Allentown Central Catholic was forced to play a majority of this season without its top starting lineup due to injuries.

But even though the Vikettes have been banged up, they have stayed in the mix, finishing with a 14-8 regular season record in the always-tough Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

On Wednesday night in the quarterfinal round of the District 11 4A playoffs, No. 3 seeded Central was back at full strength and it showed, as the Vikettes looked impressive against No. 6 seed Lehighton, holding a 17-point lead after the first quarter, which helped them to an eventual dominant win over the Indians, 61-32.

One of the Vikettes who has been hampered by injuries this season has been their point guard and leading scorer (17.5 ppg), Molly Driscoll. With Driscoll fully healthy and back in the lineup, the Central offense looked in rhythm early.

“Molly came back into our lineup about four or five games ago, and it has taken us a little time to get that team chemistry back. But tonight was really the first game where everything was back in sync,” said ACC head coach Kathy Davidowich. “We needed that type of performance tonight. We had a week off after the EPC tournament, and we used that time to work together in practice, and we worked to get our rhythm back offensively.”

The first half was all ACC. The Vikettes led 18-1 after one, shooting 5-for-8 from the field, while forcing five Lehighton turnovers. Central kept the pressure on in the second as well, with the Indians not getting their first field goal until midway through the quarter on a Morgan Costenbader deep three from the right wing.

The Vikettes would go into the half with a 32-10 advantage. Driscoll led the way for ACC with nine points, and Armani Brickhouse would chip in with eight, scoring the final eight points of the second frame.

“I was really happy with the defensive effort. That’s what I was most proud of tonight. We came out and we wanted to pressure them full-court and get them out of sync. We also wanted to early on create some offense with our defense,” said Davidowich. “We were just at our best tonight when we pressured and when we were in our half-court man. We did try to go zone for a little in the third to save our legs a little bit, but then they were able to hit a couple three-pointers early in that quarter, so we went back to our man defense.”

Lehighton was able to get its offense going a little bit to start the third. Three-pointers from Ryleigh Trotman and Leah Uyvari cut the ACC lead to below 20 points (34-16). However, the Vikettes would continue to score the basketball with success, matching the Indians’ 15-point effort in the third, and carrying a 47-25 advantage going into the fourth.

“They came out and they blitzed us right out of the gate. We were just playing from behind the whole game. We could never get a rally together, or that one run that we needed to get back into the game. That’s a credit to ACC and the way that they played tonight,” said Lehighton head coach Joe Berezwick. “In the third quarter, there was a bright spot there for us. We were able to knock down some shots and score some points. But I’m proud of my girls. We had a really good season; we just ran into a machine tonight.”

The Vikettes continued to play machine-like offense in the fourth, with six players scoring for ACC in the frame, driving its lead all the way up to 29 points as it outscored the Tribe 14-7 in quarter.

For Lehighton, it was a great turnaround season with its top players in Emma Repsher and Charli McHugh returning from ACL injuries from a year ago. Because of that, expectations coming into the 2023-24 campaign for the Tribe were unclear, but the Indians delivered a solid outcome, finishing with a 12-11 record.

“We didn’t know what to expect with two of our top players coming back off knee injuries. But as the season went on, we continued to get better,” said Berezwick. “I want to commend the girls on the job that they did on the defensive end of the floor this season. We only gave up more than 50 points just once this season. Also, it was a great locker room. It was a pleasure to come and coach this group every day.”

LEADING SCORERS

… Repsher scored a team-high 12 points for Lehighton. For ACC, Driscoll scored a game-high 17 points. Sammy Roth added 13 and Brickhouse netted 11.

EARLY RUN

… Central got out to an impressive 26-1 lead until the Indians were able to score their first field goal of the game in the second quarter.

NEXT UP

… ACC will now move onto face off with No. 2 seed North Schuylkill at Blue Mountain at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the 4A semis.

LEHIGHTON

McHugh 1-3-4-5, Klotz 1-0-0-2, Uyvari 1-2-2-5, Trotman 1-0-2-3, Repsher 7-0-4-12, Costenbader 2-0-0-5. TOTALS: 11-5-12-32.

ACC

Brickhouse 4-1-4-11, Niggel 1-0-0-2, Roth 6-0-2-13, Spinosa 2-0-0-4, Seagreaves 0-2-2-2, Wolf 2-2-4-6, Kofroth 3-0-0-6, 4-8-8-17. TOTALS: 22-10-13-61

Lehighton 1 9 15 7 - 32

Central Catholic 18 14 15 14 - 61

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Repsher 2, Costenbader 1, Uyvari 1, Trotman 2. ACC - Brickhouse 2, Driscoll 2, Roth 1.