There's no question about who is the leader of the Salisbury girls' basketball team.

Meagan Eripret, who entered last week's District 11 Class AA semifinals against Pine Grove averaging 22.5 points and 12.7 rebounds per game, raised the bar even higher with her outing against the Cardinals. She tallied 25 points and 18 rebounds, both team-highs for the Falcons.

But it was a number of other Falcons who had a hand in directing a critical stretch in the final quarter that helped propel Salisbury into the district championship and their first state playoff appearance since 1994.

Trailing 44-42 early in the fourth, Kelly Gonoude and Lindsay Bauer helped navigate a swift 11-0 run that put the Falcons ahead 53-44 with 2:47 to play. That would be more than enough as the Falcons led by double digits for the final 1:27.

"We were really pumped up," Bauer said. "We knew it was important and it could have been our last game. I think we really stepped up because we wanted it."

Gonoude entered the game as the Falcons' leader in three-pointers made on the season. She made three against the Cardinals and none were more important than her three-pointer with 5:33 to play that started the run and gave the Falcons a 45-44 lead.

"I just forget about it," Gonoude said. "If I make a mistake, I forget about it. It boosts my confidence when I make a shot."

Bauer, the team's second-leading scorer at 8.3 points per game heading into the semifinals, then scored on a driving layup 29 seconds later that put the Falcons ahead by three. Gonoude hit one of two free throws with 4:47 to play to give the Falcons their largest lead of the game at the time.

Gonoude and Bauer scored nine of the 11 points during the run, but Eripret would also have her stamp on the rally.

She fought relentlessly to grab rebounds on two misses close to the hoop, and on the third attempt, her put back in the lane made it 50-44 with 4:25 remaining. Bauer ended the run with a three-point play on a layup with 2:47 to go.

"Kelly and I work well together," Bauer said. "She threw me that one pass, and I made the layup. But when I see an opening, I try to go. I try to draw the foul and finish. That has gotten a lot better for me over the season."

"We're coming together great," Eripret said. "We've been playing together for such a long time. I think it's a matter of us getting into the groove of things."

The two combined to score 23 points, including 13 of the team's 22 in the fourth quarter. Those two, along with Eripret's six in the final frame, helped erase a tie game after three quarters and grab a 60-49 victory.

"We realized that we weren't playing to our full potential for the first three quarters," Gonoude said. "We needed to step it up, and everyone needs to score for us to win."

"I thought we played really well together, and we really stepped up in the second half," Bauer said. "That made all of the difference."