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WINGATE -- Saturday night during its District 6 Class 1A girls basketball semifinal, three was the magic number for Williamsburg.
The No. 3 seeded Lady Pirates knocked down eight 3-pointers on their way to eliminating the No. 2 seed Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy, 56-42, at Bald Eagle Area High School.
"That's what you have to take advantage of," Williamsburg coach Amy Hileman said of the Lady Pirates' long ball success. "They were face-guarding Ayla (Hileman), they guarded Levada (Gorsuch) very well. That's going to lead some openings somewhere, and it was out on the perimeter."
The Lady Pirates not only punched their ticket to Wednesday night's district championship at Mount Aloysius against Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic, but they've also clinched a berth in the state playoffs.
LeAnna Royer powered much of the Lady Pirates offense as she scored a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter to give Williamsburg a 21-15 lead with just over three minutes to play before the half. Royer led all scorers with 26 points.
"She (had a tough job) to guard (Naomi) Crispin all night," Hileman said. "She's a both-sides-of-the-floor player playing really big minutes for us."
Nearing halftime, Gorusch drew a bonus free-throw chance for a 24-16 Lady Pirate lead. She finished with nine points.
The Wolfpack, though, had their own long ball answers from Crispin, who scored a team-high 20 points and kept her team's halftime deficit to 25-19.
"Our defense was better," Royer said. "They had more rebounds than us (during a regular season game). We worked on rebounding and boxing out, and grabbing the ball."
Williamsburg slowly but steadily started pulling away in the fourth as Royer buried another of her four 3s and Ayla Hileman added another from downtown to make it 28-22 just under two minutes into the second half. Hileman finished with 12 points.
Regan Prough helped stretch that lead to 41-32, thanks to a lay-up later in the frame.
Jacee Cunningham tried to give the Wolfpack some extra hope as she took a feed for a bucket with just over 3¢ minutes to play, but that's as close as they got.
From there, the Lady Pirates cleaned up at the foul line as Royer and Hileman combined to go 13-for-16 for the bulk of their fourth quarter production.
The Lady Pirates will be looking for redemption against the Lady Marauders as Wednesday's final will be a rematch of a game from Dec. 19 which BG won 41-37.
"It's always great to get the chance to play for the District 6 championship and to be on the floor at the Mount," Hileman said. "We're definitely looking forward to the matchup. We didn't have our full team the first time we saw them. We're going to be ready."
Saint Joe's will host Bishop Carroll at Bald Eagle Area in the consolation game on Wednesday night with the winner only advancing to the state postseason.
WILLIAMSBURG (56): Hileman 3 4-4 12, Royer 6 10-14 26, Gorsuch 2 5-5 9, L. Prough 1 0-0 2, Ranalli 0 1-2 1, Carper 0 0-0 0. Totals --12 20-25 56.
SAINT JOSEPH'S (42): Luckovich 0 0-0 0, Crispin 6 3-6 20, Cunningham 3 0-0 6, Yartz 1 5-9 7, Himes 3 0-0 9, Peters 0 0-0 0, Prospero 0 0-0 0. Totals --13 8-15 42.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Williamsburg 11 14 16 15 -- 56
Saint Joseph's 12 7 13 10 -- 42
3-point field goals: Williamsburg 8 (Hileman 2, R. Prough 2, Royer 4), Saint Joseph's 8 (Crispin 5, Himes 3)
Records: Williamsburg (24-2), Saint Joseph's (22-2).
Officials: Mark Dwyer, Dan Gales, Ethan Vipond