“He said, ‘Play your guts out, you have nothing to lose,'” she said.

Patrick probably did not think Anna would take his words literally. But her doing so helped make Muncy a district champion again. It also revealed how tough and resilient a player Zalonis is.

Playing through illness, which included vomiting during the game, Zalonis scored nine points and played terrific defense, as Muncy defeated Northeast Bradford, 48-37 and captured a second straight District 4 Class AA championship.

Healthy again, Zalonis and Muncy are state tournament-bound for a second consecutive year and host Elk Lake Friday in the first round.

Anna Zalonis of Muncy looks to pass the ball against Northeast Bradford at Milton High School. Muncy won, 48-37. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“It is God. I was praying the whole way here and really, really relied on him for strength,” Zalonis said afterward. “It’s the whole team. I built energy from them and shots they made and they built energy from shots I made.”

Zalonis had played well in a district semifinal win against Northwest the previous Saturday before getting sick early the next week. She missed school Tuesday and Wednesday and Muncy (20-5) had its doubts whether the junior guard could play in Thursday’s final against NEB.

After all, Zalonis pretty much had spent the last two days throwing up and sleeping. Somehow, however, Zalonis pulled herself together, suited up and started. Not only that, she hit 3-pointers in each of the first two quarters and played a major role in Muncy building a 14-point halftime lead against the district’s top seed.

It was one thing that Zalonis was hurting Northeast Bradford. But more important was how she was lifting up Muncy by simply being on the court. Her inspirational performance meant as much as any statistic could.

“She missed the last two days of school, and then she comes out and plays one heck of a game,” Muncy coach Craig Weaver Sr. said. “They’re all close and that motivated them.”

“She literally spilled her guts out there. She’s the most resilient, gritty person that I know and she’s always positive, too,” point guard and cousin Addi Eyer said. “You would never have known. Nobody would have ever known she was sick.”

That is unless they witnessed where Zalonis was when the second half started.

Following her strong first half, Zalonis had pushed her illness to the side and was feeling better when she entered the locker room. Things drastically changed, however, and Zalonis started vomiting again as her team went back out.

She hustled to make it back in time but her stomach continued churning. As the game resumed, Zalonis was hunched over a large trash can dry heaving. At that point, it felt like an appropriate time to salute Zalonis for playing a half and doing all she could.

But no, she would not stop fighting. And a few minutes later, Zalonis was back on the court. It’s not like she was just there either. Zalonis played a major role and was part of a defense which squeezed the juice from an explosive NEB team.

“She didn’t quit at all,” guard and cousin Ava Eyer said. “She just kept going.”

“As I was dry heaving over the trash can I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m not going back out there,'” Zalonis said. “I’m finishing this game back out on the court.'”

True to her word, Zalonis played the entire fourth quarter and helped Muncy secure history as it became the first repeat district champion in program history. Zalonis hit a key free throw down the stretch, helped Muncy brilliantly execute its offense and played a major role in it limiting the Panthers to just one point in the final two minutes.

Fittingly, Zalonis clinched the victory. And she did so with a play that best represented who she is.

Ava Eyer made a steal and went coast-to-coast but her shot was just off the mark. Out of nowhere came Zalonis who sprinted from behind, grabbed the rebound and scored off the putback.

A few minutes later, Zalonis, championship trophy in hand, stood in the middle of her friends and teammates, smiling wide. After going through some hell the previous few days, she now felt a little bit of Heaven.

And now the happy warrior marches on to states.

“I was nervous going into the game wondering what was going to go on, but as soon as I stepped on the court everything went away and I was able to concentrate,” Zalonis said. “I just had to suck it up because I wanted to go play with my sister (Rosie) and cousins and all my awesome teammates.”