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WILKES-BARRE TWP. &mdash; All the emotions of a trying week came pouring out at the start of the first District 2 championship game MMI Prep ever played.
				Irene Altmiller fired in a three-point field goal.
				Kim Amentler followed with a three-point play.
				And stunningly, the inexperienced Preppers who won just three games this year didn&rsquo;t look lost or even out of place playing without their head coach in an environment many believed would be too big for them.
				They had a 6-0 lead over three-time defending district champion Susquehanna.
				&ldquo;That was a good feeling,&rdquo; Amentler said. &ldquo;We were a little happy about that.
				&ldquo;We wish we could have kept it up the whole game.&rdquo;
				Then the fairy tale folded.
				Taylor Huyck scored a game-high 18 points Thursday, including a basket that made here Susquehanna&rsquo;s all-time leading girls basketball scorer, and the Sabers held MMI Prep scoreless in the second quarter to win their fourth consecutive District 2 Class A crown with a 49-28 victory over the Preppers at Mohegan Sun Arena.
				&ldquo;It definitely means a lot,&rdquo; Huyck said. &ldquo;This is our fourth one. So it means a lot for all of us.&rdquo;
				Just staying in the battle meant even more to MMI Prep.
				Preppers head coach and athletic director Vince Vella suffered a heart attack and underwent surgery last week, then recruited MMI boys head coach Joe Flanagan to guide the girls team into its first District 2 title game appearance. The Preppers got there by finishing with a better regular-season record than one-win Forest City in the three-team battle for the Class A District 2 final.
				&ldquo;Mr. Vella asked me,&rdquo; Flanagan said. &ldquo;I said I would help him. I compared it to almost like a tournament, where you had a couple days to prepare. The kids made it work. They had a lot of stuff to deal with this week.
				&ldquo;And they responded pretty well.&rdquo;
				The Preppers responded with a frenzy of determination that took them to a six-point lead in the opening minute, and again when Julie Amentler finished a three-point play for a 10-4 lead with 3:32 to go in the first quarter.
				&ldquo;We were all very excited,&rdquo; Kim Amentler said. &ldquo;It was kind of overwhelming. We never played anywhere this big or in this important of a game before.
				&ldquo;It felt good.&rdquo;
				And when Susquehanna pulled within two points, Alexis Dalesandro knocked down a 3-pointer to rebuild MMI Prep&rsquo;s lead to five points with under two minutes to go in the opening quarter.
				With that, the Preppers and their eight-player roster took a 13-10 lead into the second.
				&ldquo;We played here a couple times with the boys,&rdquo; Flanagan said. &ldquo;Momentum is big up here. That&rsquo;s one of the things I tried to tell them about. It was real important for us to win the first quarter. We did.
				&ldquo;And we hung around for awhile.&rdquo;
				Their upset hopes didn&rsquo;t last forever, or even until halftime.
				Susquehanna shut out MMI in the second quarter Huyck hit five points and the Sabers took a 27-13 lead into halftime. And after Altmiller&rsquo;s three-point play closed the gap to 11 points early in the second half, Huyck scored five more points in the third quarter as Susquehanna&rsquo;s lead blossomed to 39-21 with a quarter to play.
				With a fast-break layup in the final quarter, Huyck hit 18 points for the game and hit 1,460 for her career, passing the 1,458 of the former school record-holder Nadine Taylor.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely pretty cool,&rdquo; Huyck said. &ldquo;I knew I was close. I didn&rsquo;t have any idea how close I was. Now I can just play tomorrow.&rdquo;
				At 17-7, Susquehanna will play in today&rsquo;s 7:30 p.m. District 2/11 subregional title game at Martz Hall and will then move on to the PIAA Class A tournament.
				MMI Prep will leave this season with a 3-20 record.
				But not without a reason to smile.
				&ldquo;We just hope our coach gets better for next year,&rdquo; Kim Amentler said. &ldquo;It was very sudden, kind of a shock. Thanks to Joe, we did as much as we could.&rdquo;
				District 2 Class A Championship
				Susquehanna 49, MMI Prep 28
				MMI PREP (28) &mdash; Julie Amentler 3 1-4 7, Kim Amentler 3 2-8 8, Irene Altmiller 2 2-3 7, Alexis Dalesandro 1 0-5 3, Dominque Kline 0 1-2 1, Sadie Cloud 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Braunstein 1 0-0 2, Violet O&rdquo;Connell 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 6-22 28.
				SUSQUEHANNA (49) &mdash; Mazkenzie Heath 0 0-0 0, Geena Miller 1 0-0 2, Megan Kiernan 2 2-2 6, Mackenzie Steele 3 0-2 6, Taylor Huyck 6 4-4 18, Amanda Iveson 3 0-3 6, Mackenzie Decker 0 0-0 0, Megan Decker 1 1-2 3, Alexandra Iveson 2 0-0 4, Cortney Bennett 0 0-0 0, Sarah Day 0 0-0 0, Lexis Iveson 0 0-0 0, Brianna Ashman 0 0-0 0, Danni Williams 0 0-0 0, Kerstin Dooley 2 0-0 4, Zoey Cramer 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 7-13 49.
				MMI Prep`13`0`8`7 &mdash; 28
				Susquehanna`10`17`12`10 &mdash; 49
				Three-point goals &mdash; MMI 2 (Altmiller, Dalesandro); SUS 2 (Huyck 2).

MMI Prep girls find excitement in District 2 title defeat