Bethlehem Catholic girls basketball coach Bill Lanscek had a surprise up his sleeve in the Golden Hawks' 60-43 victory over Bonner Prendergast in the first round of the Class 3A PIAA state championships on Saturday, when he started junior guard, Janelle Robinson, after shoulder surgery had kept her on the bench for the past several weeks.

"The girls were thrilled to have her back. She takes the pressure off the other guards, and she was a great pick-me-up for the team. She's not 100%, but she is healed," Lanscek said.

For the first three quarters on Saturday afternoon, it was anyone's game.

"It's win or go home now, and our team is young, so it takes awhile to settle in," said Lanscek.

Although the Hawks had little information about the Bonner Prendergast Pandas prior to state playoffs, Lanscek knew they were small and quick.

"Basically, what we knew was that we needed to stop the Monahan sisters, and we had an idea of what their motion offense was like," he said.

Becahi's game plan was to go in the paint early and often.

"Early in the game, we settled for jumpers," said Lanscek. "Later, we were more up-tempo in our man defense, and that helped our running game."

Becahi forward, Kalista Walters, scored six straight points to open the fourth quarter, and Bonner Prendergast called a timeout.

As the fourth quarter progressed, Walters and teammate, Bridget Smith, made sure that the Hawks' game plan was followed, and Becahi scored 22 points to the Pandas' six.

Walters led the Hawks in scoring with 32 points, followed by Smith, who scored 12. Smith led the Hawks defensively with 15 rebounds and four blocked shots. Robinson had six rebounds and four deflections.

Becahi will take on Honesdale in the next round of state playoffs on March 13 at Hazleton High School.