By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News

FAIRVIEW — The Wilmington High girls basketball team couldn’t get going on Saturday.

Villa Maria raced to a 28-point lead after the first quarter and breezed to a 77-12 District 10, Class AA quarterfinal-round victory at Fairview High School.

The Lady Greyhounds (12-11) trailed 33-5 after the first quarter and 47-8 at the half. The Lady Victors are the two-time defending Class AA state champion. They have six state crowns to their credit.

“They pressed the whole first half,” Wilmington coach Brandy Sanford said. “We played scared. We just couldn’t overlook that they’re the two-time state champs and play basketball.

“That was at the forefront of the girls’ minds.”

The Lady Victors (19-4) advance to the semifinals to face Seneca at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Edinboro University. Villa Maria is ranked No. 2 in the state in Class AA by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

Seneca knocked off Sharpsville, 51-46, to advance to the semifinals.

Mackenzie Hiers tossed in a team-best six markers for Wilmington. Hiers is the lone senior on the Lady Greyhounds’ roster.

“Mackenzie brought everything to the table for us, even as a freshman,” Sanford said. “She was very aggressive and she gives 110 percent day in and day out. It’s going to be tough to replace her.

“She was the morale and the drive behind the team.”

Sanford noted the importance of improving in region play next year to help with playoff positioning. Wilmington has played Villa Maria each of the last three years in the quarterfinals of the District 10 playoffs. The Lady Greyhounds dropped each matchup, 73-14 last year and 84-23 in 2010.

“We’re going to try and improve on the things that we weren’t very successful with this year,” she said. “It’s important to move up in the region. We struggle with the better teams in our league.”

Lisa Mifsud drained three 3-pointers in the first quarter for Villa Maria en route to a game-high 17-point effort.

(E-mail: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com).