By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Alexandra Iveson dominated in the paint and Mackenzie Decker was all over the court on both ends of the floor when the District 2 Class A girls game opened the sixth year of District 2 basketball championship games at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza Thursday afternoon.
They combined with a record-setting defensive effort to send Susquehanna back to the state tournament with a 43-15 victory over Forest City.
Susquehanna held Forest City scoreless for the first 12 minutes and without a field goal for 14:26 to start the game. The 15 points were the fewest allowed in any game since the championships moved to the arena.
Iveson, a 6-foot-2 center, was the game’s top scorer, finishing with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
“I think what was opening it up inside for me was that we moved the ball around a lot,” Iveson said.
Decker, a 5-4 junior guard, added nine points, nine rebounds, six steals and five assists.
“We really needed to focus on our defense and running through our plays to get ourselves ready for bigger games coming up,” Decker said.
Lexi Iveson chipped in with seven points and three assists while Kerstin Dooley came off the bench to add six points and eight rebounds.
The Lady Sabers played without leading scorer Megan Kiernan, who was not available for the game.
Bella Pleska led Forest City with eight points. Kimmy Graham, a 5-4 sophomore guard, matched the game-high for rebounds with nine.
Susquehanna started slowly offensively, missing its first seven shots, but a defense that forced nine first-quarter turnovers continued to create opportunities and the Lady Sabers made it 9-0 after one quarter on Decker’s 3-pointer with 22 seconds left.
The Lady Sabers scored the game’s first 16 points and led 22-2 before Haylee Herrmann hit a 10-footer from the right side for the first Forest City basket with 1:34 left in the half.
Alexandra Iveson hit four straight second-quarter shots, then did the rest of her scoring in the third quarter while finishing 7-for-10 from the floor.
The 15 points allowed broke records of 18 by the Holy Cross boys against Mountain View in 2017 and the girls mark of 19 by Abington Heights against Wyoming Valley West in 2019.
The game was the second-lowest scoring at the arena behind the Abington Heights 33-19 victory over Wyoming Valley West.
Susquehanna won its fifth straight district title and is headed to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament for the fourth time in those five years.
“We’re really excited about it,” Iveson said. “We want to go far.”
The Lady Sabers (7-8) were one of the teams still alive in the state quarterfinals last year when the tournament was shut down during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike the last four years, the winner goes directly into state play, rather than also having to navigate a Subregional tournament involving both Districts 2 and 11.
Susquehanna opens the state tournament Wednesday at District 1 champion Jenkintown (15-1).
Forest City lost its last 12 games after winning the season opener. The Lady Foresters were guaranteed a spot in the district title game once MMI Prep, the only other Class A team in District 2, chose not to participate in sports this winter for precautionary reasons.
MORE: Expanded boxscore. https://www.nepabasketball.com/2020-21/articles/AGirlsBoxscore.
