POTTSVILLE - Goal set.

Goal met.

With an early Saturday morning start in the District 11 Class 1A girls consolation game, Weatherly head coach Jason Kane opted to change things up with his team’s defense - a move that he hoped would prevent a sluggish start.

Needless to say, Kane’s strategy worked to perfection as the Wreckers scored the game’s first 18 points against Salem Christian and cruised to a 46-25 victory to advance to the state playoffs.

“Our goal was to come in and get a fast start,” said Kane, whose club played mostly zone throughout the season. “We’ve had a tendency to start slow throughout the year, and that hurt us a lot of times. I didn’t want that to be the case because it was an early game this morning, so we decided we were going to go man, and we were going to press and try to build a little bit of a cushion.

“Our ultimate goal coming into the season was the District 11 title, but obviously that fell through, and now we’re just thrilled to be moving on to states. That’s a huge accomplishment. Win or lose, we’ll enjoy every minute of it and look forward to playing whoever we play and wherever we play.”

On Saturday, they played at Martz Hall - a site almost every area basketball player wants to experience.

The excitement of competing at the Mecca may have also factored into Weatherly’s early success.

“Yeah, it’s exciting to make it to states, especially since we got to play at Martz Hall,” said senior Emma Kane, who scored 14 points in the contest. “It’s our first time playing here. I loved it.

“We knew coming in we needed to play tough defense, and my dad (Coach Kane) always tells me if you come out strong defensively, the offense will come. And that’s what happened. We tried to keep the pressure on and not foul. I think we played really well. It was a great start. We came out in man. We usually play more zone, but we came out in man so we wouldn’t be flat.”

Wrecker fans also enjoyed being at Martz, watching their team build an 18-0 advantage just over five minutes into the contest.

Weatherly forced seven turnovers during that time span as the Eagles (10-13) couldn’t handle the defensive pressure. Bethany Houser came up with a pair of steals and resulting layups and finished the frame with eight points. Emma Kane added six points in the quarter.

“They set the pace of the game,” said Coach Kane. “They’re our go-to girls, and everybody feeds off of them. We try and have balance, but it’s not going to be like that every night. When shots aren’t falling, we always look to Bethany and Emma, or even Kelly Reiner, who has come up huge for us throughout the year as a freshman.

“And then we also have role players like Abby Paisley and Kaylee Gaydoscik, who rebound and play solid defense.”

The Wreckers (8-16) backed off their pressure in the second quarter, but used it again in the second half to extend the margin to 39-14.

Five different Weatherly players scored baskets in that third frame.

Houser - who ended with a game-high 15 points - and Kane both hit driving shots early in the fourth to give Weatherly its biggest lead at 29.

“We had our ups and downs, losing some games we should have won,” said Emma Kane. “But now we get to go to states. I’m just happy we made it this far.”

BUS TRIP ... Weatherly will travel to St. John Neumann in Williamsport Saturday to face the District 4 runner-ups. The Golden Knights lost to Meadowbrook Christian 57-47 in their championship game. Neumann reached its title contest with a 63-47 win over Lourdes in the semifinals.

BOARD MEETING ... Salem sophomore Becky Held, who is over six-foot, scored eight points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds - including eight off the offensive glass. Reiner topped the Wreckers with seven boards, while Gaydoscik added six.

WEATHERLY

Kane 3-8-10-14, Binder 1-0-0-2, Gaydoscik 0-1-2-1, Houser 7-0-0-15, Davidovich 2-0-0-4, Reiner 2-1-5-6, Weston 1-0-0-2, Paisley 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 17-10-17-46.

SALEM CHRISTIAN

Karmazyn 1-0-0-2, Weigner 1-0-0-3, Carroll 0-0-0-0, Krage 4-0-0-8, Clemens 0-0-0-0, Held 4-0-2-8, Marinari 0-4-10-4. TOTALS: 10-4-12-25.

Weatherly 18 10 11 7 - 46

Salem Chr. 4 6 4 11 - 25

Three-pointers: Weatherly - Houser 1, Reiner 1; Salem Christian - Weigner 1.