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Defenders win 1st league title since 1988

MARK NANCE/Sun-GAzette Warrior Run's Jordan Hartman (30), Emily McKee, lmiddle, and Sydney Hoffman celebrate their win over Lewisburg for the HAC-2 title at Lewisburg High School Tuesday.

LEWISBURG — Avery Bieber hugged Taylor Coup as happy Warrior Run teammates jumped around them. This was a celebration 31 years in the making and a scene few expected would unfold this season.

But break out the Pet Shop Boys albums, the cassette stereos and the floppy computer discs. Warrior Run is a league champion for the first time since 1988. How the Defenders ended that drought is what makes this championship feel so good.

Sydney Hoffman scored 18 points, Bieber, Coup and Emily McKee hit clutch free throws late and Jordan Hartman drained three 3-pointers Tuesday as Warrior Run erased a six-point third-quarter deficit and captured the HAC-II championship by defeating Lewisburg, 39-33. The Defenders (15-5, 9-1) ended the game on a 13-4 run, dethroned the defending champions in a defacto league championship game and left an indelible mark on program history.

“It’s a feeling that’s almost unexplainable. It’s just overcoming. We rose above everybody that said we weren’t going to do well,” Bieber said after scoring six points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking four shots. “We just proved everybody wrong. It’s not just winning, it’s not just proving everybody wrong and it’s not just playing as a team. It’s all that combined to create this feeling of pure joy and utter excitement.”

Warrior Run finished 14-9 last season, but many thought it would take a step back after league and area all-star Megan Zimmerman graduated. Those feelings were amplified when the Defenders started 1-3. But then this young team started winning. They have not stopped since, taking 14 of their last 16 games and winning all but one league contest.

Go ahead and doubt Warrior Run. That’s their fuel and Defenders love making critics eat their words.

“We had a lot of weight on our shoulders with losing two tremendous players the last two years so we just wanted to prove people wrong. We knew we had our doubters this year,” Coup said after playing stifling defense against area leading scorer Grace Kelleher. “It’s been a while and it feels good to put our year up there on the banner.”

“It’s huge because this team has worked so hard. Losing Madi Welliver and Megan Zimmerman the last two years everyone was saying they’re not do much and we weren’t picked to be anywhere near the top of the HAC,” Warrior Run coach Andrew Shamburg said. “That’s just all the dedication throughout the year and during the summer with our young ones and our leaders. Everyone works so hard.”

That was evident again last night as Warrior Run quickly answered any time it appeared Lewisburg (12-6, 8-2) might start pulling away. The Dragons, who had won seven straight, led by one at the end of both the first and second quarters. A Kelleher drive and Roz Noone 3-pointer quickly put Lewisburg up 18-12 in the third quarter, but Hartman sank a 3-pointer and Hoffman (6 rebounds, 3 steals) scored four straight points as Warrior Run went ahead. The lead changed hands seven more times from there with the Dragons again leading by one after the third and going up 29-26 on a Kelleher 3-point play.

In a game where defense ruled, a three-point lead looked larger, but Warrior Run scored the next seven points. Hoffman scored on a pretty spin move to make it 30-29 and the Defenders never trailed again. Coup found Hartman for another 3-pointer as the Defenders went up 33-29 and started seizing that elusive championship. Whenever Warrior Run needed a lift it had multiple players emerge and provide it. It also surrendered just two fourth-quarter field goals.

If Warrior Run’s season could be summed up in one quarter, that fourth was it. The Defenders showed in those final eight minutes exactly why they are champions.

“We definitely have different girls to go to,” Coup said. “We have shooters and defensive players to help us out. We’re a young team but we know how to win.”

Kelleher (14 points, 3 steals) made a steal and two foul shots as Lewisburg cut it to 33-31, but Bieber sank both ends of a 1-and-1 with 90 seconds remaining. Coup also hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 37 seconds left before Hope Drumm found Roz Noone for a long jumper, making it, 36-33. McKee was fouled with 16 seconds left and the freshman showed no nerves, again making it a two-score game and calmly swishing two free throws.

McKee grabbed some huge rebounds late as did Bieber who clinched the win with another foul shot at the 8-second mark. Lewisburg did not play bad, Warrior Run simply played especially well over the game’s final six minutes. The Dragons also were not expected to duplicate last year’s success after losing four starters from a District 4 Class AAAA finalist but gave themselves a shot at the league title by winning seven straight games.

“We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season. We were 5-5 and we had lost three close games and we could have easily buried our heads in the sand when Williamsport went up 11-2 (in game No. 11),” Lewisburg coach Brent Sample said. “They could have quit then and we could have coasted and beat some teams and gone .500, but they challenged themselves.”

So has Warrior Run. The Defenders never listened to the outside noise and did not flinch when they endured a midseason coaching change. They kept working and believing.

The championship banner that will forever hang in Warrior Run’s gym will tell quite a story.

“From the beginning of the season we were told you’re not going to be as good because you don’t have the big names you used to,” Bieber said. “Now to get this win and to prove all those people wrong is such a big thing for us. It’s pretty awesome.”

Warrior Run 39,

Lewisburg 33

WARRIOR RUN (39)

Sydeny Hoffman 6 3-4 18, Emily McKee 1 2-2 4, Avery Bieber 0 6-11 6, Taylor Coup 0 2-6 2, Jordan Hartman 3 0-0 9, Gracy Beachel 0 0-0 0, Marissa Pick 0 0-0 0, Mikaela Majcher 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 13-23 39.

LEWISBURG (33)

Grace Kelleher 4 5-7 14, Erin Hilkert 2 0-0 4, Roz Noone 3 0-0 8, Allie Reed 0 0-0 0, Katy Martin 0 0-0 0, Jamie Fedorjaka 0 0-0 0, Sydney Hoffman 1 0-0 2, Hope Drumm 2 0-0 5, Za’Imah Tutler 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 5-7 33.

Warrior Run 6 6 13 14–39

Lewisburg 7 6 13 7–33

3-point goals: Warrior Run 6 (Hoffman 3, Hartman 3); Lewisburg 4 (Noone 2, Keleher 1, Drumm 1).

JV score: Lewisburg, 27-17.

Records: Warrior Run (15-5, 9-1 HAC-II), Lewisburg (12-6, 8-2).

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