RECAP
Payback complete.
Taylor Sneidman and Maddie Torresin scored 12 points apiece to pace a balanced attack, Cumberland Valley splashed six first-half 3-pointers and played inspired defense, and the Eagles clipped Dover 45-36 on Friday night in a PIAA-AAAA state quarterfinal game at Milton Hershey.
Dover beat CV 45-38 in the District 3 semifinals on Feb. 25 in the Giant Center.
With one more victory, CV can punch its ticket back to the Giant Center for the second year in a row.
The Eagles, now 26-5 overall and ranked No. 3 in the state by PennLive, will take on District 1 No. 4 seed West Chester Bayard Rustin, which picked off the state’s top-ranked team, North Penn, 55-40 on Friday.
CV vs. Rustin (25-6) is set for Tuesday at a site and time to be announced. The winner there goes to the PIAA title game next Friday at 6 p.m. in the Giant Center; CV lost to Spring-Ford in last year’s finale.
Spring-Ford topped Abington 50-40 in another state quarterfinal on Friday. The Rams (26-6) will take on WPIAL entrant North Allegheny — a 73-47 winner over Hempfield Area — in the other state semifinal on Tuesday.
THE DIFFERENCE
Two things: CV’s long-range barrage and board dominance.
In their last meeting in the district semifinals, Dover packed it in defensively, dared the Eagles to shoot and CV shot a poor percentage, leading to Dover run-out after run-out after run-out.
Friday, with Dover once again in a 2-3 zone, CV came out firing. And this time, the Eagles made shots.
Sneidman hit a pair of treys and Torresin and Kelly Jekot added 3s in the first quarter, when CV bolted to a quick 14-7 lead.
In the second quarter, Morgan Baughman came in off the bench and drilled a pair of 3s, including a bomb from the left wing just before the halftime buzzer, giving CV a 22-14 lead at the break.
CV actually went away from the 3-ball in the second half, when Dover finally backed off the zone. But the damage from the arch had already been done.
As for the glass work, CV out-rebounded Dover 27-19, as Meghan Rhoades pulled down a game-high 13 boards for the Eagles. Her biggest rebound came midway through the fourth, when Rhoades plucked an offensive board, shook a defender, banked in a short shot and drew a foul.
She missed the and-1, but her bucket put CV up 35-31 after Dover had whittled an 11-point deficit down to 33-31 and made it a game.
INSIDE THE GAME
CV did a better job guarding the perimeter this time around. In the first meeting, Dover jackrabbit senior point guard Alayah Hall had a field day bobbing and weaving her way through traffic and getting to the rim for either a layup or drawing a foul.
In the district semifinals, Hall went 14-for-18 from the line and scored 22 points.
Friday, with CV extending its D and making it tougher for Hall to slither her way through traffic, she went 1-for-3 from the line and was held to 7 points.
NUMBER CRUNCHER
Dover turned the ball over 17 times — nine in the first quarter, when CV rained four early 3s to get its offense jump-started. … CV, the No. 3 seed from District 3, survived 15 turnovers. … Lokhaiser pumped in a game-high 17 points with the five 3s and two free throws. She canned three 3s in the third quarter, when Dover was able to chip away at CV’s lead. … Lokhaiser’s final 3, plus a run-out layup by Hall — finally — and a post move by Marissa McMahon helped Dover cut CV’s lead to 33-31. But Rhoades’ bucket gave the momentum back to CV, and seconds later, Sneidman’s banker in transition pushed CV’s lead back up to seven. … Maxine Herman had 10 rebounds for Dover, which finished up 26-4 overall; Eagles won their first York/Adams championship and went to the district finals, before roaring into the state quarters for the second year in a row. ... Dover went 51-7 the last two seasons.