HERSHEY, Pa. -- All's well that ends well, which means all's well in Hopewell.

The end of the season couldn't have been any better for the Hopewell High School girls' basketball team, as the Vikings completed a 30-3 season with a 57-40 victory against District 11 power Allentown Central Catholic (28-6) on Saturday in the PIAA Class AAA championship at the Giant Center.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Hopewell's Becky Novacek wrestles loose ball from Allentown Central's Amy Gulyas during PIAA Class AAA final. Click photo for larger image.

The state title was the first for the Vikings program, and came with a brilliant championship game performance by the Novacek sisters.

Becky and Joyce Novacek, 6-foot-2 twins, bolstered Hopewell's cause in the title game, combining for 35 points and 24 rebounds.

Joyce led the Vikings in the victory, scoring 22 points while her sister netted 13 for a Hopewell team that shot 44 percent from the floor. Both Novacek girls pulled down 12 rebounds in the victory on Pennsylvania's largest basketball stage.

The win was the crowning jewel of an almost-spotless season for coach Chris Raso's squad.

The Vikings dropped an early season contest at WPIAL Class AAAA contender New Castle, stumbling against Jalessa Sams and the Red Hurricanes, 51-39.

The only other two losses came out-of-state, as the Vikings dropped two of four games -- both of which by just a three-point margin -- at the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) tournament over the Christmas holiday break.

Hopewell lost to Winter Haven (Fla.), one of the premier powers in the Sunshine State, 51-48, on Dec. 20. The Vikings' other loss came to host Myrtle Beach, 47-44, just one day after the Winter Haven defeat.

But after that, Hopewell was never beaten. This team will be remembered for its run that started in the final days of 2005 and ran unbroken through the first three months of 2006, triumphantly walking off the floor in its final 25 consecutive games.

And as they did much of the season, the Vikings again used simplicity in the PIAA championship, running an elementary high-post offense.

In many of its sets, one of the Novacek sisters would "show" at the elbow, catch a pass from a guard and then dump it into the post to the other Novacek sister.

Time and again the set was run by Raso's squad and time and, again one of the Novaceks put away an easy layup for a score.

Raso is the first to admit that maintaining a simple offensive game plan was the best attack.

"You have to play to your strengths, I mean, we won 24 straight times doing things the same way," Raso said. "When you have the type of athletes like the Novaceks, you have to put it in their hands.

"They proved they can go up and catch an entry pass, and then they proved they could finish. We got up on [Allentown Central Catholic] and I think that was a huge key."

But for just as important as the Novaceks were this year, so was junior guard Jordan Zuppe, Raso's niece, who scored 10 points in the PIAA championship game. Zuppe is a player who stretches a defense; she is a sharpshooter who forces the defense to be honest on the perimeter and not sag on the two Novaceks.

The Novacek sisters would face a lot more in the way of junk defenses if it weren't for Zuppe's ability to step out and drill the long-range jumper. What she does each game has not been lost on her uncle.

"I can't tell you how much it does for us," Raso said of Zuppe's play. "She is such an asset and she has worked hard to get to where she is."

That's the thing, though, this entire Hopewell squad worked hard toward its goal -- the PIAA championship.

And the scary part of it for the rest of the PIAA?

Well, the Noveceks and Zuppe will be back next year. All Hopewell will lose is two seniors from this year's team.

So while the Vikings have a lot to live up to in order to match the heights reached this year, it seems that the pieces are in place to make another run at Hershey next season.