NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It was a year in the making.
Also see: D9 teams in PIAA First-round recaps
After dropping a home PIAA playoff game a year ago in Class 3A, Redbank Valley set its eye on the 2023 PIAA Class 2A opening round.
And the District 9 champion Lady Bulldogs delivered in a big way.
Using a 14-0 first-half run and a 14-2 run to start the second half, Redbank Valley cruised past Serra Catholic, the sixth-place team out of the WPIAL, 63-36.
“It was really important, really personal,” Redbank Valley sophomore star Mylee Harmon, who scored a game-high 22 points said. “Last year, we had an upset. It (tonight) was pretty much a statement saying we can make a run at states and play the harder teams.”
Redbank Valley head coach Chris Edmonds credited his team’s hard work in the offseason for the result in the postseason opener.
“It feels really good,” Edmonds said. “The girls have worked really hard all summer. all fall, for this point. I’m very proud of them.”
The Lady Bulldogs (26-1) got off to a slow start and trailed 7-2 midway through the first quarter.
They were still down 11-8 after a basket by Serra Catholic’s Cate Clark with 41.7 seconds left in the opening quarter.
That’s when Kira Bonanno started the 14-0 run with a basket with 21.1 seconds left in the first quarter.
Harmon then took over at the start of the second quarter scoring eight of the Lady Bulldogs’ first 12 points of the second quarter, as Redbank Valley took a 22-11 lead midway through the quarter.
“We don’t get down on ourselves whenever we are down,” Harmon said. “We just have to stay calm. When we went on that run, we didn’t get in our heads. We told ourselves we could do it, and pushed ourselves.”
See Harmon’s full postgame interview
At halftime, Redbank Valley led 27-17 and then put the game away with the 14-2 run to start the second half.
Caylen Rearick started the run with a 3-pointer and 2-pointer in the first 1:15 of the second half, and then Harmon took over scoring the next seven points before Rearick completed the run with another basket with 2:37 to play in the third quarter.
“The message at halftime was to keep to the game plan, keep looking inside, get to transition, and go,” Edmonds said. “We were able to do that with that second run.”
At that point, the Lady Bulldogs led 41-19 and the game was all but over.
Rearick added 14 points for Redbank Valley, while Huffman had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Abby Genes led Serra Catholic (18-5) with 15 points.
Redbank Valley will take on Bishop McCort, the third-place team out of District 6, in the second round Tuesday, March 14, at a site and time to be announced.
