The fourth-seeded Catasauqua girls basketball team clinched its first District XI playoff victory in 16 years with a 47-36 win over fifth-seeded Executive Education on Feb. 23 at Whitehall High School, and at the final buzzer, the Rough Riders headed straight for Coach Mark Seremula in celebration of their Class 3A quarterfinal win.

“It’s special,” said an overjoyed Coach Seremula. “When I got the job, they were all coming into seventh grade, and I knew they had a chance to do some things that hadn’t been done here in a long, long, long, long time. It’s just so much fun to coach them. Every single one of them is a better kid than they are an athlete. I couldn’t be more proud of them. That’s because of their effort.”

The Rough Riders and Raptors went on back-to-back 7-0 runs in the first quarter and stayed neck and neck throughout the first half, but Executive had a 20-17 lead at the break.

“I challenged (Catty center) Sophia Becker at halftime. I said, ‘You’ve got two points. We need something from you here,’ and she finished the game with 12,” Seremula said. “We knew if we did what we were supposed to do, we would get it going a little bit better than we had. We missed free throws in the first half, but that shot by Liv Bear at the end of the third quarter was huge.”

Trailing 28-26 with 12.7 seconds remaining in the third, Catty guard Hailey Jenkins took a 3-point shot that stuck between the rim and backboard, but the possession arrow pointed to the Rough Riders, and Bear made the triple for the lead.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in, and I was so excited, and that’s what gave us the lead, but I’m also grateful that my teammates saw me open, and they trust me to take that shot,” Bear said. “That was a really good moment for us, but we played an unselfish game today, and everyone contributed a lot.”

Seremula called a timeout early in the fourth quarter when the Rough Riders were having trouble getting the ball over the half-court line thanks to Raptor pressure.

“I knew they were gonna try and be a little physical and slow it down, and fortunately, they called fouls, so we stepped up and made them when we needed to,” he said.

Catty forward Delaney Troxell came back with a jumper after the timeout, Becker chipped in two points on a pass from Jordan Soltis, and Bear’s jump shot on a Jenkins assist put Catty ahead, 35-30.

“Big shots,” Seremula said. “And then I told Hailey when she was on the line, we all know she missed a bunch, but I looked her in the eyes, and I said to her, ‘Big players make big shots when it matters,’ and that’s what she did. That’s why I think she’s the best player in the Lehigh Valley. I don’t care what anybody says.”

The sophomore guard finished the game with 20 points.

“First half, I was missing a whole bunch of my free throws. I was getting frustrated,” Jenkins said. “Everyone was telling me get it out of your head, so second half I had to focus in on my free throws, and I think all of our free throws at the end helped us win that game.”

Troxell and Becker made two big blocks in the last three minutes, and Jenkins tore through the Raptors’ full-court press to feed Becker for a bucket and a 39-32 lead.

“Once we had a seven-point lead, and I could tell Executive was getting frustrated with themselves and each other, and as soon as they started fouling us, I knew that was the game,” said Bear. “First half, our defense was good and it didn’t translate to offense, but in the second half, we kept it up and were forcing them to do other things. Hailey Jenkins is really fast, I’m really fast, so once we get a steal, we’re off and we’re scoring. We’re thrilled. None of us want this season to end.”

Catasauqua will have played top-seeded Palmerton in a semifinal on Feb. 27, past Press deadlines.

“Anything can happen. That’s why you play the game,” Seremula said. “We’ll be ready.”