It's difficult to recall exactly how the sequence unfolded because it happened so darn fast.
Shikellamy made a couple baskets, and the crowd began to stir. It was still anybody's game, and the Braves had some momentum late in the third quarter of a recent run with Danville.
That's where things blurred in a series of turnovers and transition buckets and bodies on the floor. Danville's defense thoroughly killed the suspense faster than a "To be continued ..." screen, and the Ironmen walked off the Shikellamy Field House court with a 20-point win.
A few minutes later, a beat thumped over the PA system for the start of varsity warm-ups.
You want to know how the Ironmen are once again in contention for the Heartland Athletic Conference Division I championship? Watch their junior varsity team play defense.
The girls clearly understand the importance of defending the ball, how aggressive play can generate offense, and how a two-possession game can suddenly become a blowout.
You see that kind of all-out effort at 6 o'clock and it makes sense why -- having come through the program with the same focus -- the varsity is so successful, despite some (literal) shortcomings.
"We rely so much on our defense that we honestly feel we can keep ourselves in ball games by playing good defense," said Danville coach Steve Moser. "We pride ourselves in our defense."
The Ironmen were a contender in last season's HAC-I race until about this point, losing three of their last four to place fourth. It was to be expected from an "under 6-foot" team, as Moser affectionately called it, in a division with size.
Then the Ironmen shocked unbeaten HAC-I champion Shamokin in the district semifinals, one last salvo by a smoke-and-mirrors club. They lost the district final to Milton on a final-seconds bucket, and called it a season with a first-round state playoff loss.
It made for a few poignant paragraphs in the yearbook, we're sure, but the program wouldn't be the same without heart-and-soul players such as Sam Zampetti, Brooke Pierson and Hayley Kay.
"Losing four of our seniors last year was tough, and we knew coming in it was going to be a little rough with just Maddy (Moser) and I back from varsity," current senior Rachael Herman said earlier this season. "But I think everyone has continued to improve through the season and we have a lot of confidence."
Danville is 14-5 and second in the HAC-I standings at 10-2, just ahead of Selinsgrove. The Ironmen have won five games in a row and 10 of 12, losing only to unbeaten Line Mountain and HAC-I leader Shamokin in that stretch.
Still not blessed with size, they look more like cheerleaders running a layup line, hair in ponytails and matching black warm-up shirts emblazoned with names and numbers in burnt orange. But when the ball is tossed up, those girls may play the most fundamentally sound basketball in the area.
Holdover starters Herman and Maddy Moser were joined by fellow senior Montanah James, and juniors Siobhan Bross and Kylie Romeo. Senior Taryn Beaver is first off the bench. All those girls are around 5-foot-6, yet they'll hold their own against most teams on the glass with little more than good technique and want-to.
"We have to recognize who (opponents') shooters are, so we really focus on those players," said Maddy Moser. "Then, once the shot is up, you just have to box out and get the rebound. We're not very tall, so we really work on boxing out so we can get the rebound and get (the ball) up the court."
Simple: Force shooters to take tough shots, wall off the others, grab the carom and go.
In that Shikellamy-Danville varsity game, the Ironmen held the Braves scoreless for the final 9 minutes, 34 seconds, and turned a small third-quarter deficit into an eight-point win. They limited the Braves to one shot most trips, forced a few turnovers, and buried free throws down the stretch.
"I told them at halftime in each of the last two games, 'Girls, we're going to see what your character is,'" said Steve Moser, in his sixth season. "At Jersey Shore it was only 19-15; here (at Shikellamy) it was 19-19. So let's see what we're made of; let's check our character. Both times they've responded with good halves."
With no real inside presence to game plan, defending the Ironmen can be a challenge. It's tough to play man-to-man when a team can run endless loops of motion offense with five finishers, and equally difficult to zone a team that moves the ball as well as Danville.
"Our team doesn't revolve around one person," Herman agreed. "We're all capable of scoring, and I think that's one of our best points."
The Ironmen may not get a piece of the HAC-I title ("That'll be a fun one," Steve Moser said of a Valentine's Day game at Shamokin). They may not make it back to the district final and states. But they proved the program's success is not a result of smoke-and-mirrors.
Nothing tricky about heart and execution.
"I don't think we're quite (at last season's level) yet, but I think we have that potential," said Steve Moser. "We can get there."
Scott Dudinskie covers high school girls basketball for The Daily Item. Email comments to sdudinskie@dailyitem.com.
