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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
WILLIAMSBURG -- A year ago, Williamsburg was at the top of most state rankings among girls basketball teams in Class 1A.
This season, some ranking services have them in the middle of the top 10 and some don't have them listed at all.
It might be time to start paying attention to the Lady Pirates again.
Williamsburg put its game against Southern Huntingdon away in the first quarter and eventually settled for a 73-54 win over the Class 2A Lady Rockets, who entered Wednesday's game at 14-2.
The Lady Pirates got 23 points and 13 rebounds from Levada Gorsuch and 20 points from LeeAnna Royer.
"When you lose three seniors and you're rebuilding you never know," Williamsburg coach Amy Hileman said. "You're trying to get that maturity back on the floor. It took us a bit to get where I wanted us to be. Levada is playing huge for us right now, and LeeAnna has really stepped up. You are looking at a freshman and a sophomore. They are getting big minutes for us, and with Ayla (Hileman) added to the mix, they had her double or triple teamed at times. When you do that, you're going to leave more openings up for Levada and LeeAnna and the other girls on the team."
Williamsburg has only one loss, 41-37, to Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic before Ayla Hileman returned from her knee injury and recently defeated Berlin Brothersvalley, which was a PIAA semifinalist last season.
"We lost Kendel Norris, Jade Carper and Jayla Woodruff who were our star players last year," Williamsburg senior Laney Prough said. "With us losing more than half our starting five, people may have thought there weren't people to fill their shoes, and I think we were overlooked."
Prough had a solid game with seven points and nine rebounds.
The Lady Pirates outscored Southern Huntingdon, 19-4, in the first quarter and stretched the lead to 20 by the middle of the second quarter.
"This kind of atmosphere, with them playing at home -- we haven't played big games like this," Southern Huntingdon coach Craig Sellers said. "This is the second time we have played Williamsburg, but everyone else on our schedule is not at the level of Williamsburg, and we have to get ourselves ready to play better teams. We weren't physical enough in the first quarter."
The Lady Pirates could see Southern Huntingdon again in the Inter-County Conference playoffs.
Haley Ross led the Lady Rockets with 14 points, but Williamsburg's lead never dropped below double digits following the first quarter spurt, which was inspired in part by Sideline Cancer's pregame presence at the game. The organization raised $2,600 for Lacie Merritts by taking donations and selling clothing items to a packed gymnasium.
"We came out ready to play," Amy Hileman said. "It was the Sideline Cancer game, and the trophy was on the line. They were fired up and ready to go. I felt like we were everywhere in the first quarter. We might have tired ourselves out a little bit. We were all in our coverage spots where we needed to be on defense, and they couldn't get their offense going."
SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON (54): Irvin 5 0-0 12, Shawley 1 0-0 2, Brown 1 0-2 2, Thomas 1 0-0 2, Ross 4 5-5 14, Young 3 4-6 11, Horne 1 0-0 3, Clark 2 1-1 6, Hall 0 2-2 2. Totals -- 18 12-16 54.
WILLIAMSBURG (73): Hileman 2 1-2 7, R. Prough 2 0-0 6, Royer 7 3-4 20, Gorsuch 8 7-9 23, L. Prough 3 1-3 7, Ranalli 1 3-4 5, Carper 1 0-0 2, G. Colbert 0 0-0 0, A. Colbert 1 0-0 2, Alexander 0 1-2 1. Totals -- 25 16-24 73.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Southern Huntingdon 4 20 16 14 -- 54
Williamsburg 19 21 19 14 -- 73
3-point goals: Southern Huntingdon 6 (Irvin 2, Ross, Young, Horne, Clark); Williamsburg 7 (Royer 3, R. Prough 2, Hileman 2).
Records: Southern Huntingdon (14-3); Williamsburg (16-1).
Officials: Nick Roman, Steve Vovko, Dan Kiser.
JV: Southern Huntingdon, 46-35. High scorers--Anna Colbert, W, 10; Caleigh Clark, SH, 16.