WILKES-BARRE - They say it's tough to beat a team three times in a season, especially a team as experienced as Mountain View. That proved true in this case as the Lady Eagles beat Elk Lake 34-17 to capture their third consecutive district title.

Mountain View's defense frustrated the Lady Warriors Who struggled to find any offense after the first quarter, scoring only seven points in the game's final 24 minutes.

Senior Ryleigh Kilmer played a tough game on both ends of the floor had this to say about holding the potent Elk Lake offense to just 17 points.

"That's huge for us, we focus on defense a lot and have been running drills focusing on defense."

Fellow senior Riley Turner loved the intensity, "Every year defense is one of the biggest things that we've pushed. Just effort over everything, intensity, intensity, intensity it's what we push every practice and then working as a team, that communication."

Mountain View head coach Corey Gesford thought his team did a good job defensively on the Lady Warriors in the two previous games, but praised their effort in this game.

"I thought we played great defense the first two games to limit them to 44 and 40 point, but to hold them to 17 was just an outstanding effort. The girls followed our game plan and executed."

The Lady Warriors got on the board first when Kylie Shingler made a great bounce pass to Marissa Horn in transition to give their team the early lead.

Turner hit a foul shot, then Brooklyn Anderson made her first of five big shots in the contest to put the Lady Eagles up 3-2.

Madi Casselbury put Elk Lake back on top canning a three pointer off an assist from Leah Traver to make it 5-3 with 4:26 to play in the first quarter.

Anderson dished out an assist to Turner for an easy bucket to knot things up at five apiece, R. Kilmer drained one from behind the arc to make it an 8-5 game.

Shingler collected her own rebound off a miss three point attempt and laid it in to pull the Lady Warrior within a point.

Traver nailed a three point field goal, but Aubrey Sanders answered with one of her own just before the first buzzer sounded.

After eight minutes of play the Lady Eagles held a one point advantage over the Lady Warriors.

Elk Lake couldn't buy a bucket in the second quarter, as the Mountain View defense held the Lady Warriors without a point.

The Lady Eagles didn't necessarily light up the scoreboard either, putting up eight points to extend their lead to nine points at the break.

Anderson scored a pair of buckets in the frame, Sanders and Turner each added one of their own. Heading to the locker room they were up 19-10.

Each team only scored four points in the third quarter as the pace of play slowed with neither team finding any rhythm offensively.

Sanders assisted Anderson on a two pointer and R. Kilmer produced the other two Mountain View points on a field goal. 

Shingler hit a pair of free throws and Traver made a jumper from the top of the key for the only Elk Lake field goal for two quarters.

Senior Cam Greenwood scored the only Lady Warriors points of the final quarter, connecting on a long ball off an assist from Traver.

A. Kilmer scored her first points of the game grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back, she would also hit six free throws in the fourth.

Anderson added another basket and R. Kilmer made one at the stripe. When the final horn sounded Mountain View wins it 34-17, to complete the three peat, winning their third district title.

Anderson scored a team high 10 points and hit some big shots to give her team momentum, she was quick to give credit to her team for her performance.

"Wasn't really expecting it coming in, but my team is just super encouraging and they brought that energy for me and brought my confidence up and that was able to get us going so I'm really excited about that."

Addison Kilmer hauled in a game high 15 rebounds, collecting her 1,000th rebound along the way to add to her already impressive resume, she also scored eight points and had a pair of blocks.

Ryleigh Kilmer played a solid game notching six points and five rebounds. Kilmer said winning a third district title, "means a lot to us."

The senior captain had some shoutouts she wanted to give as well, "shoutout to the teammates that stepped up big in this game. The coaches did a wonderful job of prepping us, making our practices super competitive. Shoutout to the fans for showing up for us and supporting us all the way."

Turner also had a solid game filling up the stat sheet with five points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. 

She was ecstatic to complete the three peat, "It is absolutely insane, we were all talking about it, this is just a great team effort. We put in the work every year and it just means so much to us to accomplish the three peat."

Sanders turned in a steady performance finishing with five points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Traver lead the Lady Warriors offense with five points, to go with six boards, three steals, two assists and a block. Shingler tallied four points, three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. 

Casselbury and Greenwood each scored three points. Casselbury snatched four rebounds and had a steal, Greenwood added a pair of rebounds. Horn chipped in with two points and three boards.

Playing in the Arena can be intimidating and Coach Gesford noted experience was big factor in the win.

"Big advantage to us playing in this arena before. I think we drew on that a little bit, especially early when they had a couple buckets. We were just smart down the end and played like a seasoned championship team."

Both teams qualify for the PIAA state tournament which begins next Friday. Mountain View will play at home vs Canton the District IV third place finisher. Elk Lake will hit the road to play Muncy the District IV AA champion.

Ryleigh Kilmer is excited for another crack at states, "It's a great opportunity, we are so beyond excited and happy to be experiencing this moment. I love this group of girls and I'm so blessed as a senior to be doing it with them."