Loretto, Pa., March 2, 2002 -- State College earned its second straight District 6 AAAA Title with a 73-51 win over Central Mountain at Saint Francis University.

The victory makes State College (23-3) the home team in the upcoming PIAA Championship with a first round game against the No. 7 seed from District 7 in a contest to be played Friday, March 8 at a site and time to be announced.

"I think all season long we've had a very calm confidence," coach Bethany Irwin said. "Tonight we just went out there and did our job."

State College completed a three-game sweep of Central Mountain's Lady Wildcats in the district finale despite a 38-point effort from two Wildcat players. At halftime Lindsay Hollonbaugh and Amanda Walker had combined to score all of Central Mountains's 29 points.

"I give credit to Hollobaugh and Walker," Irwin said. "They scored their team's first 29 points. We had to make some adjustments. Suzy Carlson did an outstanding job on Hollobaugh in the second half."

Hollobaugh scored 17 of her game-high 20 points in the first half and her second half 3-pointer came late in the game when Carlson had already headed to the bench.

"Nicole Scipione did a great job coming off the bench and helping out on Walker," Irwin said. Walker finished with 18 points but had only six in the last two quarters.

A reporter asked where Irwin's 2002 team ranked in terms of teams she has coached. "I know that we have a lot of depth this year," Irwin said. "Seasons are like that. These seniors have worked hard and they went to districts all four years. They won the districts the last two years.

"Of course we want that state title now," Irwin said. "And we're going to go for it." Senior scoring leader Katie Glusko provided a team-high 17 points to lead the Lion offense. She sent her season total to 562 points reaching double figures in scoring for the 56th straight game of her career.

Junior Liz Gabrielle came off the bench to score nine points, many as a result of her blazing speed. "Liz Gabrille did an outstanding job," Irwin said. "She is one quick girl. We knew that Central Mountain didn't have as much depth as we did so we said run, run, run." Gabrille is a standout in track who has won all-state honors in that sport.

Both State College and Central Mountain advance to the PIAA Championship with their first round games next Friday (March 8). Times, locations and opponents will be announced at a later date.