According to Hershey girls' basketball coach Randy Gambelunghe, his team scratched, clawed and fought for everything it got in the first round of states.
But the Trojans' best efforts were not good enough against Spring-Ford, as Hershey fell by a 59-41 score to the Rams in Friday night's PIAA Class AAAA opener, held at Norristown Area High School.
Spring-Ford (26-2), led by Sammy Stipa's 16 points, advances to the second round on Tuesday, where it will face Wallenpaupack, a 43-40 winner over Parkland.
Hershey, which got 13 points from senior Victoria Blackburn and another 11 from senior Libby Nolan, ends its season with a 21-6 record.
"We got to play basketball for a few extra weeks and I think our young kids got to learn from the seniors," Gambelunghe said. "We were 5-17 last year and now we're at states. I think we can get a lot of confidence from that achievement, winning games at districts and making it to states."
Spring-Ford took control in the first quarter and blazed ahead to an 18-6 lead. The Rams never loosened their grip on the game.
By halftime, Hershey was trailing 28-14.
"We couldn't get in sync offensively in that first quarter," Gambelunghe said. "(Spring-Ford) played great pressure defense and we turned the ball over a little too much. They outrebounded us."
At halftime, Gambelunghe challenged his team to cut the deficit to single-digits.
His team came through, cutting the lead to nine points with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Trojans got.
Hershey went on to win the third quarter, 17-16, but was outscored 15-10 in the fourth quarter.
"I'll tell you what, we fought," Gambelunghe said. "They just executed better tonight. Spring-Ford is probably the best defensive team I've ever seen. They play with 100 percent effort and do a great job.
"They should make a nice run. I don't foresee them losing for a couple of games, if not going all the way."
Spring-Ford had four girls score in double-digits, including Stipa, Shelby Mueller (13 points), Brittany Moore (12) and Courtney Hinnant (10).
Gambelunghe and the Hershey program bid farewell to three seniors: leading scorer Blackburn, Nolan and Samantha Kirk.
"We just celebrated the seniors, you know, we had a great group of seniors," Gambelunghe said. "... I'm going to miss them."