POTTSVILLE - Confidence is contagious.

During the opening moments of the Schuylkill League semifinals against Pottsville, Marian watched the ball go through the basket frequently.The Fillies' fast start established the poise they needed to defeat Pottsville, 46-40, on Wednesday night at Martz Hall.."We struggled in big games over the past couple of years," said Marian head coach Paul Brutto. "I was on them about that. They had to show up big in big games and they did tonight. Getting off to a good start doesn't guarantee anything, but it gets you some confidence."Savanna Krusinsky is one of Marian's two seniors who played a large role during the victory. The senior center battled through early foul trouble, but still tallied 15 points - a bulk of which came in the second half."Savanna was very efficient," said Brutto. "She made some moves inside and shot well from the foul line."Brutto was also happy with how the rest of the Fillies responded when Krusinsky was forced to the bench."I was proud of the way our kids hung tough with Savanna sitting with foul trouble in the first half," Brutto said. "Like most teams in the area, we can't afford to have our best player sit - and we were able to get her in and play smart and she didn't pick up another bad foul. We need her on the court."Unlike Krusinsky, fellow Fillies' senior Vanessa Whitecavage did most of her damage in the first half and also chipped in 15 points. The veteran Marian guard gave well-deserved kudos to her underclassmen teammates for delivering under pressure."In the beginning of the season, they played a little scared," Whitecavage said of some of the younger, inexperienced Fillies. "In this game, we really encouraged them and talked to them before the game."It's a nerve-racking atmosphere, but you have to stay calm, confident, and play as a team. We wanted to play at our own pace. We didn't want to play at Pottsville's pace."Despite being no more than a two-possession game in the third period, the Tide led for just 11 seconds in the sequence."Pottsville ran some nice sets in the second half," said Brutto. "Curt (Ziegmont) does a nice job coaching them. They had some back-door screens that were driving me crazy. But, we were able to hang on and pull it out."Immediately after the Tide's brief lead, the Fillies answered with an 8-1 spurt to close the third period. Brutto's club never trailed after that."Our kids made some big plays down the stretch," Brutto said. "We got some steals and executed our offense in crunch time. I'm proud of that."THIRD AMIGA … Brenna Karnish was the third Marian player in double figures. She combined with Krusinsky, and Whitecavage to score 40 of the Fillies' 46 points.DIFFERENT DEFENSIVELY … Marian is accustomed to playing full court pressure defense, but that wasn't the case on Wednesday."This is a tough place to go full court, especially with a limited bench," Brutto said. "We're confident in our half court defense most nights, so we relied on it tonight. We did a nice job. They're a tough team to defend and (Kyra) Schenk is a handful inside."TWO TO TANGO … Whitecavage and Krusinsky scored all of Marian's points in the final frame."I don't have words for her game sometimes," said Whitecavage of her teammate's play. "She hustles so much and gets a ton of rebounds. She's always giving 100 percent. We can count on her all the time. She's always there to step up."ON DECK … Next up for Marian is top-seeded Minersville, which routed Blue Mountain in the opening game of the doubleheader. They'll do battle on Friday night at Martz Hall (6 p.m.) in the Schuylkill League Championship."It's a nice feeling," said Brutto. "It's a tough task ahead though, Minersville hasn't played many close games and they have a lot of weapons. It's nice to have an opportunity to have the shot at them and see what we can do."MARIANWhitecavage 5-4-6-15, Agosti 0-0-0-0, Krusinsky 5-5-8-15, Karnish 3-3-4-10, Stoyer 0-3-7 3, Correale 0-0-0-0, Raabe 1-1-1-3. TOTALS: 14-16-26-46.POTTSVILLESherakas 5-1-5-12, Burnhauser 4-0-1-8, Cresswell 1-3-6-5, Kondrack 0-0-2-0, Schenk 3-7-8-13, Comfort 1-0-0-2, Plachko 0-0-0-0. Totals 14-11-22-40.Marian 14 7 9 16 - 46Pottsville 10 7 9 14 - 40‪Three-pointers: Marian - Whitecavage 1, Karnish 1; Pottsville - Sherakas 1