The Whitehall girls basketball team secured the first step in their journey to a District title when they defeated Pleasant Valley at home to begin the tournament.

The game was originally scheduled for 7:00 p.m., but the early inclement weather which led to school cancellations across the Valley, prompted the decision to move the game up an hour.

That earlier start may have been just what the Zephs needed to awaken from a bad practice the day before, causing head coach Dwight Repsher to call it the “worst practice in the history of the world.”

In fact, it was the Bears who were hibernating, scoring just 19 points while the Zephs reeled off 35 in the first half. They jumped on the Bears early from the perimeter, scoring seven three-pointers on 11 attempts in the first half and then hung on for the 50-43 victory.

The win puts them on a collision course with third-seeded Nazareth who got a bye. The two teams split during the regular season, and Friday’s game will see who can advance to the semifinals.

Repsher said that they weren’t as sharp offensively as they’ve been in the past, but did a good job connecting when they had the opportunities.

“We got good shots against their 1-3-1 [zone], and made them,” said Repsher.

Those shots were falling for Taylor George, Kylee Cunningham and Taylor Rummel. Those three combined for seven threes, with George sinking three in the first half. The senior led the way with 19 points and set the tone early.

“I think we came out really confident,” said George. “We were making a lot of shots and it just gave us a lot of confidence throughout the rest of the game. So we just had to keep the intensity up, and I think we did a good job of doing that.”

George said they did a good job of moving the ball around and looking for the open man, while also staying under control.

Still, Repsher saw lots of areas for improvement. He said they turned the ball over too much and didn’t perform as well in the second half as they did in the first half.

Ivanna Jones was also able to get to the basket against Pleasant Valley’s zone, finishing with 14 points. She was also perfect from the line, going 8-8 to hep seal the victory down the stretch.

They also got six points from Cunningham and Jill Kreglow, and two each from Alex Buskirk and Ariana Hines.

The Zephyrs will now prepare for Nazareth on Friday night. Both wins were on the team’s home court, while the rubber match moves to William Allen’s gym at 6:00 p.m.

Repsher said he was concerned about their long layoff leading up to districts, but they responded with the win against the Bears. However, Nazareth poses different problems, but he feels if they can counteract Nazareth’s size using their quickness and athleticism, they’ll have a good shot at winning.

George said that confidence will play a part in the third installment of this Skyline rivalry. While the Blue Eagles can be intimidating with their length, the Zephs will need to pass the ball well as they did in so many of their wins this season.

“We have to ball fake and just take our time and really move the ball around, get them moving, and just look for the open shots,” said George.