The Lady Pirates were down 23-11 at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter when 6-foot-1 junior Levada Gorsuch went down with an ankle injury, an injury bad enough that she had to be lifted off the floor to the sideline.

“With Levada, she impacts us on both sides of the floor,” Williamsburg coach Angela Detwiler said. “She’s been averaging like 10 points and 10 rebounds per game, getting blocks, that affects us both offensively and defensively. I think this just shows you how big of an impact she has on our team.”

The Lady Marauders didn’t blink and continued to pour it on the rest of the game en route to a 61-31 mercy-rule victory that put them in the district title game Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mount Aloysius College against Bishop Carroll Catholic. The Lady Huskies edged Saint Joseph’s, 62-61, in Thursday’s other semifinal game.

“We knew we had a size advantage then, but honestly, we didn’t get much down low as you would think,” BG coach Kristi Kaack said. “I thought we did a phenomenal job of moving around the perimeter, then slicing through the lanes and finding the open player.”

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Bishop Guilfoyle's Gia Adams looks for an opening against the Williamsburg defense.

The first 4:10 of the opening quarter was as close as the game got. BG jumped out to a 5-0 lead on points from Layona Williams and Mary Haigh. However, Williamsburg responded when Regan Prough hit a 3-pointer at the 4:35 mark to give her team a 6-5 lead. She hit another trey at the 4:04 mark for a 9-7 lead. There was a media timeout at the 3:50 mark and from there, BG turned it up a notch. When the dust had settled, Williamsburg was down 20-10.

“There were some things that we didn’t do out there, and that is on me as their coach. I should have had them better prepared,” Detwiler said.

After Gorsuch went down, BG wound up outscoring the Lady Pirates 16-5 in the frame, with Williamsburg’s points all coming from the foul line. Seven different Lady Marauders scored a basket in the quarter for a 36-15 halftime advantage. Gia Adams came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers in the half. She hit two more in the second half and finished with 15 points.

“There is something about Williamsburg and Gia Adams,” said Kaack, referring to the senior Lady Marauder having big games against the Lady Pirates in the past such as the PIAA semifinal win at the Altoona Fieldhouse two years ago. “I just thought she played phenomenally for us when she got in. She also did an excellent job of defending (LeeAnna Royer) on the ball, and her defense fuels her offense.”

The second half was pretty much the same as the second quarter. Guilfoyle scored 15 points between four points from Haigh and Adams’ aforementioned 3-pointers. Williamsburg hit a 3-pointer at the 2:50 mark courtesy of Brynn Lower. It was their first field goal made since the 4:04 mark of the first quarter.

“I am very old school. I love to play man defense. I am very comfortable in man, and our kids did an excellent job with matchup assignments,” Kaack said.

BG got balance on offense with Adams’ 15 points, 13 from Williams and 10 from Haigh. The Lady Pirates were led by Bella Royer with seven points.

“We are never going to back down as a team,” replied Detwiler when asked about her message to her team for the second half. “They always play with heart. That is what we talked about at halftime. No matter what the score, we are going to represent the Lady Pirates and play hard.”

Williamsburg will play Saint Joseph’s next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at a site to be determined in a consolation game to determine seeding, but both will advance to the state playoffs.

WILLIAMSBURG (31): L. Royer 2 2-3 6, Gorsuch 0 0-0 0, B. Royer 1 4-6 7, Alexander 1 0-0 2, R. Prough 2 0-0 6, Lower 1 2-4 5, Colbert 0 0-0 0, Detwiler 0 5-8 5. Totals — 7 13-21 31.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (61): Ruggery 2 3-4 8, Petrecca 2 0-0 4, Yeskey 1 2-2 4, Haigh 3 3-4 10, Williams 6 0-0 13, Adams 5 0-0 15, Homan 2 0-0 5, B. Bianconi 1 0-0 2, Steward 0 0-0 0, Seidel 0 0-0 0. Totals — 22 8-10 61.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Williamsburg 10 5 10 6 — 31

Bishop Guilfoyle 20 16 15 10 — 61

3-point goals: Williamsburg 4 (B. Royer, R. Prough 2, Lower); Bishop Guilfoyle 9 (Adams 5, Ruggery, Haigh, Williams, Homan).

Records: Williamsburg (22-4), Bishop Guilfoyle (23-2)

Officials: Vicki Markiewicz, Nick Roman, George Figura.