By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

CLAYSBURG — As the old saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.

Williamsburg was defeated soundly by a strong Berlin Brothersvalley team, 65-38, in an Inter-County Conference Tournament girls basketball semifinal game Friday evening at the Claysburg-Kimmel High School gymnasium, but Lady Blue Pirates coach Angela Detwiler hopes that the difficult experience will serve as a wake-up call for her team, which starts play in the District 6 Class 1A tournament at home against Blacklick Valley Monday night.

“Berlin is a well-coached team, and they showed up tonight with a lot of intensity right from the start of the game,” Detwiler said. “I felt like my team didn’t show up ready to play tonight.

“I told my girls after this game that while we still have another game to play, if we don’t show up like we didn’t show up tonight at the start of this game, our season is going to end,” Detwiler added.

Berlin got double-figure scoring from three players, controlled the boards for the entire game, and led virtually from start to finish. Berlin (20-2 overall, 10-0 in the conference) broke out to a 17-6 lead after one quarter, and expanded it to 20 points, 33-13, at halftime.

Sophomore guard Coral Prosser scored a game-high 16 points, freshman Bryn Prosser added 14, and junior Mercy Sechler popped in 12 points for Berlin, which will face Southern Huntingdon in today’s 12:30 p.m. girls championship game. Southern beat Everett, 51-49, in Friday’s other girls semifinal game.

With Coral Prosser scoring nine points in the first quarter on a pair of 3-point field goals, a layup, and a foul shot, Berlin made a strong statement early.

“We knew what we had to do coming in,” Prosser said. “We played a smart game, rotated the ball on offense, and we played good defense. We stayed out of foul trouble and we did a good job of boxing out on the boards, and not allowing them to get rebounds for second-chance shots.”

Bryn Prosser grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as Berlin fashioned a 29-19 edge on the boards.

The two programs have gone back-and-forth in their matchups over the past two years, with Williamsburg winning two of three games from Berlin last year, including a victory in the state quarterfinals, after Berlin had beaten the Lady Pirates in the conference championship game.

Friday’s game was a different story however, as Berlin — which had defeated Williamsburg by 10 points in a regular-season game this year — had everything going its way for four quarters.

“We played our game, and we played pretty unselfish basketball,” said Berlin coach Rachel Prosser, whose team had five players score at least eight points. “I thought our rebounding was a key in this game. Williamsburg is very good at rebounding, but our girls did a great job with that tonight, and we got going quickly.”

Junior guard LeeAnna Royer led Williamsburg with 13 points and sophomore forward Levada Gorsuch added 10 for the Lady Pirates, who got five rebounds apiece from both players. Williamsburg made only 14 of 40 floor shots for a 35 percent clip, while Berlin converted 26 of 53 for 49 percent.

“Give Berlin credit — they played a very good game,” Detwiler said. “We played better in the second half, but we came out flat in the first half, our shots weren’t falling, and we weren’t getting down the floor fast enough.

“Hopefully this serves as a wake-up call for our players,” Detwiler added. “In the playoffs, we can’t afford to have any more games like the one we had tonight.”

BERLIN BROTHERSVALLEY (65): C. Prosser 5 4-6 16, Foor 3 0-0 8, Sechler 6 0-4 12, B. Prosser 6 0-0 14, Ritchey 3 2-2 8, Walker 2 0-2 5, Stolzfus 1 0-0 2, Fairman 0 0-0 0, Vizinsky 0 0-0 0. Totals – 26 6-14 65.

WILLIAMSBURG (38): Royer 4 5-10 13, Ranalli 3 0-0 6, Gorsuch 4 2-3 10, Prough 2 0-0 6, G. Colbert 1 0-0 3, A. Colbert 0 0-0 0, Alexander 0 0-0 0, Kagarise 0 0-0 0, Flaig 0 0-0 0, Rispoli 0 0-0 0. Totals -14 7-13 38.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Berlin Brothersvalley 17 16 21 11–65

Williamsburg 6 7 18 7–38

3-point goals: Berlin Brothersvalley 7 (C. Prosser 2, Foor 2, B. Prosser 2, Walker); Williamsburg 3 (Prough 2, G. Colbert).

Records: Berlin Brothersvalley (20-2 overall, 10-0 in the Inter-County Conference); Williamsburg (19-4, 10-1).

Officials: Mike Price, Steve Oakes, Johnny Sloas