READING - For the seventh time in the last eight years, York Catholic's girls' basketball team is heading to the PIAA Class AA state championship game.
Morgan Klunk scored 14 points, Zaenna Echevarria scored eight of her 10 points in the second quarter, and the Fighting Irish turned its defense up a notch in a 45-28 triumph over District 1 champ St. Basil Academy in a state semifinal game Tuesday night in Reading High's Geigle Complex.
York Catholic, the eight-time reigning District 3 champ, will take on District 7 champ Bishop Canevin in the Class AA championship game on Friday at noon in Hershey's Giant Center.
Canevin knocked off reigning state champ Seton-LaSalle 41-36 in the other state semifinal on Tuesday.
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Seton-LaSalle steamrolled York Catholic 71-47 in last year's Class AA state finale.
The Irish, who beat Delone Catholic in the District 3 championship, are riding a 3-game losing skid in state-championship appearances: York Catholic fell to Villa Maria in 2009 (56-51) and in a rematch in 2010 (52-44) and to Seton-LaSalle last year.
But the Irish won three titles in a row prior to that: In 2006 over Westmont-Hilltop (48-43), in 2007 over Villa Maria (58-44) and in 2008 over Northern Cambria (52-40).
The only time York Catholic failed to make the finals in the last eight years was in 2010, when the Irish fell to Mid-Valley 57-56 in the state quarters.
On Friday, York Catholic, now 29-2, will go for yet another PIAA gold.
"This means a lot because we weren't expcted to go back," Echevarria said. "I know we believed in ourselves, so it's really exciting to be able to get to go back again. A few of us were here last year so we know to stay calm on the bus rides and try not to be nervous for the games. We just try to relax and calm down before big games - like this one."
York Catholic didn't have too many problems dispatching St. Basil. After a 7-7 first quarter, the Irish used a 12-6 second-quarter run to grab a 19-13 lead at the break. Marissa Ressler keyed the second-quarter surge with a 3-pointer. She scored nine points off the bench for the Irish.
Echevarria took over in the third with four buckets and Klunk scored twice in the paint as York Catholic pushed its lead to 35-23.
St. Basil, which finished its season 20-9 overall, went cold in the fourth, not getting a bucket until the waning minutes with the Irish safely ahead.
"We want to go far and we want to be in these big games every year," Echevarria said.
York Catholic will play in the year's biggest game on Friday.
QUOTABLE: York Catholic coach Kevin Bankos - "I told our girls that they should be extremely proud because there were very few people who thought we'd get back to this game (state semifinals), let alone the next one (state finals). For us, as a coaching staff, it feels like the first time. Friday, when we get (to Hershey) it's going to feel really special. The good news is that we've been there before so we have a comfort level. We know we have a routine. It'll be easier to coach them because I won't have to worry about the logistics of it. They'll know what to expect. So that's an advantage. We always talk about playing in a "hardware" game and we're going to play in a "hardware" game. And no matter what happens Friday, we're going home with some sort of "hardware" - and we'll be ready to play."
REINHART ON TWITTER: @JeffReinhart77