The Salisbury girls basketball team is preparing for a completely different atmosphere.

With their 60-49 win over Pine Grove last Tuesday in the District 11 Class AA semifinal, the Falcons qualified for the PIAA state tournament.

Not one girl on the roster was born before the last time Salisbury (17-8) reached states.

"It means so much to know that it has been a while since Salisbury has made states," senior guard Amanda Rowlands said. "It's great to be able to get that experience and the opportunity to win."

At the beginning of each season, every team has goals and aspirations of league and district crowns, and the Falcons were no different. But they knew, with the talent they had, that making a run in the postseason was achievable.

"This was one of our first goals," Rowlands said on qualifying for states. "We just took it game by game and kept working hard at practice. We worked on a lot of different plays and just never gave up."

The hard work certainly showed for the lady Falcons, as they won 11 straight games during the regular season.

Salisbury fulfilled its goals of playing in the Colonial League and District tournament. But the team didn't settle for just making it to the big dance, the Falcons took down a pesky Pine Grove team that usually makes a deep run of its own each year.

In his second year as head coach, Joe Mladosich has worked quickly to improve on years past and advance his team to the program's first state tournament since 1994.

"I'm proud of this team and how the girls have played this year," Mladosich said. "They went on an 11-game win streak that really helped turn our season in the right direction."

After a 48-29 loss to No. 1 seed Minersville last Friday night in the district final, Mladosich and Salisbury have a full week to prepare for the new environment they will see, which begins on Friday night with a first-round matchup against District 12's second place team, Imhotep Charter (22-3), at 6 p.m. at Lansdale Catholic High School.