The Lourdes girls' basketball team prays prior to a win over Williams Valley (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

Turnovers in 4th quarter plague District 4 champs

LEHIGHTON — For the second straight season, the Lourdes girls’ basketball team came up one win short of making it to Hershey.

A rough start and a rough finish doomed the Red Raiders in Tuesday’s PIAA Class A state semifinal against Delco Christian at Lehighton Elementary School as the Knights scored eight of the game’s final 11 points to capture a 44-41 victory.

With the win, District 1 champion Delco Christian (29-2) advances to Friday’s PIAA state championship game against District 6 fourth-place finisher Williamsburg (26-5) at noon at the Giant Center in Hershey. Williamsburg defeated St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 60-41 in the other semifinal.

Lourdes’ magnificent season, which featured its first trip to the Schuylkill League championship game in 30 years and the program’s 16th District 4 Class A crown, ends at 28-3.

“They started off very well, put us in a hole,” Lourdes coach Mike Klembara said in a story written by Kurt Ritzman for the Shamokin News-Item. “Give our kids a great deal of credit because they came back in the third period, took a lead. But they made some clutch things after that too. You think they would fold, but they didn’t.”

A turnover-filled first half left Lourdes trailing 26-16 at halftime. The Knights used a 9-0 run in the first quarter to take control, then went on a 7-0 spurt in the final 1:14 of the first half to build a 10-point cushion.

The Red Raiders rebounded in the third quarter, outscoring Delco Christian 16-5. Lourdes did not commit a turnover in the frame, with Onaleigh Barnes scoring five of her eight points and Hannah Lokitis and Sophia Karlovich each adding four.

The run put the Red Raiders up 32-31 entering the fourth. Lourdes still led 38-36 after a Karlovich layup midway through the period but Delco Christian put together a 7-0 run to take a 43-38 lead with 31 seconds left.

Barnes buried a 3-pointer to slice the deficit to 43-41 with 22 seconds and the Red Raiders fouled.

Mary O’Donnell, who scored a game-high 17 points, hit 1-of-2 from the line, giving Lourdes some hope. Lourdes had possession with 6.9 seconds left, inbounding the ball in the frontcourt.

Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, they committed their 18th turnover of the game on the final possession before getting a potential game-tying shot off as the Knights captured the victory. Lourdes committed eight turnovers in the final eight minutes.

Lokitis finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds for Lourdes, while Karlovich had 11 points and eight rebounds. The Red Raiders all of their top-six players next season.

Dominique Good added 15 points for Delco Christian.

Here’s a video of the final play published by Ho Bott News on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1261706905295909

Game Summary

PIAA Class A Semifinal

At Lehighton Area Elementary School

LOURDES (41) — Sandri 1 2-2 5, Schroyer 0 0-0 0, Barnes 3 0-0 8, Lokitis 6 0-2 12, Karlovich 4 3-4 11, Shingara 0 0-0 0, Reiprish 2 0-0 5. Totals 16 5-8 41.

DELAWARE COUNTY CHRISTIAN (44) — O’Donnell 5 5-8 17, Good 6 2-2 15, Washington 1 0-0 2, Stinger 2 0-0 5, Latchford 1 1-2 3, Bechtel 0 2-2 2. Totals 15 10-14 44.

3-point FGs: Sandri, Barnes 2, Reiprish, O’Donnell 2, Good, Stinger