JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
THE GAME: District 3 third-place finisher Lancaster Country Day (21-4 overall) vs. District 1 champ Sacred Heart (10-18 overall).
WHERE: Coatesville High School.
WHEN: Saturday, 1 p.m.
WINNER GETS: District 2 champ Old Forge (17-8) or District 4 runner-up Lourdes Regional (15-13).
ABOUT LANCASTER COUNTRY DAY: Bounced back after getting clipped by eventual champ Reading Central Catholic in the district semifinals (47-42) to knock off No. 1 seed Berks Christian in the third-place game (57-31). … Coach is Kristin Maneval. … Probable starters: G Katie Mersky, G Grace Chesters, F Phoebe Fasulo, F Kaitlyn Lukehart, C Lauren Reitz (12.2). … Back in States for second year in a row, one year after winning the first state-playoff game in the history of the program (boys or girls, any sport). Cougars topped Girard College (51-28) in the first round, before falling to eventual champ Bishop Guilfoyle (66-16) in the Eastern quarterfinals. … Finished third in District 3 this season after falling to Lebanon Catholic in last year’s district championship game – first finals appearance by Country Day.
ABOUT SACRED HEART: Cinderella story from District 1, finishing seventh out of eight teams in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, and then upsetting No. 1 seed Faith Christian in the District 1 semifinals. … Went on to beat Girard College for the district crown. … Top players are 5-10 junior Alex Kemble (8.1 points, 9.3 rebounds per game) and freshman point guard Hanna Rush (6.4 points, 3.7 assists per game). … Kemble had 14 points in the Faith Christian game. … No state titles, and not in the field last year.
