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H.S. Boys Basketball: Holy Redeemer advances to D2-3A championship

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Help sought for flood-prone Mill Creek in Avoca

<p>YATESVILLE &#8212; The slow, methodical pace was starting to test the patience on both sides.</p><p>But on Lake-Lehman&#8217;s side, it was almost maddening.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t just that an early four-point Lehman lead had turned into a tie game, but more so because the Black Knights were completely blanked for more than seven minutes of the second quarter.</p><p>Then it happened.</p><p>Madison Borum battled inside, hit a bucket while drawing a foul, then coolly converted the three-point play.</p><p>And Lehman never looked back.</p><p>Borum&#8217;s big play opened the door for eight points by the Black Knights in the final 55 seconds of the first half Friday and spurred Lehman into the school&#8217;s first district title game in eight years with a 36-26 victory over Berwick in a defensive struggle of a District 2 Class 4A semifinal game at Pittston Area High School.</p><p>&#8220;What got us pumped up was my (basket)-and one,&#8221; Borum said. &#8220;I think that basically was the spark.&#8221;</p><p>It ignited Lehman&#8217;s first run to a District 2 championship game since 2011, when the Black Knights fell to Dunmore as a Class 2A team. Now, 19-5 Lehman will face top-seeded and 23-1 Scranton Prep, a 50-31 winner over Nanticoke Area, for the Class 4A district championship at 6 p.m. Thursday at Mohegan Sun Arena.</p><p>Berwick, also 19-5, will play 18-6 Nanticoke Area on Tuesday for the right to represent District 2 as the third-place team in the PIAA tournament.</p><p>&#8220;Right back where we were last year,&#8221; said Berwick coach Bill Phillips, whose Bulldogs finished as the second-place and third-place District 2 Class 4A team during the past two seasons. &#8220;We know we&#8217;ll go against a very good team.&#8221;</p><p>The second-seeded Bulldogs ran into a Lehman team in a mission Friday.</p><p>They were deadlocked through most of the second quarter, until Borum&#8217;s three-point play gave Lehman a three-point lead. And although Berwick came right down and tied the game on Renny Murphy&#8217;s 3-pointer, Lehman responded with Claire Dougherty&#8217;s jumper and Savannah Purdy&#8217;s 3-pointer a second before the buzzer as the Black Knights took a 19-14 lead into intermission.</p><p>&#8220;Then Savannah hit that big three, got us way off,&#8221; Borum grinned.</p><p>Berwick never recovered.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t,&#8221; Phillips said. &#8220;Our offense was very stagnant. I just thought we were like in quicksand running our offense. Not a lot of movement.&#8221;</p><p>Lehman had a lot to do with that.</p><p>The Black Knights clamped down on Berwick&#8217;s perimeter shooters and allowed the 6-foot-2 Borum to take charge of the inside.</p><p>It worked, as Berwick guard Renny Murphy fired up a game-high 14 points, but four other Bulldogs produced just three points each.</p><p>&#8220;It was really important got keep them from scoring and getting back in the game,&#8221; said Lehman guard Sarah Salus, who scored eight points and pulled down five rebounds. &#8220;This was our goal all season and we finally achieved it.</p><p>&#8220;It feels awesome.&#8221;</p><p>Borum scored seven of her team-high 10 points in the first half, Claire Dougherty scored six of her eight and the Black Knights wrestled away control of the game.</p><p>Dougherty&#8217;s putback 20 seconds before halftime gave Lehman the lead for good, but the Black Knights produced other inspiring moments over the final two quarters.</p><p>Corinna Scoblick&#8217;s steal and layup opened the scoring in the second half midway through the third quarter, and Borum&#8217;s game-high seventh rebound and putback gave Lehman an 11-point lead near the end of the period.</p><p>Salus hit two foul shots for a 31-20 Black Knights advantage with 3:25 to play in the game, then added a bucket after Abby Burt&#8217;s 3-pointer cut Berwick&#8217;s deficit to 10 with 2:17 on the clock.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody chipped in,&#8221; Lake-Lehman coach Charlie Lavan said. &#8220;Our girls did a great job. When you get there (to the district title game), you earn a spot in the state tournament. That was our ultimate goal going into the season.</p><p>&#8220;I love it.&#8221;</p><p><a><strong>Scranton Prep 50, Nanticoke 31</strong></a></p><p class="x_MsoNormal">All-state sophomore guard Rachael Rose scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half to lead the two-time defending champions back to another Class 4A title game.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">Nanticoke erased an early 10-2 deficit and moved in front 19-17 at halftime with the help of two second-quarter 3-pointers by Emily Hauer.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">Rose hit a 3-pointer on Scranton Prep&#8217;s first possession of the second half to put the Classics ahead to stay.