Boyertown led at halftime and was still within four points of Central Dauphin early in the fourth quarter, but the Rams were able to run away from the Bears 57-39 in the PIAA Class AAAA girls' basketball first round on Friday night.
Central Dauphin (21-6) will play Archbishop Carroll in the second round on Tuesday. Sites and times are to be announced.
The District 3 runner-up Rams were ahead 35-31 less than a minute into the fourth quarter when they had a 10-0 run to finally put the Bears (19-9) away.
Jayneisha Davis started the rally with a short jumper, and Amanda Stouffer continued it with a steal that she coverted into a layup.
"The outcome of the whole game came down to that we ran them into the ground in the fourth quarter," Central Dauphin head coach Karen Hicks said. "They couldn't run with us the whole game. Our pressure, even though it's sometimes sporadic, at least it's always there."
Then the Rams built on their lead from the free throw line. Freshman Alexis Hartwick was 8-for-8 from the stripe in the fourth quarter, finishing with 13 points off of the bench.
"She's been coming on really strong lately," Hicks said. "She's been playing more and more on varsity since February."
Central Dauphin was 17-for-24 from the line. Shatara Parsons, who led all scorers with 15 points, was 5-for-5 from the line for the Rams.
Central Dauphin led 12-7 after the first quarter, but Boyertown took a 22-19 lead into halftime after taking advantage of the Rams' man-to-man defense.
"Coming in we thought we would struggle against that zone," Boyertown head coach Jason Beiber said. "They are so long its hard to get passes through. But if they went man on us we could get some screens and open shots."
But the Rams went back into their zone in the third quarter to retake the lead. A jumper by Precious Martin put Central Dauphin up 33-29 entering the fourth period.
Central Dauphin held the Bears to 12-for-46 shooting from the floor. The Rams shot 19-for-41, with a 12-for-22 showing in the second half.
Kaitlyn Eisenhard led Boyertown with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Martin had 12 points for the Rams.
ON TWITTER: @David_Bohr