CLARION, Pa. – Playing what one of its players described as a “10 out of 10” game, Redbank Valley won its third straight District 9 title and its second in a row in Class 2A with a 63-55 victory over Moniteau in the title game Saturday night at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gym.
“It was probably a 10 out of 10,” Kira Bonnano, who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, said. “It was probably one of our best games, I would say.”
Rewatch the game
Redbank Valley (20-5), which also won the Class 3A title in 2022, never trailed against a Lady Warrior team it only beat by three points on a half-court Addy Bond shot at the horn on Jan. 3.
“We really needed to step up our defense,” Mylee Harmon, who had a game-high 30 points said when asked what kind of adjustments the Lady Bulldogs needed to make from the first meeting. “We had really been lacking in the defense and focusing on offense mainly. We shouldn’t. We really needed to pick it up, and I felt we shut Catherine Kelly down. She is their main scorer. She didn’t go off for 30, which we didn’t want her to do.”
Kelly, who was averaging over 19 points per game, had scored 99 points in her last three contests but was “held” to 18 in the title game on 8 of 22 shoointg.
“We ran a box (and one) a little bit,” Harmon said. “We just tried to close out on her and always give help. We always knew where she was and also tried to have a help defender there to to ready.”
While Redbank Valley was limiting Kelly, the Lady Bulldogs scored a lot of their points in transition playing at a fast tempo a lot of the night.
“We can all run,” Harmon said. “We all have the endurance to run.”
A key to the victory was also Redbank Valley’s ability to play without Harmon on the court for a nice chunk of the first half after she picked up a second foul.
But instead of hanging their heads, the Lady Bulldogs maintained the lead they held when she left and ended up going up 11, 29-18, at halftime with Harmon returning midway through the second quarter.
Bonanno was a big reason for that scoring five second-quarter points and seven first-half tallies all after Harmon picked up her second foul.
“My main role isn’t really to score,” Bonnano said. “It is to get rebounds, do the dirty work. But whenever Mylee goes out and people aren’t doing anything, I know I have to step up and try to do what she does.”
Harmon said the title, her third in three years, feels awesome.
“It definitely feels great,” Harmon said. “We have been looking forward to it since summer. It has always been one of our goals. It’s not the end goal, but one of the last ones we want to do. To get that as a team is really great.”
Redbank Valley head coach Chris Edmonds never dreamt his teams would win three titles in a row.
“Honestly, no,” Edmonds said. “It’s been a great run. The girls have worked really hard for it. They put a lot of time in gym over the summer time. When the season starts, we really go at it. I am really proud of them to put three district championships in a row.”
The Bond sisters – senior Izzy and sophomore Addy – each added eight points for Redbank Valley.
Allie Pry added a season-high 16 points for Moniteau, her second-highest scoring output in her career behind a 17-point game against Union on Jan. 12, 2022, while Abbey Jewart scored a season-high 13 points, one of her career high of 14 vs. Redbank Valley.
Both teams move into the PIAA playoffs and will host games on Friday, March 8.
Redbank Valley will face WPIAL sixth-place finisher Clairton, led by Iyanna Wade, who averaged over 40 points per game in the regular season and scored a WPIAL record 65 in a game this year, while Moniteau take son District 10 third-place finisher West Middlesex.
