Wednesday roundup: West York girls move on

HERSHEY -- Say this about the West York girls' basketball team: They seem to be savoring every second of this postseason run.

The top-seeded Bulldogs were absolutely giddy after last night's 52-42 victory over No. 4 Oley Valley in the District 3-AAA semifinals. They stayed out on the court for a minute or two to celebrate in front of their fans, and after skipping back to the locker room, the whole team came together to sing a deafening rendition of "Kumbaya," the sound of which flooded through the back hallways of the Giant Center.

Really, the Bulldogs have good reason to enjoy this run. They're already the first West York girls team ever to play in a district title game. They'll play second-seeded Trinity in Saturday's Class AAA final at 11:15 a.m. at the Giant Center.

Winning a district title would be the culmination of four years of work for West York's vaunted senior class. Many of the Bulldogs five senior starters have been playing together since well before high school.

"Coming in as freshman, we set goals for where we want to be in four years," West York coach Jon Shultz said. "One of our goals was, we want to be contenders in the state. But we also want to win a district championship. We always use that as motivation for where we want to go."

The players understand the historical significance, too, senior forward Ann Deibert said.

"It's crazy. It's hard to describe because it's not even the winning and that kind of stuff," Deibert said. "It's the community support we receive now compared to freshman year.

"Every locker room talk is always about playing for our team, playing for our school, playing for our community."

Hanover, Delone fall

Earlier at the Giant Center on Wednesday, both the Hanover and Delone Catholic boys fell in their respective District 3-AA matchups. Third-seeded Hanover was simply overmatched by No. 2 Trinity, losing 62-39. No. 4-seed Delone, meanwhile, struggled defensively and fell to top-seeded Lancaster Mennonite,

Here is Ryan Dixon's game story from the Hanover-Trinity game.

Click here to get Steve Navaroli's take on Delone's defeat to the Blazers.

Those losses set up a crucial third-place matchup between the Squires and Nighthawks, set for Friday at Carlisle High School at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game earns a state playoff berth. The loser sees its season end.

Hanover beat Delone Catholic twice this year. Both those games, however, took place in the first week or two of the regular season.