JIM THORPE - There was no secret about Pen Argyl's strategy against Tamaqua in their District 11 Class AA championship game clash.
Green Knights' coach Dave Moyer had made it known that he hoped to hold down the tempo against the defending D-11 AA champions. He wanted to rely on his defense to keep the Lady Raiders, who average 57 points-per-game, within the 30s or 40s.
As it turned out, the Knights had the Raiders right where the Raiders wanted them.
Tamaqua, which had allowed 41.6 points-per-game defensively, turned up its own defense a notch and the Knights couldn't keep pace.
The result was the second district title in a row for the Schuylkill League champions, who clamped down on Pen Argyl for a 45-31 triumph Friday night before a raucous full house.
The Raiders, now 24-2, jumped out to a six-point lead after one quarter and held the third-seeded Knights (18-9) to single digits in three of four quarters. Tamaqua steadily pulled away to the delight of their cheering section, with many of them wearing 6th Man T-shirts.
With sophomore Kayla Hope's ball-hawking, the shot-blocking and rebounding of juniors Amy Zehner and Allison Updike, and some spot on man-to-man harassment from senior Elissa Streisel and junior Cassie Eroh, the top-seeded Raiders had the right recipe to shut down the Colonial League Cinderella.
Pen Argyl hit on just 12-of-49 shots from the floor (