Moyer sends Lourdes Regional back to state final

Mar. 21—BERWICK — "Sweet Caroline" never sounded so good, so good — so good! — to the Lourdes Regional girls basketball team.

A mob of Red Raiders students serenaded the team in the middle of the court with the feel-good song Tuesday night after Paityn Moyer's last-second jumper secured a return trip to the Class A state championship game with a 34-33 win over Mountain View at Berwick Middle School.

"Oh, my God! I don't even know. I don't even remember what happened in those last seconds," Moyer said. "We knew we needed to have the last shot ... and I didn't know who was going to take it. We were all kind of, just, moving around, trying to get the ball. I didn't know how much time was left, but I'm like, I need someone to just shoot! So I just went and I threw it up and it happened to go in."

Moyer was the last of four girls to touch the ball as Lourdes ran down the final 33.5 seconds of regulation. She caught Leah Kosmer's bounce pass across the foul line at the top-right side of the 3-point arc, dribbled left against Mountain View's Claire Getz, and pulled up at the stripe for a high-arcing shot that fell through the back of the hoop, breaking a 32-all tie as time expired.

"I told them in the timeout, 'Either we're going to win the ballgame, or the game's going to go into overtime.' I said, 'I want you to execute and shoot the last shot of the game,'" said Red Raiders coach Mike Klembara. "Paityn Moyer measured up, and I'm standing on the sideline thinking, Either it's short or it's swishing — because from my angle that's what it looked like."

Lourdes' student section flooded the court to celebrate the win, but within a few minutes they were ushered back to the stands. Eagles freshman Addison Kilmer was sent to the foul line to shoot free throws after the officials conferred, put 0.4 seconds on the clock, and assessed Lourdes a technical foul.

"She (the lead official) was forced to call a technical foul for storming the floor, because there was still time left on the clock," said Klembara.

"She was like, 'I have to do it. I'm sorry,'" said Lourdes junior guard Masie Reed.

The clock showed 0.0 after Moyer's shot went down, so the officials deemed there was time remaining and retroactively assessed the technical foul.

"That is correct," said Klembara. "So your shaking your head."

Kilmer, who beat Meadowbrook Christian in Saturday's quarterfinals by hitting 11 consecutive free throws in overtime, made the first technical foul but missed the potential game-tying shot off the back iron. The Eagles then inbounded the ball from midcourt. The pass to Getz sailed high off her fingertips and Kosmer chased the ball to the endline as time expired, setting off a second celebration.

"I have no words," Kosmer said. "I'm so excited for me and my team."

The Red Raiders (22-7) will face District 7 champion Union Area (22-6) in Friday's title game, 12 p.m. at Hershey's Giant Center. Union defeated District 5 champion Berlin-Brothersvalley, 45-31, in the other semifinal.

It marks the third time since 2016 (and fifth overall) that Lourdes will appear in the PIAA Class A final. It's the Red Raiders' first state final appearance as the District 4 third-place finisher.

"Give the kids credit; they played their hearts out," said Klembara. "And give (the Eagles) credit. They did the same thing."

For a third consecutive state playoff game, Lourdes stifled a difference-making big girl. The 6-foot-1 Kilmer, who averaged 17 points in her first varsity season and 20-plus in the playoffs, finished with a game-high 17. Only twice, however, did the Eagles manage to enter the ball to Kilmer in the post for a basket. The majority of her damage was done with putbacks among her 23 rebounds.

"I had to play a box-and-one on her and I had to stay in front of her, and we were having the blocks help us — Leah and Chloe (Rishel). We wanted Leah on the right side because she mainly shot right-handed," said Moyer. "I would get her from the front, Leah would get her from the back and we'd sandwich her right there. They couldn't get it into her, really."

With Kilmer locked in that defensive bracket, Mountain View (21-7) shot just 7-for-22 from the field in the first half, including 0-for-7 on 3-pointers. Rishel had five first-quarter rebounds, and Kosmer added five in the half as Lourdes held its own on the boards and led 16-15 at the break.

"That's usually my main focus, the rebounding," said Rishel. "I'm always looking to rebound."

Lourdes surged ahead 23-15 in the middle of the third quarter with Reed scoring five of her team-high 14 points, and Rishel adding four.

The Eagles pulled within 27-24 with 5:41 to play despite making only one field goal in all of the third quarter plus the opening four minutes of the fourth. They were 7-of-8 from the line in that span.

"They're a very good foul-shooting team, so that was one thing that stressed us out a little," said Rishel. "We were trying our best not to foul, but it was something we couldn't really avoid."

Kilmer scored consecutive buckets and Vanessa Harvey added a free throw to tie the score at 29 with 3:12 left. Reed ended a Lourdes field-goal drought of more than seven minutes by breaking the press for a layup. Getz responded with the Eagles' only 3-pointer in 11 tries for a 32-31 lead at 2:20.

"That's definitely frustrating after you get some points on the board after you've had a hard few possessions," said Reed. "But I have faith in my team."

Red Raiders junior Cassidy Grimes, who nailed a second-quarter trey, made a foul shot and then rebounded her miss. Mountain View stole the ball but immediately walked with it, giving Lourdes possession with 33.5 seconds to play and a timeout to set up Moyer's heroics.

As Berwick representatives retrieved a ladder so the Red Raiders could cut down a net, Moyer watched video of her game-winner on a cell phone.

"Oh, my God!" she said after moving her hand from her mouth. "Oh, my God!"

------

PIAA CLASS A GIRLS BASKETBALL

SEMIFINAL

At Berwick Middle School

LOURDES REGIONAL 34, MOUNTAIN VIEW 33

Mountain View (21-7) 33

Ryleigh Kilmer 0 2-2 2, Vanessa Harvey 1 2-4 4, Claire Getz 2 5-8 10, Addison Kilmer 8 1-3 17. Totals 11 10-17 33.

3-point goals: Getz.

Did not score: Lily Sedlak, Riley Turner.

Lourdes Regional (22-7) 34

Masie Reed 5 3-4 14, Paityn Moyer 4 1-2 10, Chloe Rishel 2 0-0 4, Leah Kosmer 1 0-0 2, Cassidy Grimes 1 1-2 4. Totals 13 5-8 34.

3-point goals: Grimes, Moyer, Reed.

Did not score: Tori Lindemuth, Anna Keer, Gabby Coleman.

Score by quarters

Mountain View;4;11;6;12 — 33

Lourdes Regional;6;10;10;8 — 34