POTTSVILLE — The Tamaqua girls basketball team knows the stakes are high in the Schuylkill League tournament.

But this is when the Blue Raiders rise to the occasion.

Tamaqua advanced to the semifinals for the second year in a row Saturday, grounding Williams Valley with a 41-36 victory at Martz Hall.

“We want to be playing our best basketball right now,” said Blue Raiders head coach Erika Davis. “Our girls competed. Right from the start, they came out with a lot of energy, and that was huge.”

The Blue Raiders hit the ground running, as junior Kendle Miller buried three treys in the first quarter to help Tamaqua jump out to an 11-2 lead.

“I think it really helps, it really helps with the confidence after you hit the first one, you’re confident that you can make some more,” said Miller. “I think it really got the team going as well.”

It was a spark Tamaqua used to fend off a tough and talented Vikings squad.

Williams Valley closed the second quarter on an 11-3 run to cut the Blue Raiders lead to 19-15 at halftime, as junior Quin Smeltz hit three three-pointers during the run to nearly erase what had been a 16-4 deficit.

A basket from Sage Smeltz, and a bucket from Ella Kobularik early in the third quarter brought the Vikings within two points at 21-19. But Tamaqua responded, going on a 10-0 run, where Miller hit two more threes to take back momentum.

“When we have a lead, we have to put the pedal down and put a team away,” said Davis. “They hung around, and they’re a great three-point shooting team. We were never OK with any lead that we possibly had. Williams Valley wasn’t going to go away, so it had to be a solid 32 minutes that we played tonight.”

The Blue Raiders never backed down — or backed off — using relentless defensive pressure and tremendous work on the glass to take a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter at 34-24.

Senior Kolbe Robb scored on a breakaway after a steal, and Miller hit her second trey of the third quarter after a steal by freshman Millie Black. Robb had another basket near the end of the period after sophomore Lauren Ligenza came up with a takeaway for Tamaqua.

“We love defense,” said Miller. “I feel like that’s our favorite part of the game when we’re out there. Once we get a turnover, we always look to push the ball up and get some easy baskets.”

Ligenza was a force on the glass, pulling down 13 rebounds while adding seven points.

“We’re a very close group, and I think it shows on the floor with how we can communicate and move together,” said Ligenza.

The Blue Raiders pushed their advantage to 39-26 in the fourth quarter, but Williams Valley chipped away. Mallory Miller completed a four-point play after knocking down a three and getting fouled before generating a basket for Sage Smeltz after a steal to cut it to 39-32.

Another bucket from Miller down the stretch cut Tamaqua’s lead to 40-34. But the Blue Raiders never wavered, with Robb and senior Samantha Plasha both coming up big at the free throw line to ice the game and send the team back to the Schuylkill League semis.

“Williams Valley was tough. We scrimmaged them in the preseason, and a lot goes on between now and preseason,” said Davis. “We knew coming in that we were up against a really solid 2-3 defending team. It’s postseason play, all records go out the window. “Any time you get past 22 games, everything erases, we reset, and look and reflect on what we need to do to improve as we move forward. A lot of it is confidence, and they understand that if shots aren’t falling, they have to find another way to stay on the floor by getting big rebounds, or deflections and steals. I’m very proud of how our girls played tonight.”

RAINING THREES ... Miller hit five treys to score a season-high 15 points. “I’m super excited for her,” said Davis. “She had a shooting slump in the middle of the season, but she’s our best three-point shooter. And shooters shoot. We just keep saying have a short memory, and get the next one type of thing. She had the hot hand tonight.”

TOTAL TEAM WIN ... From Miller’s threes, to Ligenza’s rebounding to Robb’s relentless defense, Tamaqua got contributions from up and down the roster on both ends of the floor. “I think last year’s experience helped us at this point in the season this year,” said Davis. “Coming into the game, we don’t really like to talk about individual statistics, but Kolbe (Robb, who also had six points) needed four more steals to get to 100 in the season. I told her that was a great goal to have. And she reads the defense so well. It was that competitive edge, that competitive attitude. We want another shot at North Schuylkill, and in order to do that, we needed to win tonight.”

UP NEXT ... Tamaqua will face North Schuylkill Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Martz Hall in the semifinals. The Spartans topped the Blue Raiders in the league semis last year, and own a pair of wins this season. Marian will face Schuylkill Haven in the other semifinal at 6 p.m.

STAT LEADERS ... While Kendle Miller led Tamaqua with 15 points, Mallory Miller and Sage Smeltz each scored 10 apiece for Williams Valley.

TAMAQUA

Robb 2-2-4-6, M. Black 2-2-4-6, Plasha 1-1-2-3, Ligenza 2-3-5-7, Miller 5-0-0-15, L. Black 0-4-4-4. TOTALS: 12-12-19-41.

WILLIAMS VALLEY

Kobularik 2-0-0-4, Miller 3-3-3-10, Q. Smeltz 3-0-0-9, S. Smeltz 5-0-0-10, Kasper 1-0-0-3. TOTALS: 14-3-3-36.

Tamaqua 11 8 15 7 - 41

Williams Valley 2 13 9 12 - 36

Three-pointers: Tamaqua - Miller 5; Williams Valley - Q. Smeltz 3, Miller 1, Kasper 1.

Records: Tamaqua (18-5); Williams Valley (20-3).