POTTSVILLE - The phrase "defense wins championships" is a philosophy which most of the sports world embraces and agrees upon.

This Marian team led the Schuylkill League in defensive points per game this season. In the District 11 class A quarterfinal match up with Lehigh Valley Christian on Saturday, it proved that this statistic was quite accurate.Marian held Lehigh Valley Christian to three first quarter points, never trailed, and went on to score a 61-21 victory."We wanted to pressure them from the start," said Marian head coach Paul Brutto. "We figured they would have a hard time against our press and we certainly didn't want to take anything for granted. Our kids ran the floor really well and we were able to get some easy looks off of different things."Marian set the tempo immediately as it forced 12 of the Cougars' 34 turnovers in the first quarter."We're a defensive team first because honestly on offense we're not very good," Brutto said. "In the playoffs it's hard to get easy baskets. It was nice to get some points off of turnovers."Marian had no trouble finding offense Saturday, however. Despite two of their better players sitting out, the Fillies had 11 different girls score in the contest. Lindsay Nemeth and Ericha Holman each had nine points in the game."(Savanna) Krusinsky and (Emily) Sofranko could have played if they were needed," said Brutto. "A bunch of different girls contributed for us tonight and it was nice to get some underclassmen in the game. It was good for everyone's psyche."They (Lehigh Valley Christian) did some nice things too, so it was nice to get everyone involved at this time of the season."Despite facing a large deficit at halftime, head coach Brendan O'Brien's Lehigh Valley Christian team never hung their heads. The Cougars actually shot 5-of- 13 from the floor in the first half, but couldn't beat the Marian pressure."They know that being the eighth seed that they were going to have an upward battle," O'Brien said. "My job as a coach was to convince them that the game of basketball is still the game of basketball. No matter how big the arena is or how good the team is, you're coming to play the game that you love."Reghan O'Brien and Rebecca Sutton were two Cougar seniors who each led the team with six points apiece in the contest."I motivated the girls by saying the game isn't over, let's go play," said the Lehigh Valley Christian coach. "I told them let's go meet some of our personal goals and work on developing as individuals and as a team."I had a great group of girls when I took over the program three years ago. The four seniors you saw tonight openly accepted and bought into my new philosophy and system. We try to keep playing hard, respect ourselves, and play good basketball."A sequence within the third and four quarters was the most impressive stretch of the game for the Fillies.Marian held Lehigh Valley Christian scoreless for just about 12 straight minutes of actual game time. The Fillies went on a 14-0 during the stout defensive stretch."We were focused on trying to get better ourselves," Brutto said. "We had two good days of practice, we were fresh and ready to go. We're not worried about anyone else but us. We have to go out there and play our game."Brutto and his Fillies will look to continue their strong play against a Schuylkill League opponent on Wednesday against fifth-seeded Williams Valley at Martz Hall. The Lady Vikings defeated Notre Dame-ES in their quarterfinal game.LV CHRISTIANAversa 1-0-0-2, Bosques 0-0-0-0, Darby 0-0-0-0, Samantha Feenstra 1-1-2-4, Gillespie 0-1-4-1, O'Brien 3-0-0-6, Pye 1-0-0-2, Sackey 0-0-0-0, Sutton 3-0-0-6. TOTALS 9-2-6-21MARIANBaranko 1-0-1-2, A. Fannick 3-0-0-6, E. Fannick 3-0-0-6, Green 2-1-2-5, Holman 4-1-4-9, Karnish 3-2-2-8, Mahon 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 4-1-1-9, Nilsson 0-0-0-0, Raabe 1-0-0-2, Stoyer 2-1-2-5, Whildin 2-1-2-5, Whitecavage 2-0-0-4. TOTALS 27-7-12-61LV Christian 3 9 2 7 - 21Marian 24 16 9 12 - 61Three-pointers: LV Christian - Feenstra 1; Marian - none.