POTTSVILLE Northeast Bradford knew the press was coming.

But what the Panthers weren't prepared for was a physical game in the paint.With Marian and Savanna Krusinsky dominating the inside Saturday night in the opening round of the PIAA Class A, the Fillies cruised to a 47-23 victory over the District 4 runner-ups and advanced to Wednesday's second round."Their pressure wasn't a problem for us," said NE Bradford head coach Paul Burgert. "The problem with Marian was they were physical."Their physicality, that was unexpected. They're just tough kids and they killed us on the boards ... They had offensive rebounds. They had easy shots in the paint. And once you get down against a team like them their defense is too good and there's no coming back."Leading the way in the toughness category was Krusinsky, who finished with game-highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds.The 5-10 sophomore hit three shots down low within the game's first four and a half minutes to help her team build an 11-1 advantage."We knew they were a little bit smaller and we just took care of the things that coach told us to do," said Krusinsky. "We stressed getting the ball inside and that's what we did."Did they ever.Of Marian's 19 field goals on the evening, 15 of them came within the paint."I love it," said Fillies mentor Paul Brutto of the inside success. "Obviously you're going to shoot a higher percentage and you're going to get fouled. There's just a lot of good things that come from getting the ball inside."At times (we've had the better of the inside game) but not as well as tonight. We've worked on it more in the postseason so hopefully that's just a little bit of that paying off ... Abbey (Whildin) and Savanna are pretty good around the basket. They're athletic and strong. But we're definitely better at it now than we have been all year."The Panthers (21-7) were better than most teams at getting the ball upcourt against Marian's pressing defense.But what Northeast Bradford lacked was finishing at the other end."We killed their press today," said Burgert. "We had easy opportunities that whole first half. But poor shooting didn't help us early."We worked on (the press) all week. People I talked to said you gotta watch their press, you gotta watch the press. We worked on it all week and I thought we did a really good job. We broke it with the intent to score ... but we didn't make shots."Gabby Green made a pair of shots in the second quarter, knocking down two three-pointers. Those rare jumpers, along with four points from Whildin, allowed the District 11 champs to build a commanding 31-12 halftime lead.Krusinsky and Whildin both opened the second half with a pair of inside buckets and the Fillies' margin never dropped below 19 points the rest of the way."We hurt them inside," said Brutto. "It's a credit to our guards and our post players to get the ball to each other. It's something we've struggled with at times but tonight we were able to get it there and we did a pretty good job of finishing."We weren't really able to press them too effectively. They did a real nice job of spreading the court and finding the open person. So, fortunately our inside game was there because if it wasn't it certainly would have been more of a struggle."Whildin finished with 10 points and seven boards to back Krusinsky, and Marian (25-2) ended the contest with 18 offensive rebounds (compared to six by NE Bradford)."It was nice to win but I'm especially happy for our seniors," said Brutto. "They're a great group and we get to coach them a little more and they get to play a little more."The Fillies will face Old Forge in the second round on Wednesday. The game will start at 6 p.m. at Hazleton Area High School.NE BRADFORDCal. Johnson 1-0-0-2, M. Johnson 1-0-0-2, Cas. Johnson 0-0-0-0, Wilkes 2-1-2-5, Laudermilch 1-1-1-3, Werner 4-1-3-10, Russell 0-0-0-0, Turner 0-0-0-0, Coon 0-0-0-0, Hallett 0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 9-4-8-23.MARIANGreen 2-0-0-6, Whildin 4-2-3-10, A. Fannick 0-0-0-0, Whitecavage 1-2-2-4, Sofranko 0-0-0-0, E. Fannick 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 1-0-0-3, Mahon 0-0-0-0, Baranko 1-0-0-2, Nilsson 1-0-0-2, Krusinsky 7-0-1-14, Karnish 0-2-2-2, Stoyer 0-0-2-0, Holman 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 19-6-10-47.NE Bradford 3 9 7 4 - 23Marian 15 16 8 8 - 47Three-pointers: NE Bradford - Werner 1; Marian - Green 2, Nemeth 1.