Twin Valley's season came to an end Monday in the District 3 Class 5A first round against Lower Dauphin.
The scoreboard in Hummelstown showed a 49-36 advantage for the No. 8 Falcons (15-8) over the No. 9 Raiders (14-10) and meant LD was headed to top-seeded York Suburban Thursday in the district quarterfinals while TV had to turn in its uniforms.
The scoreboard didn't show the full body of work the Raiders put in this season, the effort they gave until the final whistle, and the reality that every player to get significant minutes this year sans senior Delaney Hoover are running it back next season.
"We needed this experience," Twin Valley head coach Matt Hahn said. "I was hoping that it could go a bit longer, but we're bringing it all back, so I'm excited for the future. Obviously we are all disappointed now, but it was a big step in the right direction for us this season. I'm very proud of the girls. They came a long way this season."
The Raiders were a mainstay in this tournament not too long ago. They made seven straight appearances from the 2016 to 2022 seasons with a fourth-place finish in 2017, third-place finishes in 2018 and 2019, and a runner-up finish in 2020, of course with 2,000-point scorer and James Madison star Peyton McDaniel leading the way.
The next season the Berks Girls League split from three to four divisions and the Raiders moved from Berks I to Berks II. Ava Morrow and Natali Foster kept them atop their new division for two seasons and then the Raiders hit a lull.
A group of talented underclassmen entered the program, but it took time for it to click. The Raiders went a combined 11-33 and were overtaken in Berks II by Exeter as division champs the next two seasons.
It clicked this season for Twin Valley and its class of now sophomores and juniors who experienced the two down years. The Raiders won a Berks II title by sweeping a good Conrad Weiser squad, which won its district-opening game against ELCO Monday.
They made it back to both the county and district playoffs and the players who made it happen were recognized for it.
All-Berks selection Hailey Kilgore led an athletic junior class that includes all-division honorable mention picks Ellie Kaplan and Olivia Schmittinger. Sophomore Lauren Williams and freshman Olivia Kilgore, Hailey's sister, were all-division choices and round out the starting lineup.
Hahn provided consistency on the bench in his first full season as head coach.
They'll all be back next season.
"It's hard to think about the positives in the moment, but they will," Hahn said. "There was some reflection, a lot of them have been on varsity since they were freshmen. They've been through the last two seasons. This year they're starting to realize how good they can really be. This year was definitely a stepping stone for us."
Twin Valley scored the first points of the game on the elder Kilgore's 3-pointer. The Falcons went on a 6-0 run to pry the lead away and control the advantage until the 3:17 mark when Kaplan's putback gave the lead back to TV.
Williams drilled a 3 with about eight seconds left to push the Raiders' lead to six before Addy Misiolek made a free throw in the final seconds to make it 12-7 at the end of one quarter.
The Falcons scored the first four points of the second quarter until freshman Bella Crisi scored off a beautiful assist from Kaplan and Hoover drilled a 3 off an assist from the younger Kilgore to again push the Raiders' lead to six at 17-11.
The Falcons kept the game close, keeping the deficit a manageable 20-16 by halftime.
Lower Dauphin regained the lead early in the third on Alexa Misiolek's 2 off a spin move to make it 22-21. Schmittinger tied it with a free throw, but Addy Moran and Sydney More hit back-to-back 3s to give the Falcons their largest lead of the game at 28-22 around 4:00.
Each team converted two free throws first their first points of the fourth. More scored on an inbounds play and Addy Misiolek made two free throws to push the Falcons lead to 39-30 with 3:58 left.
Olivia Kilgore answered with a 3 off an assist from Kaplan to cut the lead to six with 3:38 remaining, but that was the closest the Raiders would get the rest of the way.
Moran answered with another 3 with 2:58 left for Lower Dauphin and after Twin Valley missed both of its foul shots, Janae Swartz scored on a lefty layup to push the Falcons lead to 44-33 with 2:25 left.
Hailey Kilgore converted an and-one to make it an eight-point game with 1:59 left before Swartz made five free throws down the stretch to preserve the Lower Dauphin victory.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Lower Dauphin | 7 | 9 | 17 | 16 | 49 |
Twin Valley | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 36 |
Raiders (14-10) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Williams | 3-5 | 2-6 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
Schmittinger | 0-1 | 5-8 | 0-1 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Kaplan | 2-7 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 4 | 11 | 5 |
O. Kilgore | 1-7 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
H. Kilgore | 2-15 | 3-3 | 1-8 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
Hahn | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Hoover | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Crisi | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Totals | 10-42 | 11-19 | 5-20 | 7 | 24/26 | 36 |
Falcons (15-8) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Ja. Swartz | 3-6 | 6-10 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
Al. Misiolek | 3-16 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
Av. Moran | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Ad. Moran | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Ad. Misiolek | 5-7 | 6-10 | 1-1 | 0 | 8 | 17 |
Jo. Swartz | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
More | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 1 | 8 | 5 |
Totals | 15-43 | 14-24 | 5-14 | 5 | 29/37 | 49 |
Turnovers: Lower Dauphin 14, Twin Valley 11. Team rebounds: Lower Dauphin 8, Twin Valley 2.
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