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Red Lion girls qualify for PIAA Tournament


This year's run through the District 3 Class AAAA tournament has been very similar to last year's for the Red Lion girls' basketball team.

The Lions lost to Cumberland Valley in the quarterfinal round of each tournament only to rebound in the consolation round.

Just like last year, Red Lion won in the consolation round to qualify for the PIAA tournament.

This year, the victory came on Monday night at South Western High School against Red Land.

The No. 7 seeded Lions pulled away from the No. 11 Patriots in the fourth quarter en route to a 46-35 victory.

"I thought for the entire game, we played really good defense," Red Lion head coach Don Dimoff said. "We held them to 35 points and that team is very explosive."

The Lions (17-8) will play No. 5 Mechanicsburg (22-3) on Thursday at a site and time determined in the fifth place game. Last year, the two teams met in the same game, with the Lions prevailing with a 49-44 win.

"Last year's team we had a little more experience," Dimoff said. "This year, we are young, but this group learned a lot from that group last year. I couldn't be prouder of this group for fighting through the injuries and the youth and finding a way to qualify for the state tournament."

On Monday, the Lions led 31-29 after three quarters which featured eight ties and seven lead changes.

Red Lion opened up a six point lead with 4:40 to play in the game and found some rhythm offensively and used a minor tweak defensively to shut down the Patriots.

"We made a little defensive adjustment in the fourth and it really seemed to work," Dimoff said.

"It wasn't a triangle and two, but something along those lines. It was a hybrid of what we always play."

The Patriots closed within three at 35-32 on a 3-pointer by Ashley Carroll, but that was as close to the lead as Red Land would get. Carroll's trey, was one of six in the game for Red Land, who finished with just 10 field goals.

Red Land was led by Rileigh Devine's 12 points. The Lions held the Patriots to single digits in three of four quarters.

Courtney Dimoff led Red Lion with 15 points. Her 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half, gave the Lions a 21-20 halftime lead.

The junior started off the night by finding her teammates with some excellent passes on back cuts. She then found her shooting rhythm in the second half, including scoring five points from the foul line.

"She made some great passes," Coach Dimoff said. "She's growing up and learning. She did a great job of distributing and then got some looks in the fourth quarter."

Red Lion 46, Red Land 35

Red Land (35)

Sorrell 2 0-0 4, B. Carroll 1 2-2 4, Ricci 2 1-2 7, A. Carroll 1 2-2 5, Bell 1 0-0 2, Alderman 0 1-2 1, Rileigh Devine 3 3-4 12.

Totals — 10 9-12 35.

Red Lion (46)

Wolf 0 0-0 0, Eames 2 2-2 6, Shepherd 2 3-4 8, Reba 4 0-0 8, Maciejewski 2 2-4 7, Courtney Dimoff 4 5-7 15, P. Shingler 1 0-0 2.

Totals — 15 12-17 46.

Red Land11996—35Red Lion9121015—46

3-point goals — Red La. 6 (Devine 3, Ricci 2, A. Carroll), Red Li. 4 (Dimoff 2, Maciejewski, Shepherd).