Lady Eagles soar to back to arena

2-25-26

Staff Reports
While the District II postseason showed signs of familiarity, it was from an unlikely sources
meant the county would once again be represented at Mohegan Sun Arena. While Addison Kilmer has garnered the attention and stirred the drink during her four-year career at Mountain View, someone has always emerged from the shadows in the biggest moments of their postseason success.
In Friday night’s PIAA District II Class 2A semifinal, Junior Emily Trichilo delivered the big spark
to send the Lady Eagles back to Mohegan Sun Arena to defend its District title after defeating
Holy Cross 50-44.
With Mountain View trailing 42-40 with just over five minutes remaining Trichilo took a pass from
Aubrey Sanders and connected for her third triple of the night and gave the Lady Eagles the
lead for good.
“I knew we needed a big play,” said Trichilo. “Aubrey (Sanders) found me in the corner and I
took the shot.”
A couple minutes later Kilmer extended the lead with a three-pointer of her own and Emma
Thatcher and Sanders each converted a pair of free throws to salt away the win. Holy Cross used a hot hand behind the arc to lead 25-23 at halftime, and added three more in an opening 11-4 run to open the second half to put the Lady Crusaders in control 36-27.
Mountain View called a timeout and Head Coach Corey Gesford instructed his players to reset.
“I said it was deep-breath time,” explained Gesford. “There was plenty of ballgame left and we
needed to just enact our gameplan.”
What the Lady Eagles did alongside some big plays was put together one of its signature
defensive stands, holding Holy Cross to eight points over the final 14 minutes of the game.
Trichilo ignited a 12-0 run with her second three-pointer and Mountain View converted defensive
stops into transition baskets.
Holy Cross answered, scoring four of the final six points of the quarter to take a 40-38 lead into
the fourth quarter.
Thatcher and Holy Cross’s Mollie Urban traded buckets before Trichilo’s final three.
Kilmer finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks to lead Mountain View while
Trichilo finished with 11 points.
Mountain View will face top seeded Wyoming Seminary in the 2A championship game Friday at
4pm at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre.
Seminary reached the final when they defeated Elk Lake 45-25 in the other semifinal.
The Lady Blue Knights held the fourth-seeded Lady Warriors to a lone free throw in the second
quarter to establish an 18-5 lead at halftime.
Kylie Shingler led Elk Lake with nine points while Madi Casselbury and Piper Keeney each
finished with six points. The Lady Warriors conclude their season with a 15-9 record.
Elk Lake reached the semifinal when they outscored Blue Ridge 10-8 in the final quarter to defeat the Lady Raiders for the fourth time this season 40-38.
Kylie Shingler and Madi Casselbury each scored 12 points to lead the Lady Warriors who also
got seven points from Piper Keeney.
Abigail Gelinger had 17 points to lead Blue Ridge and Lyndee Barbour added seven.
Mountain View reached the semis by holding Old Forge to 15 points in the first three quarters
of a 55-31 victory. While Addison Kilmer led the Lady Eagles with 25 points and 13 rebounds, Aubrey Sanders ignited Mountain View early scoring 14 of her 17 points in the first half and finished with nine assists.
Holy Cross outscored Forest City 14-2 in the final quarter to thwart an upset bid by the Lady
Foresters in a 36-24 quarterfinal victory.
Aundrea Pevec had 10 points for Forest City who finished their season with a 9-14 record
In Class 3A action fourth-seeded Riverside held fifth-seeded Montrose to single digits the first
three quarters and defeated the Lady Meteors 46-32.
Riverside jumped out to an 18-6 lead after the first quarter. While the Lady Meteors held the
Lady Vikings to eight points in the second quarter they only mustered five themselves to trail
26-11 at intermission.
Riverside put the game out of reach with a 15-6 surge after halftime.
Sadie Jones led Montrose with 12 points as the Lady Meteors finished the season with a 14-9
record.