Audenried’s historic playoff run comes to a close against Scranton Prep in PIAA 4A semifinals

Audenried girls’ basketball coach Kevin Slaughter presents a challenge to each foe the Rockets face: “Race me to 75.”

Slaughter hopes to force other teams to play fast like his players enjoy. They push the pace and put on the pressure, and it worked like a charm through the first three rounds of the PIAA Class 4A tournament.

District 2 champion Scranton Prep took the bait Tuesday night and lined up for the race, but ran faster.

The Cavaliers poured in 15 triples as they stormed to the championship game with an 83-50 semifinal win Tuesday night at Liberty High School in Bethlehem, ending the deepest run in Rockets history.

“If you can score that much, I got to give you credit,” Slaughter said. “How can I hate on that? There’s nothing you can do about it.

“I thought we were going to get [to Hershey for the title game], but it just didn’t work out.”

Junior guard Jenna Hilleband scored 30 points for Scranton Prep, including six three-pointers, while Audenried junior Shayla Smith scored 25.

The teams traded a few early threes as Scranton Prep jumped out to a 15-14 lead with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter. Then Hillebrand buried a triple, and Audenried never answered.

Scranton Prep led 21-15 heading into the second period. A 20-2 run to begin the quarter pushed the Cavaliers’ lead to 24. They led 46-21 at halftime behind nine three-pointers in the first half.

Hillebrand came out and buried a three on the first possession of the second half, and kept pouring it on. Scranton Prep junior Bella Dennebaum finished with 19 points and junior Maya Jenkins had 17. Audenried junior Senaya Parker joined Smith in double figures with 10.

Said Slaughter: “Even though they were making shots, in my sick, demented mind, I’m thinking, ‘They don’t know what it’s like to score 80 points, they’re going to start getting uncomfortable after a while,’ and they didn’t.”

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Scranton Prep will face WPIAL runner-up Blackhawk in Saturday’s state championship at Hershey’s Giant Center.

Audenried won its first state playoff game in program history last season in the first round, but fell in the second by 17 points. The Rockets came back this season wanting more and got it.

They knocked off local powers Germantown Academy and Archbishop Carroll during the regular season. Even with 6-foot freshman Nasiaah Russell out with an injury for the postseason, Audenried followed up its breakthrough 2022-23 campaign with a second straight Public League championship, the program’s first District 12 title, and a run to the state semis, dominating its first three opponents before Tuesday’s loss.

“Without the puppy [Russell], everybody thought there’s no way they’re getting out of the first round,” Slaughter said. “They might not even beat Imhotep without her. For us to go on this type of run, it was cool, it really was. But I just think the kids have to understand it’s a lot of basketball. It really is.

“I think we ran out of the gas.”

Seniors Aniyah “Rambo” Howard and Sakina Nelson will be two of the seniors missed next season. Smith, Parker, sophomores Heaven Reese and Aniyah Cheeseboro, and a healthy Russell will be back, though, to try to make a deeper run and become the first Public League girls’ team to reach Hershey.

“Those kids [Scranton Prep] were here last year, and they lost to Lansdale Catholic,” Slaughter said. “We’re still young.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.