Blue Mountain's Hailey Place drives around North Schuylkill's Monica Selgrade during Wednesday's District 11 Class 4A semifinal at Martz Hall (Photo by Kelly Wiley).

Blue Mountain advances to 4A championship game

POTTSVILLE — As the final seconds ticked off the Martz Hall clock and the celebration began, Hailey Place raced to the end of the Blue Mountain bench.

She had to celebrate with teammate Callie Peel.

One of Blue Mountain’s leaders, Peel suffered a serious knee injury in the second quarter of Wednesday’s District 11 Class 4A girls’ basketball semifinal against North Schuylkill at Martz Hall and was unable to return.

With Peel propped up on the end of the bench only able to watch, the Eagles rallied around their fallen teammate, using a second-half surge to capture a come-from-behind, 44-37 victory over the Spartans.

Place led the way with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds as eighth-seeded Blue Mountain (14-11) advanced to Saturday’s Class 4A championship game against seventh-seeded Allentown Central Catholic, a 55-37 winner over Palmerton in the other semifinal.

Blue Mountain will look to win its first District 11 crown since 2020 when it faces the Vikings at 1:15 p.m. at Easton High School. The win also qualifies Blue Mountain for the PIAA Tournament.

“We just had it in our mind to do it for Callie because she’s been such a big aspect for our team so far this year,” Place said. “We wanted to do it for her.”

Peel was a big reason Blue Mountain was still alive in the tournament, scoring 26 points in the Eagles’ 49-34 upset victory over top-seeded Lehighton in the quarterfinals.

Wednesday, Peel had scored four points before she crumbled to the floor in pain after colliding with a North Schuylkill player with 1:32 remaining in the first half. She had to be helped off the court and was assisted back to bench early in the second half after getting treatment.

The Spartans were on an 11-2 run at the time of Peel’s injury, having taken a 23-18 lead. A runner by Place with 3 seconds left in the first half sliced North Schuylkill’s lead to 23-20 at intermission.

“It is really tough to see a player go down,” Blue Mountain coach Rose Carper said. “She’s an integral part. She had 26 points the other night for us. Obviously, she’s a key part running our offense.

“At halftime I just brought them together. I always preach next player up and it takes a team to win. That’s what they did.

“I said, “Let’s go win it for her, but we need heart and we need to leave it out on the floor. This is it, this is your season on the line, this is the district final on the line. Let’s go play.'”

Blue Mountain responded to the halftime pep talk by scoring the first eight points of the third quarter. Mila Fleagle and Place each had four points in the run, which gave the Eagles a 28-23 lead with 4:28 left in the third.

North Schuylkill (17-9) answered, as a 3-pointer by Addisyn Balicki sliced the Blue Mountain lead to 30-29 after three quarters.

Again, the Eagles forged ahead. A 6-0 spurt to open the fourth made it 36-29 as Delaney Walborn drained a three, Place scored on a layup and Karley Koch hit a free throw.

After a baseline jumper by Monica Selgrade made it 36-31, Walborn hit another long jumper and Kelly Canfield scored on a driving layup to make it 40-31 with 3:23 left.

Canfield, a 5-foot-8 senior reserve forward, had a big second half with six of her eight rebounds, the layup and two assists.

“That’s what we talk about at practice … be ready,” Carper said of Canfield. “She’s really practiced hard for us and is always willing to do anything. She loves challenges.

“She was key tonight stepping into a position where she hasn’t been all season. She’s gotten minutes, but she hasn’t been put under the pressure at the end of the games. She handled it extremely, extremely well.”

A key to Blue Mountain’s success in the second half was the Eagles’ work on the boards. Blue Mountain dominated the glass, outrebounding North Schuylkill 28-11 in the second half and 47-22 for the game.

Fleagle collected 10 points and 11 rebounds, Place had 10 boards, Canfield compiled eight and Koch had five.

Most of those rebounds came on the offensive end, leading to numerous second-chance opportunities. On the defensive end, it prevented North Schuylkill from getting into any offensive rhythm and making a comeback.

“That was one of the big things from the last game,” Place said, referring to the Eagles’ 46-41 win over the Spartans on Jan. 28 in Fountain Springs. “We outrebounded them by a lot. We just wanted to do the same thing this time.”

Added Carper: “I always do keys to the game. I did five keys to the game and one of them (tonight) was dominate the boards. Don’t just rebound, dominate it. After dominating the boards, let’s go score. We have a height advantage, let’s put the ball back up and get some second-chance points. That was a key.”

Mya Conti had a team-high 15 points for North Schuylkill, but only two in the second half. In addition to being dominated on the boards, the Spartans shot just 5-for-30 from the field in the second half, 1-for-12 from 3-point range.

The loss drops North Schuylkill into the consolation bracket, where the Spartans will play Palmerton in a PIAA play-in game at noon Saturday at Executive Education High School in Allentown.

“They were three times tougher than us,” North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel said of Blue Mountain. “This team, it’s not an effort thing. You have to execute. We missed a lot of shots. It’s hard to win that way.”

Wetzel’s squad got within four points in the final minute but could get no closer. Blue Mountain iced it from the foul line, with Place hitting 3-of-4 and Fleagle making 1-of-2.

The win continues Blue Mountain’s Cinderella postseason run as the Eagles have dropped Saucon Valley, Lehighton and North Schuylkill to get to the district final.

“It’s been a great second half of the year for us,” Place said. “It was a shaky, rough start at first, but I think we just figured it out.

“We had some younger girls on the team with not as much varsity experience and once we got some varsity time under our belts, we’ve been climbing up since through the second half of the year.”

Game Summary

District 11 Class 4A Semifinal

At Martz Hall

BLUE MOUNTAIN (44) — Fleagle 4 1-2 10, Place 7 3-4 18, Peel 1 2-2 4, Koch 2 1-5 5, Walborn 2 0-0 5, Canfield 1 0-0 2, Leonard 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-13 44.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (37) — Selgrade 3 1-3 7, Conti 7 0-0 15, Capone 1 2-5 4, Ja. Stitzer 1 1-2 3, Digris 0 0-0 0, Balicki 3 1-2 8, Urbanowicz 0 0-0 0, Gawrylik 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-12 37.

3-point FGs: Fleagle, Place, Walborn, Conti, Balicki

Officials: Wood, Scheeler, Titus