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WILKES-BARRE TWP. &mdash; The scores stood out like a red flag of danger.
				The entire 25 games of Scranton Prep&rsquo;s perfect season was built by double-digit victories, including 14 wins by 30 or more points &mdash; six of which came by 40 &mdash; and two others where the margin wound up at 29.
				So when decided underdog Dallas pulled within six points of Prep late in the third quarter of the District 2 Class 4A girls basketball title game, a strong feeling of hope swept through the Mountaineers.
				&ldquo;I think we stuck with them, for the most part,&rdquo; Dallas junior Claire Charlton said. &ldquo;It felt really good.&rdquo;
				In the end, though, it only felt like a moral victory to the Mountaineers.
				Rachael Rose scored 12 of her 21 points in the second half Thursday and the Classics remained unbeaten by pulling away from Dallas for a 52-35 victory and the Class 4A district championship at Mohegan Sun Arena.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised,&rdquo; Rose said of a victory that remained close until the fourth quarter. &ldquo;I knew Dallas was a really good team, we play against their players in AAU and stuff. This is everything. We&rsquo;ve been talking about this since our summer practices &mdash; win our league, win the district.
				&ldquo;This is a huge goal for us.&rdquo;
				The next objective is a long run in the PIAA Class 4A tourney, which begins for the Classics next Saturday against the loser of the District 3 third-place game between Susquehanna Twp. and Northern Lehigh. Dallas, now 22-5, also heads to states as the District 2 runner-up and will face the winner of the District 4 third-place game between Mifflinburg and Shamokin next Saturday, while Berwick will represent District 2 as the No. 3 team in Class 4A.
				Using a triangle-and-two defense, the Mountaineers frustrated Prep for the longest time while making plans to pull the upset.
				University of Pennsylvania-bound Lauren Charlton gave Dallas its first lead at 6-4 with her first &mdash; and only &mdash; basket with a tick over three minutes remaining in the first quarter and Morgan MacNeely&rsquo;s 3-pointer had Dallas ahead again, 9-8, with a under a half-minute to play in the quarter.
				The teams went into the second quarter tied, but Dallas roared out with eight straight points to send Prep reeling.
				&ldquo;We gave them everything they can handle,&rdquo; a proud Dallas coach Kelly Johnson said. &ldquo;They were blowing teams out by 40, 50 points this year. They&rsquo;re a good team, but they&rsquo;re not unbeatable. We were coming to try and win the game tonight. Our kids came in with a lot of fight in them.
				&ldquo;We were going in with guns blazing.&rdquo;
				Dallas tried to blaze its trail when Bella Hill came off the bench and drilled a 3-pointer, Claire Charlton converted a short jumper and Deanna Wallace swished a trey to give Dallas a 17-9 lead just over two minutes into the second quarter.
				But Prep put out the fire.
				From that point, the Classics outscored Dallas 43-18 the rest of the way, establishing the dominance that made then the class of District 2.
				Rose, held to five points over the first 12 minutes, scored two baskets late in the first half and Prep took a 25-22 lead into halftime.
				Then the Classics built on it.
				Rose scored seven points as Prep slowly generated some breathing room with an eight-point lead in the third quarter. And although MacNeely&rsquo;s bucket pulled Dallas within 32-26 with 3:28 to go in the third, the Mountaineers never seriously threatened Prep after that.
				&ldquo;We stopped shooting,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;We went cold a little bit. We had some turnovers at inopportune times.&rdquo;
				Prep made the Mountaineers pay.
				Cecelia Collins scored the first basket of the final quarter to move Prep&rsquo;s lead to 10 points, then the Classics turned to a patient passing attack to churn time off the clock with over five minutes remaining.
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever seen that before,&rdquo; said Claire Charlton, who finished with a team-high 10 points. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;re quick guards. I&rsquo;m not surprised.&rdquo;
				It wasn&rsquo;t a slowdown.
				&ldquo;They were in a triangle-and-two,&rdquo; Rose said. &ldquo;We just wanted to hold the ball and get them to come out and then run. Once they were losing, they were going to have to come out.
				&ldquo;We knew we just had to get the lead.&rdquo;
				Rose gave the Classics an 11-point lead by converting a three-point play with 3:44 on the clock, and Dallas&rsquo; district dreams were quickly fading.
				The Mountaineers scored just four points in the final quarter &mdash; on a bucket by Claire Charlton and two free throws from Lauren Charlton &mdash; and headed to states with silver medals that will represent their ability to stick with even the best.
				&ldquo;We wished we&rsquo;d won,&rdquo; Claire Charlton said, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re really happy with what we did. Being here to play at the Arena with a team like that is the best thing ever. We went in knowing it was going to be tough. It was all or nothing for us.
				&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have anything to lose.&rdquo;
				District 2 Class 4A Championship
				Scranton Prep 52, Dallas 35
				DALLAS (35) &mdash; Haley Habrack 1 0-0 2, Morgan MacNeely 2 0-0 5, Deanna Wallace 3 0-0 8, Claire Charlton 5 0-0 10, Lauren Charlton 1 2-2 4, Bella Hill 2 0-0 6, Julie Kocher 0 0-0 0, Nadia Evanosky 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 2-2 35.
				SCRANTON PREP (52) &mdash; Meredith Purcell 3 0-0 6, Lizzie Neville 3 0-0 7, Maria Belardi 1 1-2 4, Rachael Rose 9 2-2 21, Cecelia Collina 5 0-0 10, Maggie Mills 1 2-2 4, Maggie Flynn 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 5-6 52.
				Dallas`9`13`9`4 &mdash; 35
				Scranton Prep`9`16`14`13 &mdash; 52
				Three-point goals &mdash; DAL 5 (Hill 2, Wallace 2, MacNeely); PREP 3 (Neville, Belardi, Rose).

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Scranton Prep pulls away from Dallas, stays unbeaten in district title game