By Tom Housenick
POTTSVILLE -- Lisa Varano spoke of Mount Carmel's impressive run to its first state playoff appearance in more than a decade.
It took less than a half to realize that appearance would be brief.
Tamaqua's Amy Zehner scored nine consecutive points midway through the second quarter to break open a tight game and Mount Carmel had a woeful shooting night in a 51-36 loss Friday night at Martz Hall.
"These girls did a lot for the program," the Red Tornadoes' interim coach said. "We just had a bad shooting night. It's happened a couple of times this year. It's just the wrong time."
Ellissa Streisel scored eight consecutive points, including a pair of treys, to allow Tamaqua to break from a 5-5 tie in the first quarter.
Up 17-10 in the second, the Blue Raiders then found their star player. Zehner scored in an assortment of ways. Inside and out. Off the dribble. From beyond the arc. The senior fueled a run that pushed the game out of reach for the Red Tornadoes.
"She's a great player," Varano said. "She took control of the game and that took us out of what we wanted to do."
Tamaqua (25-2) finished the second quarter on a 15-4 run. Mount Carmel (17-10), which shot 3-of-15 from the field in the first quarter, never recovered.
"We got good shots," Varano said. "We just couldn't make them."
Marisa Farronato and Kim Andruscavage each had 10 points for Mount Carmel, which also committed 23 turnovers. Farronato's trey gave Mount Carmel its second, and last, lead (5-3) two minutes into the game.
Streisel then scored eight of the game's next 10 points to give Tamaqua the lead for good. Zehner, an all-state caliber player, then dominated the second quarter. She drove the lane to start the game-breaking spurt. She later his a baseline trey, then had a steal and fastbreak basket that started an 8-0 run to end the first half.
Zehner also finished with 14 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.
"Amy is our go-to player," Tamaqua coach Joe Berezwick said. "She has a great understanding for the game and knows when we need her to score. But she doesn't force things. She knows we have a balanced team."
