Altoona, Pa., Feb. 26, 2003 -- After a 15-day period of rest, the State College Lady Little Lions easily advanced to the District 6 AAAA finals with a 56-34 win over Hollidaysburg at Altoona Area High School.

State College, the defending District 6 champion, will play Altoona for the 2003 District 6 title. The Altoona Lady Lions defeated Central Mountain 60-51 to earn their spot in the final game.

State College coach Bethany Irwin said the team made use of the two-week break following its last regular season game, taking the time to scout Hollidaysburg and prepare for its third meeting with the Lady Tigers this year.

"We had the opportunity to go watch them play and watch what their strengths are one more time or two more times, then we had a chance to put in offense that they didn't see and some out-of-bounds plays that they didn't know about," Irwin said. "It's just so much time to get to watch more and learn more, so we were excited."

The Lady Little Lions, seeded first in the district and now sporting a 22-2 season record, had defeated fourth-seeded Hollidaysburg 70-46 at Hollidaysburg and 54-40 at home during the regular season.

Entering the game with an 18-6 season record, the Lady Tigers simply couldn't keep up with State College, trailing the Lady Little Lions for the duration of the game.

State College's Nicole Scipione scored six of her 15 points in the opening five minutes of the game with teammates Sarah O'Shea and Suzy Carlson each scoring from behind the arc to counter a 10-point effort from Hollidaysburg and end the quarter with State College ahead 14-10.

Carlson added two buckets to threes from Scipione and O'Shea in the second period, during which the Lady Little Lions held Hollidaysburg to just six points, a basket each from Lauren Lingenfelter, Erin Falce and Rachel DeGol in the last three minutes of the half.

Leading 25-16 at halftime, State College only outscored Hollidaysburg by two points in the third quarter. State College's Carlson contributed eight of her game-high 17 points, matched by eight of Lingenfelter's team-high 14 points for the Lady Tigers.

The score froze at 37-26 for nearly three-minutes from the third to the fourth periods.

Lady Little Lion Liz Gabrielle broke the holding pattern with a pair of free throws and went on to score nine points in the last period. Free throws accounted for 12 of State College's 19 fourth-quarter points, with Gabrielle and reserve Jessie Serafin each shooting four-for-four from the line.

Katlyn Stupar added a free throw to Serafin's four freebies and five more points from Gabrielle to round out a ten-point State College run in two minutes of the fourth quarter.

Lady Tiger Kailee Smith responded with two buckets, adding four of her six points to an earlier bucket by DeGol and a pair of free throws from Falce to give Hollidaysburg eight points for the final period.

Overall, State College made 21 of 24 attempted points from the free-throw line compared to Hollidaysburg's eight of 15. Free throws accounted for 37.5 percent of State College's points in the 56-34 win.

Irwin said the Lady Little Lions are taking a one-game-at-a-time attitude toward playing Altoona next for the district title.

"We're just happy to be in the finals, and we want to defend what we've won," Irwin said. "I think it's going to be a really tough game."

State College and Altoona will play for the district championship Saturday, March 1 at 1:30 p.m. at Saint Francis University.

Both the winner and the runner-up will qualify for the PIAA Championship.