Lady Dukes win district title, head to state

YORK – A 75% capacity crowd at the Duke Dome saw a very tight game between the York Dukes and Blair Bears for the right to go to the state tournament with York taking the win 57-52. The first quarter saw the Dukes, led in scoring by Maddie Portwine in her last game at the Duke Dome, outscore the Bears 15-9 which was all they needed throughout the rest of the game. The second quarter saw the Bears, led in scoring by Mya Larson with 14 points cut the lead by one to make the halftime score 24-28 going into the half.

The third quarter saw a lot of physical play with teams trading blows but the Dukes outscored the Bears 10-9 to take a 38-33 lead into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, all bets were off as the teams exploded for a combined 38 points with the Bears getting a taste of the lead at one point. However, York battled back getting a lead in the final minute where Maddie Portwine made four straight free throws to ice the game away winning 57-52 to lead the Dukes back to the state tournament for the first time since 2018.