Gov. Mifflin entered Thursday afternoon's BCIAA semifinal against Wilson without their top post player Mia Vazquez, who is getting surgery Feb. 27 at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to ensure an abnormality found on her liver is not cancerous.
All of our thoughts are with you, Mia.
Gov. Mifflin head coach Mike Clark did not rule out Vazquez, who has admirably been playing through the health scare at times, for Friday's championship game against Reading High, which defeated top-seeded Wyomissing 40-38 Thursday. She played and scored 11 points in Mifflin's victory over Twin Valley in the quarterfinals.
A little over two weeks ago, Gov. Mifflin lost by 15 to Wilson and were outmuscled on the glass, evident by Violet Houck's 21 rebounds for the Bulldogs. The Mustangs certainly would've loved to have Vazquez's skills to try and counteract that.
"Looking at the stats [from last game against Wilson], we knew we had to keep [Houck] off the boards," Clark said.
The third-seeded Mustangs — with their senior teammate on their minds — turned in a warrior performance of their own, outscoring No. 2 Wilson by 11 in the second half to come away with a 60-56 victory Thursday Night in Santander Arena to clinch their first Berks Girls League championship appearance since 2022.
The Mustangs (16-8) head to their 19th Berks championship game with an opportunity to add to their league-high 14 trophies.
"I tell the kids all the time, 'If you work hard for 22 games and get to the Santander Arena, I'll figure out a way to get you in a championship game,'" Clark said. "The kids seem to have bought into that."
Sophomore Bella Super scored a game-high 25 points, including six in the final quarter, as the Mustangs outscored the Bulldogs (16-8) by seven in the fourth to steal the victory.
"I think Bella Super was the best player on the floor," Clark said. "She rebounded, passed, brought the ball up; it wasn't just scoring. I know she's a sophomore, but I lean into her and tell her if she makes the best decisions, we're going to win the game. She did that tonight."
Wilson led 18-13 after the first quarter and 30-23 at halftime after hitting six 3s in the first half.
Just under the 3:00 mark in the third, Wilson led 40-33 before the Mustangs' gameplan finally came to fruition.
They slightly adjusted their 2-3 zone defense to more resemble a 3-2 and narrowed in on keeping the ball out of Kailani Hardy and Ryan Leaman's hands.
"We wanted to keep the ball out of their hands," Clark said. "Come the third and fourth quarter, we did that."
Hardy scored a team-high 19 points for the Bulldogs, but had only four points in the fourth quarter. Leaman had eight of her 10 points in the first half.
Super had eight points in the third quarter as the Mustangs outscored the Bulldogs by four to cut the lead to 44-41.
Freshman Saray Renninger had five of her 12 points and sophomore Bridget Martin five of her 11 points in the fourth quarter as Mifflin won the quarter 19-12 and held on for the win.
Junior Laura Crocona added 18 for Wilson.
Sophomore Brooklyn George added 12 for Mifflin.
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