valley had been billed as the best team in District 11 Class AA and high expectations surrounded the team since the start of the season.

The Vikings went through a rough stretch the second time through its Schuylkill League Division II schedule, and a loss to Marian on Jan. 31 prevented the Vikings from making the league playoffs.

Zellers said his girls hunkered down and worked hard between the end of the regular season and the District 11 Tournament and it resulted in a second straight district title.

“Going back-to-back is special,” Zellers said. “Everybody always talks about the underdog story. We’ve been told since last summer that you’re the best team in Double-A girls’ basketball in District 11. To me, that’s harder to show up and respond and show up and defend.

“Our girls did it. They’re resilient. They never hung their heads. The last three weeks we conditioned, we worked on toughness, we worked on handling the basketball and we shot the ball. We worked on what we needed to work on.

“This is all the girls. They worked their tails off for this. They deserve this. I’m so proud of them.”

Game Summary

District 11 Class AA Championship

At Martz Hall

MARIAN (29) — Pugh 3 0-0 6, Minzola 0 0-0 0, Hannis-Miskar 2 0-0 6, Knock 2 0-0 6, Marek 2 5-6 11, Decosmo 0 0-0 0, Kwon 0 0-0 0, Bushati 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 5-6 29.

WILLIAMS VALLEY (51) — Shomper 2 2-2 6, Kobularik 3 2-4 8, Miller 3 6-7 12, Smeltz 4 0-2 8, Kasper 6 1-2 17. Totals 18 11-17 51.

3-point FGs: Hannis-Miskar 2, Knock 2, Marek 2, Kasper 4

Officials: J. Dean, Karinch, Cooper