HUGHESVILLE — On Friday night, the Hughesville girls basketball team won against Bloomsburg in the District 4 Class AAA playoffs with a 49-22 victory to move to 21-3 and advance to the semifinals.

The Spartans, the top-seed in the Class AAA field, advances to the semifinals to face Mount Carmel, a 42-29 winner against Towanda.

With a large home crowd and a thunder of applause, Hughesville honed in during the first half of the game. The first quarter was marked by two 3-pointers at the very beginning from Maddie Smith, setting the Spartans up for an early 13-point lead by the end of the quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, Smith became the all-time leading scorer in both Hughesville girls and boys basketball.

“We knew it was coming, it’s fantastic, it’s kind of unbelievable when you think about it,” Hughesville coach Dustin King said. “It’s one of those things that you think about now but I don’t think it will settle until after the season. It’s an amazing accomplishment by a good kid.”

Despite the strong defense from the Panthers, Hughesville’s offense was tough to beat. They increased the deficit in the second quarter to 37-12. Allyssa King and Smith both scored 3-pointers in the quarter and it was supported by field goals from Casey Shultz and Vivian Draper. Delaney Zentner, Lucy Maclay, and Riley Hunter scored for Bloomsburg in the second.

The top scorers for Hughesville included Smith, with 17 points scored and both Shultz and King who both had eight points scored each. Following up was Temple, with six points scored. Draper and Anna Easton both scored four points per person, and Kendall Hamm scored two points.

Bloomsburg had top scorers of Zentner with nine points and Ally Bang and Lucy Maclay, who both scored four. Riley Hunter scored three.

By halftime, the crowd was in good spirits from the strong effort from the Hughesville girls. When the third quarter came around, the win from the Spartans became even more imminent. Temple scored all six in the third quarter as the Spartans went ahead, 45-26.

Coach King gave advice at halftime that increased Hughesville’s lead even further.

“I just basically told them it was 0-0, to come out in the third quarter, and keep playing tough defense. Go for the ball,” King said.

Shultz and Draper both scored in a stagnant fourth quarter to help the team. Zentner and Alexa Bang both scored from the floor, but couldn’t rally the team.

Hughesville’s win was a combination of both strong offense and solid defense to secure a win. This win for Hughesville came after intense practice and team building according to King.

“We practiced all week for seven days between games,” coach King said, “It was a lot, and morale was great tonight.”

Hughesville 49, Bloomsburg 22

HUGHESVILLE (49)

Vivian Draper 2 0-0 4, Anna Easton 0 4-4 4, Allyssa King 3 0-0 8, Maddie Smith 6 3-4 17, Kylie Temple 3 0-0 6, Kendall Hamm 1 0-0 2, Tori Morgan 0 0-0 0, Regan Sellers 0 0-0 0, Casey Schultz 4 0-0 8, Avorey Arrigonie 0 0-0 0, Georgia Randall 0 0-0 0, Jaydn Temple 0 0-0 0, Kalia Hack 0 0-0 0, Aly Creasy 0 0-0 0, Addy Shirvinski 0 0-0 0, Carly Grice 0 0-0 0.

BLOOMSBURG (22)

Brenyn Wasielewski 0 0-0 0, Ally Bang 2 0-2 4, Alexa Bang 0 0-0 0, Delaney Zentner 2 5-6 9, Lucy Maclay 2 0-0 4, Riley Hunter 1 1-1 3, Reagan Yaskiewicz 0 0-0 0, Sophia Hull 0 0-0 0, Hali Bower 1 0-0 2, Gabby Kashi 0 0-0 0, Ella Flook 0 0-0 0, Paloma Martinez 0 0-0 0.

Hughesville 15 22 8 4 — 49

Bloomsburg 2 10 4 6 — 22

3-point goals: Hughesville 4 (King 2, Smith 2), Bloomsburg 0.