MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy team mates Emma McCormick (14), Anna Zalonis (12), and Ava Eyer (5) celebrate their 43-42 win over Southern Columbia for the district championship at Montoursville High School Wednesday.

Muncy players are not checking their stat lines following their games. They simply look at the scoreboard.

If their team has more points, they are happy. And they have been happy a lot these past three years.

Muncy captured its third straight District 4 Class AA championship last week, winning a 44-43 thriller against Southern Columbia. The team’s single-minded focus on the collective over the individual explains a lot about how the Indians (22-4) have built this championship legacy.

“That’s one thing I love about this team. It’s not about me,” senior guard Anna Zalonis said after scoring nine points against Southern. “It’s however we can succeed as a team, the best way possible. That is what we want to do.”

Muncy has done it quite a lot these past three seasons, winning nine straight district playoff games as well as well as 62 games. They will try doing so again tonight when they host Wyoming Seminary in the state tournament’s opening round.

Along the way these past three years, Muncy made history as the first teams to repeat and three-peat as district champions in addition to reaching the state quarterfinals for the first time in 2024.

Whatever price it takes to pay for team success, players past and present are willing to give it. So many basketball players also were part of a historic soccer team last fall that won its first district title and reached the state’s Final 4 for the first time.

Different sport but same focus. The only agenda here is putting forth whatever necessary to earn victories. It is those above individual glory that each player craves.

“If I score two points and Ava (Eyer) scores 20, I’m happy because we won the game,” Zalonis said. “That mindset of the team mindset is really important. It’s not about the individual, it’s about the team.”

Fittingly, different players have taken their turns in the spotlight. Eyer had a big game in the final after McCormick and Zalonis sparked a semifinal victory against Northwest. Rosie Zalonis has effectively run the offense throughout the season and Alexis McKeta has provided quality rebounding and defense which might be overlooked by the casual observer but that her teammates and coaches understand is so critical to winning.

Whatever role one is asked to play, she willingly will do so. That says a lot about how Muncy avenged a Mid-Penn final loss against Northwest in districts before defeating a Southern team which entered the tournament as the field’s most battle-tested team.

It was not about finding a shot against either team. It was about finding the right one. Shots were not forced and both Muncy’s balance and cohesiveness shined through, helping it conquer a tough field again.

“Just find the open player. That’s all we’re thinking,” McCormick said. “Whoever is open is who we want the ball to go to.”

What coach Craig Weaver Sr. likes about this team, in addition all the above qualities, is how willing those players are to learn how to handle the situations which presented themselves during districts. Film sessions are not about personal highlights, but about fine tuning.

The Indians are not focused upon what they did well, but what they can enhance and/or fix. That ability to take constructive criticism shined through during districts. Muncy had lost three straight games following a 19-1 start, but studied, worked and improved.

All those attributes played a role in Muncy again scaling the district summit. And in a year where it was the only non-top seed to win a District 4 title, the Indians did it a third consecutive time as a No. 2 seed.

“The biggest thing is when you go in a film session and you look at your last game, we were able to point out mistakes and we were able to correct those mistakes,” Weaver said. “I’ve been in a lot of film sessions and the coaches don’t dwell on the good stuff. They point out this is what you have to get better at, and the girls embrace that.”

Muncy also embraces denying points as much as scoring them. The Indians lead District 4 in points allowed and came up enormous after Eyer’s free throw put it up 44-43 with :23.7 seconds remaining against Southern.

The Indians first denied HAC-II first teamer Kailee Helwig a clean look along the baseline. When the ball went out of bounds with four seconds remaining, Southern set up a play under the basket, but Muncy never let a shot go up. Eyer, McKeta and McCormick converged, the ball was knocked loose and McCormick stole it before dribbling out the final seconds.

“We just were like, ‘We’re not losing this,'” McCormick said. “We led by one point and we just had to make the stop.”

Tonight is another stop along what has been a remarkable three-year journey. Time will tell how it plays out, but Muncy again will be focused upon the collective.

That selfless mentality is the bedrock this foundation has been built upon. What the players have achieved together will keep them connected long after they graduate, too. Forever, they will remain a team.

“We’re all so close,” McCormick said. “The whole team is a family.”