Instead of letting it bother her, Gorsuch returned on a mission and led the Lady Pirates to a 67-40 win and a matchup with Berlin Brothersvalley in the championship game Saturday.

“She’s really matured as a player,” Williamsburg coach Angela Detwiler said. “She stays calm out there. A lot of times she has two girls on her, and they are trying to push her around. I don’t know if it’s because she’s 6-foot-1, but she doesn’t always get calls. She has to battle night in and night out and keeps her head.”

Gorsuch scored a game-high 22 points and was 12-for-17 from the foul line.

“I just tried to focus on taking it up strong and getting the basket and a foul,” Gorsuch said. “I made a bunch, and the referees were calling it, so I tried to take advantage.”

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Williamsburg's Faith Detwiler drives by Southern Huntingdon's Josie Hull.

As a freshman and sophomore, Gorsuch sometimes let physical play impact her game, but she’s learned how to deal with it.

“I’m used to it,” Gorsuch said. “I’m used to getting double teamed and teams being physical with me. I embrace it, because that means my teammates are more open to hit an outside shot or more likely to get a wide open shot. If they don’t make it, I’ll get the rebound and put it back up.”

That happened plenty of times Friday as Williamsburg drilled eight 3-pointers — two each by LeeAnna Royer, Bella Royer and Faith Detwiler. Detwiler finished with 12 points, and Bella Royer had 11.

“The first half, we were very complacent and taking outside shots,” Coach Detwiler said. “I told them I really wanted us to start attacking the basket, and we did a really good job of that in the second half. We started working it inside and attacking the basket. I felt like our girls kept their heads, even though there were a lot of physical fouls and physical play.”

The Lady Pirates took Detwiler’s message to heart and ended up getting to the line 35 times and made 25 of them. Faith Detwiler finished 6-for-6 from the line.

Southern Huntingdon trailed by three after the first quarter and 10 at halftime but struggled without leading scorer Ella Young.

“That’s 20 to 25 points a game out of your lineup,” Southern Huntingdon coach Shawn Young said. “She’s a great defensive player. You can’t say much more than it’s a huge loss. It’s a big hole to try to fill, especially when you find out two days before this game. It’s a tough loss. There’s a very slight chance she could be back (in the playoffs). I’m hoping. Fingers crossed.”

Allie Young led the Lady Rockets with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“The first half looked good,” Coach Young said. “Obviously in the second half, we wore ourselves out. I’m proud of how we did considering what we had.”

Already missing Ella Young, Southern Huntingdon had Caylen Thomas and Allie Young foul out in the fourth quarter, and Laney Peterson missed plenty of time with foul trouble.

Williamsburg outscored the Lady Rockets, 34-17, in the second half with the help of veterans like Gorsuch and LeeAnna Royer and a strong group of freshmen, which include Faith Detwiler and Bella Royer.

“This is our dream team year,” Gorsuch said. “We have all wanted to play together, and we’re going to take this as far as we can.”

The Lady Pirates defeated Berlin Brothersvalley, 55-47, in a December regular season matchup.

“This atmosphere is good for the girls going into the playoffs,” Detwiler said. “Berlin has a really good team, and I think if we were able to win the ICC championship, that would give us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs.”

WILLIAMSBURG (67): R. Prough 1 0-0 3, L. Royer 2 1-2 7, Gorsuch 5 12-17 22, B. Royer 3 3-4 11, Lower 2 2-4 6, Colbert 0 1-2 1, Detwiler 2 6-6 12, Alexander 2 0-0 5, Houck 0 0-0 0, M. Prough 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 25-35 67.

SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON (40): A. Young 5 3-6 13, Peterson 1 0-0 3, Hull 1 0-0 3, Clark 3 0-0 8, Walters 3 1-2 8, Price 0 2-2 2, Thomas 1 0-0 3, Love 0 0-0 0, Gant 0 0-0 0, Wingert 0 0-0 0, Griest 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 6-10 40.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Williamsburg 14 19 18 16 — 67

Southern Huntingdon 11 12 8 9 — 40

3-point goals: Southern Huntingdon 6 (Clark 2, Peterson, Hull, Walters, Thomas); Williamsburg 8 (L. Royer 2, B. Royer 2, Detwiler 2, R. Prough, Alexander).

Records: Southern Huntingdon (17-6); Williamsburg (21-2).

Officials: Mike Price, Johnny Sloas, Jesse Topper.