Three quarters of uncharacteristic basketball cost the Avonworth girls a chance to play for a WPIAL championship.

What followed those three quarters was not enough to erase the cold 5-for-35 shooting that had plagued the Antelopes, but it was enough to let veteran coach Bob Schulz know that his team still had enough fight in it to bounce back in the PIAA playoffs.

Those three bad quarters came in a 41-30 loss to Seton-LaSalle in the WPIAL semifinals, the Antelopes second loss of the season. Ten days later Avonworth traveled north to play Greenville, a team ranked in the top 10 in the state, in Greenville's backyard at Hermitage High School.

"I tell you what -- it was a very difficult week," Schulz said. "It was a difficult loss. The Seton-LaSalle game, we had pointed to that game all year. We could not buy a basket, but for those kids to push hard in the fourth quarter, we could take a positive out of that game."

In that fourth quarter, Avonworth clawed back from a 15-point deficit to pull to within six points with a little more than two minutes left, but the Rebels eventually prevailed.

In the PIAA first round, Avonworth, like it had done most of the season, jumped out to a big lead and then held off a late rally to win, 49-44, against Greenville.

"To go up there and do what we did against Greenville, a team that feels they were pretty good, I was proud of that," Schulz said. "We were up 14 in that game, we lost a lot of our lead but we held our composure. That showed a lot of character to not give in."

Avonworth (24-2) advanced to the PIAA quarterfinals after knocking off WPIAL champion Jeannette, 62-51, Tuesday in a second-round game. Avonworth will take on South Fayette at 6 p.m. Friday at North Allegheny.

After the semifinal exit from the WPIAL playoffs, Schulz's team had to deal with an extended layoff until the PIAA playoffs. For the first time all season Schulz gave his team off an entire weekend.

"They had been working hard since November, so we did things a little bit differently," Schulz said.

"We wanted to refresh their minds and get their legs back underneath them and come back ready."

Avonworth's top scorer, 6-foot senior Tara Gallupe, bounced back from an uncharacteristic seven-point performance against Seton-LaSalle. She had averaged 23.3 points a game during the regular season. In the Greenville win, she got to the free-throw line often, hitting 9 of 10 and finishing with 16 points to lead the Antelopes.

Junior guard Catherine Costa and junior forward Natalie Zivic also scored in double figures against Greenville.

This was Schulz's first season back coaching at Avonworth after coaching the boys' and girls' teams at the school during two separate stints for a combined 27 years. He retired in 2007 before returning this season. He is also a former point guard at the school in his playing days and the athletic director from 1985-2003.

"I think this is an outstanding season for our team," he said. "If you would have said you will win 24 games with a lot of inexperience -- just two kids back from last year -- I would say that would have been fantastic."

Schulz points to three games that gave him a good indication that this season might mirror some of his the more successful ones. The Antelopes kicked off the New Year with a 46-38 win against Highlands, a Class AAA team that qualified for the playoffs.

Avonworth then became the team to beat in the section after a 37-35 win at Sto-Rox, a tough place to play for visitors. Avonworth clinched the section title with a 51-50 win against Sto-Rox in the second meeting at home.

"When I saw those two wins over Sto-Rox," Schulz recalled, "I said 'Geez, these kids are playing so tough!'"

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