Wingate, Pa., Feb. 27, 2002 -- State College completed a three-game sweep of Altoona by defeating the Lady Lions 61-50 in a semifinal game of the District 6 playoffs played before a capacity crowd at Bald Eagle Area High School.

The victory sends State College (22-3) to the district championship game on Saturday against Central Mountain. The contest will be played at St. Francis College at a time to be announced.

"We're excited," State College coach Bethany Irwin said. "We get two more weeks of basketball. This was a very, very big win. We knew we had to come out and play hard. We had to crash the boards. That was one of our weaknesses in our last game at Altoona."

Senior scoring leader Katie Glusko provided a game-high 28 points to lead the Lion offense. She sent her season total to 545 points breaking the single season scoring record of 543 points she set last year. Glusko also reached double figures in scoring for the 55th straight game of her career.

Defense also was a factor in the game. "Tasha Stotler was one of the ones that we had to keep in check," Irwin said. "Susie Sieminski did an outstanding job on Stotler. We went at her, we got her in foul trouble, she went out with zero points." Stotler was whistled for her fourth foul midway through the third quarter and fouled out just 25 seconds into the final period.

Stotler had been a thorn in State College's side when the two teams met in Altoona Jan. 30 dropping in a game-high 21 points.

"Lisa Younkin had a great game," Irwin said. "She made great decisions on the court, got our shooters the ball, and set the tempo of the game."

The teams traded baskets through the opening minutes with State College leading 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Without Stotler, a consistent 20-point scorer, Altoona responded and State College led by only three (27-24) at intermission.

After a deuce by Suzy Carlson, Glusko had four straight three- point plays which added another 12 points. Still the State College lead was only six (41-35) with another eight minutes to go.

State College hustled out of the blocks at the beginning of the final stanza outscoring Altoona 9-2 to open the period. Two perfect feeds by Younkin led to layups by Nicole Scipione and Glusko to give the Lions a 50-35 advantage. From that point on Altoona had to foul and all but two of State College's remaining points came from the free throw line.

Erin Dodson was Altoona's leading scorer with 15 points.

Altoona's loss to State College eliminates the Lady Lions (16-10) from the PIAA Championship. The Lady Lions were the runners-up to State College in last season's district playoffs and won nine straight district titles between 1992 and 2000.

Both State College and Central Mountain will advance to the PIAA Championships which begin Friday, March 8.