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">She did not stop there. Rose was 4-for-4 with three 3-pointers to do all the scoring in an 11-2 run in the first 4:06 of the third quarter.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">Kathleen Rose, Rachael&#8217;s older sister went 6-for-8 while adding 14 points.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">The Lackawanna League Division 1 champions won their 17th straight to improve to 23-1 overall.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">Alyssa Lewis led Nanticoke with nine points. Lauren Casey added seven.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal">The Trojanettes will play Berwick Tuesday for the district&#8217;s third and final berth in the state tournament.</p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class 4A Semifinals</strong></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Lake-Lehman 36, Berwick 26</strong></p><p class="x_MsoNormal"><strong>LAKE-LEHMAN (36) &#8212; </strong>Claire Dougherty 4 0-0 8, Sarah Salus 3 2-2 8, Corinna Scoblick 2 0-1 4, Savannah Purdy 2 0-0 6, Madison Borum 4 2-3 10 . <strong>Totals 15 4-6 36.</strong></p><p class="x_MsoNormal"><strong>BERWICK (26) &#8212; </strong>Renny Murphy 5 0-0 14, Abby Burt 1 0-0 3, Katie Starr 1 1-1 3, Megan Dalo 1 1-3 3, Emily Ouimet 1 0-0 3, Jadyn Michael 0 0-0 0, Emily Novicki 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 9 2-4 26.</strong></p><p class="x_MsoNormal"><strong>Lake-Lehman`11`8`8`9 &#8212; 36</strong></p><p class="x_MsoNormal"><strong>Berwick`7`7`3`9 &#8212; 26</strong></p><p class="x_MsoNormal"><strong>Three-point goals &#8212; </strong>LL 2 (Purdy 2); BER 6 (Murphy 4, Burt, Ouimet).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a><strong>Scranton Prep 50, Nanticoke 31</strong></a></p><p><strong>NANTICOKE (31) &#8212;</strong> Alyssa Lewis 4 0-0 9, Amiah Lukowski 1 0-0 3, Lauren Casey 2 3-3 7, Jilann Baron 1 0-0 2, Bella Czeck 1 1-2 4, Emily Hauer 2 0-0 6, Riley Baird 0 0-0 0, Abigail Cullen 0 0-0 0, Myla Vnuk 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 11 4-5 31.</strong></p><p><strong>SCRANTON PREP (50) &#8212;</strong> Cecelia Collins 3 1-2 8, Rachael Rose 8 7-8 26, Maggie Mills 0 0-0 0, Kathleen Rose 6 0-0 14, Elisa Penetar 0 1-3 1, Maria Belardi 0 1-2 1, Meredith Purcell 0 0-0 0, Olivia Lange 0 0-0 0, Maggie Flynn 0 0-0 0, Elisa Kopicki 0 0-0 0, Brooke Wilder 0 0-0 0, Lizzie Neville 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 17 10-15 50.</strong></p><p><strong>Nanticoke`7`12`3`9`&#8212;`31</strong></p><p><strong>Scranton Prep`12`5`13`21`&#8212;`50</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals &#8212;</strong> NANT 5 (Hauer 2, Lewis 1, Lukowski 1, Czeck 1). SP 6 (R. Rose 3, K. Rose 2, Collins 1).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Savannah Purdy, left, Sarah Salus, Claire Dougherty, and Madison Borum are all smiles as they walk off the court after defeating second-seeded Berwick 36-26 on Friday to advance to the District 2 Class 4A girls basketball championship game next Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Savannah Purdy, left, Sarah Salus, Claire Dougherty, and Madison Borum are all smiles as they walk off the court after defeating second-seeded Berwick 36-26 on Friday to advance to the District 2 Class 4A girls basketball championship game next Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Madison Borum, left, gets the ball in the low post ahead of Berwick&#8217;s Megan Dalo in a District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal game at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Madison Borum, left, gets the ball in the low post ahead of Berwick&#8217;s Megan Dalo in a District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal game at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Corinna Scoblick, right, applies full-court pressure on Berwick&#8217;s Abby Burt in a District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal game at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Corinna Scoblick, right, applies full-court pressure on Berwick&#8217;s Abby Burt in a District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal game at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Friday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick&#8217;s Renny Murphy, center, tries to move the ball between Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Corinna Scoblick, left, and Savannah Purdy in a District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal game at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022319GBBLL-Berwick_3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Berwick&#8217;s Renny Murphy, center, tries to move the ball between Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Corinna Scoblick, left, and Savannah Purdy in a District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal game at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Friday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Lake-Lehman uses quick spurt to take control of Berwick</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Lake-Lehman back in girls basketball district finals after beating Berwick