The fifth seed coming out of District 1 for the PIAA Class 5A basketball state championships, the Mount St. Joseph Academy Magic, was not particularly worried that its first-round opponent was the second seed from District 11, Southern Lehigh High School.

One team has been completely dominant in that Lehigh Valley district. It’s Bethlehem Catholic, which defeated Southern Lehigh by 40 points in the district tournament finals to win the championship for the 10th year in a row.

As the lower seed, the Magic had to travel to Southern Lehigh to play the Spartans last Saturday, and they came home with a 50-31 victory that raised their overall record to 19-5. Southern Lehigh ended its season with a mark of 14-13.

Mount St. Joe had been seeded first going into the District 1 tournament, but had been upset by Radnor High School, 49-45, in the second round on Feb. 17, when the Mount had been missing two players. Radnor went on to win the District 1 title and was placed in the same four-team grouping as the Mount at the top of the state bracket. Radnor, however, was upset in the first round of States, 41-31, by the fifth seed from District 3 (Central Pennsylvania), Lampeter-Strasburg High School.

Mount St. Joseph will face Lampeter-Strasburg at Coatesville High School this Wednesday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m.

For last Saturday’s game at Southern Lehigh, the hosts Spartans were missing starting junior Eliana Marques. Marques, who opted to attend a volleyball event, had scored a team-high 14 points against Bethlehem Catholic in the District 11 finals.

The Spartans were on the board first with a three-pointer by sophomore Samantha Fontanez. Then the Mount started out with a layup by sophomore Katie Eichenhofer. Next, MSJ 10th-grader Caitlin Cavallaro strung together a three-pointer, a layup, and two-for-three shooting from the the foul line. Now up 9-3, the Mount would lead the rest of the way.

Southern Lehigh added just one more field goal during the first period, while the Magic’s Nina Meierdiercks scored off a steal and fellow sophomore Delaney O’Brien drove to the hoop near the end of the quarter to put the visitors ahead, 13-5.

The second stanza was a 10-10 standoff that resulted in a 23-15 tally at halftime. The Mount players were still adjusting to the tendencies of the District 11 officiating crew, who were calling more touch fouls than the Magic were used to. After the first round of the tournament, neutral officiating crews are used, coming from different districts than the two teams unless the competitors are from the same district themselves.

In the third quarter, Cavallaro and junior Caroline Dougherty put in three-pointers, and sophomore Carly Derouin joined in on the scoring. Before the period was over, Cavallaro had already reached her game-high total of 15 points. A successful drive in the final minute by Meierdiercks had the Mounties firmly in control, leading 38-23.

In the fourth quarter, Eichenhofer and Meierdiercks each had two field goals, while Derouin also scored and junior Anna Rose Marshall deposited a late layup that got the visitors to their final total of 50 points. The Spartans, who had 29 points at the time, got their last two from the foul line, courtesy of sophomore Lydia Bartlett.

Meierdiercks joined Cavallaro in double figures with 12 points for the afternoon, while Eichenhofer and O’Brien each scored six. After them came Derouin, with four, Dougherty, with three, and Marshall and senior Bridget Horgan with two points apiece.

Freshman Rowan Adams led Southern Lehigh with nine points, and junior Naphtali Smith scored seven.