There was a lot of excitement surrounding the Emmaus High School girls basketball team all season long. Following a silver-medal finish in the District 11 6A playoffs, the Hornets hosted a state tournament game last Friday night.

In front of a packed house at Emmaus High School, Emmaus came from behind in the second quarter and defeated Central Bucks East 65-58 in a First Round game last Friday.

Emmaus advanced to the second round to take on the District 3 runner-up Dallastown, this past Tuesday night at Ephrata High School.

It was the second meeting at states between the two schools, with CB East defeating Emmaus 51-46 in the first round during the 2003-04 season.

The Hornets trailed 14-12 following a back-and-forth opening quarter, but they rallied in the second quarter and outscored the Patriots 19-13 to go into the locker room at halftime leading 31-27. Their advantage grew to as much as 11 points in the third quarter before CB East cut its deficit to four (46-42) after three.

Emmaus pulled away late and hold on for the victory, being helped by their success from the free-throw line and from long distance. The Hornets went 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter and drained 11 3-pointers.

Four players finished in double figures, led by 21 points from Gabby DeVita, who also had four 3-pointers. Olive Whitney tallied 16 points with a team-high five 3-pointers. Eva Glover recorded 14 points and Gracie Ervin totaled 11 points. Sierra Stevens rounded out the scoring with three points.

Emmaus improved to 21-7 overall and CB East ended its season at 22-6.