POTTSVILLE — Extra effort.

That’s what Schuylkill Haven played with for four quarters in the Schuylkill League girls basketball semifinals on Tuesday night.

It was that extra effort that helped them in key areas — hustling for loose balls and dominating on the offensive glass — to earn the Hurricanes their first-ever trip to the Schuylkill League finals, as they defeated Marian, 41-39.

“We work on creating that attitude at practice,” said Schuylkill Haven head coach Tony Sanders. “We practice hard. And we work on getting after loose balls. If there is a loose ball, we want to be the team that comes up with it.

“The effort was amazing tonight. It’s really been like that all year. The girls just played incredible. That’s all I can really say.”

After battling back from a 5-0 deficit, the Fillies led 9-8 after one thanks in part to a big three late in the quarter from Addy Fritz.

The Fillies extended their advantage to 16-8 after a 7-0 run to start the second quarter. Back-to-back buckets from Deanna Pugh — and another three from Fritz — put the momentum firmly on the side of Marian. Pugh led the way for Marian with eight points in the half.

However, Schuylkill Haven’s tight man-to-man defense, along with its efforts on the offensive boards gave the Fillies some issues. The Hurricanes forced seven turnovers in the second, which led to a 13-2 run, leading to a 21-18 advantage at the intermission.

McKenna Runkle finished with six points in the quarter off mostly transition opportunities.

The Hurricanes finished the first half with an impressive 14 offensive rebounds. Kylie Siket led the way with 10 points at the half for Haven, which included two critical makes from beyond the arc.

“We had a few keys in this game that we needed to get done, and we just didn’t do a consistent enough job in doing that,” said Marian head coach Damian Fritz. “On the defensive end, we needed to hold them to one shot and done, and in that second quarter especially they got a bunch of second and third chances.

“And early we were able to knock down some good looks from the outside, but then we kind of lost our composure. And credit to them for speeding us up. They did a really good job at taking us out of what we wanted to do. Making us start our offense a little higher, and making us take a little longer to get into our offense. We especially just didn’t execute in the last three minutes of that second quarter.”

Haven carried its momentum into the start of the third, upping its advantage to eight (28-20). Two buckets from Anna Schaeffer got the Hurricanes offense going yet again.

But Marian freshman Addy Marek kept the Fillies close.

A huge Marek bucket plus the harm cut the deficit to five, and another Marek make a few plays later helped Marian trail by just three heading into the fourth.

The Fillies then took a run at trying to flip the momentum.

A three-point knockdown by Fritz to start the quarter followed by her tough finish at the rim gave Marian a 32-30 advantage at the 6:01 mark. A steal and finish by Schaeffer tied the game right back up, but Fritz again answered to give the Fillies the lead back (34-32) with 4:32 left to play.

But that’s when turnovers again plagued Marian, as two costly turnovers in the backcourt resulted in consecutive layups from Audrey Hutchinson to make it 36-34 in favor of Haven. Two more makes — one from Hutchinson and one from Schaeffer — extended the lead to five (40-35) with one minute left.

The Hurricanes’ defense didn’t allow a Marian field goal the rest of the way until the game was out of reach, as Marian made a shot with two seconds left and no timeouts.

“We just have to keep it rolling now,” said Sanders. “1-0, that has been our mentality going into every game here. I was proud of the way our girls were able to finish the game. It’s just a great opportunity for us coming up to play for a Schuylkill League championship.

“I’m so happy for these girls. They work hard in the offseason and during the season, and they worked hard to earn this opportunity.”

BOX SCORE … Siket led the way for Haven with 13 points. Hutchinson added 11 and Schaeffer came through with 10. For Marian, Pugh scored a game-high 14, Fritz added 13 and Marek chipped in with nine.

OFFENSIVE BOARDS … The Hurricanes were dominant on the offensive boards, collecting 18 offensive rebounds.

CHAMPIONSHIP … Haven will play in its first-ever Schuylkill League championship when it takes on North Schuylkill on Friday at Martz Hall at 6 p.m.

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN

Hutchinson 5 1-2 11, Siket 4 3-6 13, Schaeffer 4 2-4 10, Runkle 3 0-2 6, Porter 0 0-0 0, Terefencko 0 1-2 1, Ulsh 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 7-16 41.

MARIAN

Fritz 5 0-0 13, Pugh 6 2-3 14, Hasara 0 3-4 3, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Marek 3 3-5 9, S. Serfass 0 0-0 0, Carone 0 0-0 0, Hannis-Miskar 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 8-12 39.

Schuylkill Haven 8 13 9 11 - 41

Marian 9 9 9 12 - 39

Three-pointers: Schuylkill Haven - Siket 2; Marian - Fritz 3.

Records: Schuylkill Haven (19-5); Marian (20-3).