On Saturday afternoon, the Marian girls basketball team will find itself in a very familiar situation - taking a bus ride to Martz Hall in Pottsville and playing for a District 11 Class A championship.

Since 2003, the Fillies have become accostumed to the "big game" atmosphere that Martz Hall provides in early March, as they've competed in seven of the past 11 District championship games. However, having only won two championships in that span, Marian head coach Paul Brutto is hoping for better results when his Fillies play sixth-seeded Shenandoah Valley at 2 p.m. for the District 11 Class A Title.After losing to Tri-Valley in 2011 and 2012, Marian is looking for its first district championship since 2008, when the Fillies defeated Nativity 46-31, en route to the PIAA Class A state championship. In fact, the Fillies have won just two District championships (2008, 2005) in the past 27 years.While top-seeded Marian finds itself in familiar territory, Shenandoah Valley is seeking it's first District 11 Class A championship in school history. The last time the Blue Devils made it to the District championship game was in 2002, when Nativity claimed a 75-42 victory."Even though their kids haven't been in this position before, I think they're playing with a lot of confidence right now," stated Marian head coach Paul Brutto in regards to the same Shenandoah Valley program he began his head coaching tenure with. "They're coming into this game on a roll having beaten two teams that handled them pretty easily in the regular season, so I think they like their chances."The Blue Devils (15-9) defeated third-seeded Nativity 33-31 in overtime last Saturday on a buzzer beater by senior Erin Buchanan, and advanced to the championship game by knocking off four-time defending District 11 Class A champion Tri-Valley 28-22 on Wednesday evening."We're coming off two huge wins against two of the premier programs in the area, and now you can add a third premier program to that list when we play Marian on Saturday for the championship," stated Shenandoah Valley head coach Chris Conroy. "This is a place we're not used to being. The kids are excited about the opportunity though and we'll have them focused and prepared for the huge challenge that Marian presents."During the regular season, Marian swept Shenandoah Valley by scores of 46-35 on December 16 and 47-30 on January 28. In fact, the Fillies have a 10-game winning streak against the Blue Devils dating back to the 2009-2010 season with their average margin of victory being 17.7 points."Marian plays four guards and that definitely causes some matchup problems for us. They run the court very well in transition and they hound you with pressure defense for 32 minutes," added Conroy. "On Wednesday night, we kicked it around quite a bit against a Tri-Valley team which is very similar to Marian. We have to take care of the basketball and that will certainly be our number one priority."Despite gaining the win over the seventh-seeded Bulldogs, Shenandoah Valley turned the ball over a season-high 28 times. In their last meeting against Marian, the Blue Devils turned it over 18 times (their second-most turnovers this season).Shenandoah Valley features a three-headed monster on offense with forward Abigail Snitzer (15.8 ppg), point guard Kristina Nieddu (11.6 ppg) and center Marcella Creasy (8.5 ppg). Snitzer scored 22 points in her first meeting with the Fillies, but Marian held her to just two points the second time around."They have two great scorers and a few nice complimentary pieces. The key is getting the ball out of Nieddu's hands and making it hard for her to get back because we don't want to get in a half court game with them," added Brutto. "We feel we have a deep bench and we have to use it to our advantage. I thought their games against Nativity and Tri-Valley were played at a snail's pace. We want a fast up-tempo game and we want to rely on our defense to create offense."You have to take Snitzer out of the game because she's pretty deadly from long range. Abby Whildin did a great job of shutting her down the last time we played them. With Nieddu, you just have to keep her in front of you. If you can hold those two down, you certainly have to like your chances."Marian (23-2) counters with a very balanced lineup featuring six players capable of scoring double-digits on any given night. Center Savanna Krusinsky leads the way with 9.91 points per game and is surround by guards Gabby Green (7.68 ppg), Whildin (7.52 ppg), Vanessa Whitecavage (5.92 ppg), Lindsay Nemeth (5.04 ppg) and Emily Sofranko (4.38 ppg)."The key against Marian is that we need to get shots out of every possession," said Conroy. "Coach Brutto is the best around when it comes to preparing his team defensively. If we turn the ball over like we did against Tri-Valley, we don't stand a chance."The winner of Saturday's game will take on the District 4 runner-up (the loser of Millville/Northeast Bradford) on Saturday, March 8, while the loser will open up the State Tournament against the District 1 champion (the winner of Phil-Mont Christian Academy/Jenkintown).