If that is the case, the Red Storm broke a 12-year winless drought in the postseason with a very solid performance Wednesday when they hosted Seton Catholic in a Section VII, Class C quarterfinal matchup.

With nine players putting points on the board, and fueled by a tough team effort on defense and on the boards, Saranac Lake’s girls rolled to a 47-21 victory over the Knights to reach Monday’s semifinal round, where they will face the top-seeded Moriah Vikings.

From the outset, Saranac Lake was able to take advantage of Seton Catholic’s lack of depth, and also the absence of Section VII’s leading scorer, Nicole Bullock, who missed the Knights final three games of the season with an injury.

Seton Catholic led once in the game, jumping ahead 3-2, but after sophomore Kelsey Leeret knocked down back-to-back three-pointers midway through the first quarter, there was no stopping the Red Storm.

Red Storm senior Kylee Clark releases a layup over Seton Catholic defenders Zoey Gao (22) and Kennedy Spriggs in the second half. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Saranac Lake owned a 12-4 edge at the end of the opening period and after stretching the lead to 26-6 at halftime, the fourth-seeded Red Storm cruised the rest of the way to improve to 9-10 overall. Taking on an opponent with just six players in the lineup, the Red Storm utilized a full-court press and a strong presence down low to wear down the Knights.

“I thought defensively, when we picked up our intensity and pressure a little bit, it kind of led to getting stops and then easy transition opportunities,” Saranac Lake head coach Chad LaDue said. “I thought we shared the basketball pretty well. When you do all that and you’re finishing at the end, you look pretty good, and today we were able to finish at the rim. That’s always nice when that happens.”

Leeret and Mecalyn Sousa topped Saranac Lake’s scorers with eight points each, and Maggie Carpenter and Alex LaDue tossed in six each in the win. Nora Glover added five points, Kylee Clark, Mistre Newton and Serena Stevens each chipped in four points, and Amy Hurteau added a single field goal in the Red Storm’s balanced attack.

Haley Murnane paced Seton Catholic with a game-high 10 points and Kennedy Spriggs added eight for the Knights, who were obviously outgunned without Bullock in the lineup. Up until Saturday, Bullock, who reached the 1,000-point plateau this season, was tops among all scorers on the 24 teams in Section VII while averaging 24.3 points per game.

Although their high-scoring senior was unavailable, Seton Catholic head coach Joanne Collins said her players still entered the game looking to win but were outmatched in the end.

Saranac Lake’s Kelsey Leeret moves in to swoop the ball away from Seton Catholic’s Audrey Bilow (3) and Bam Trakarnsrisakul during Wednesday’s game. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

” We played tough without Nicole, we’ve won without Nicole, so coming in, we knew we were capable of winning,” Collins said. “But tonight, they were a tougher than we were. We just came up against a team that was a little better suited to handle us tonight. Their press, with three across the mid line, that was really tough for us. Their height – they don’t appear that tall but they are- their quickness, their down-low play all gave us problems.

Despite the loss, Collins said her small squad turned in an impressive season. Seton Catholic finished with a 9-3 league record and ended its run with an 11-10 mark overall.

“I think we’ve done fantastic with the amount of kids that we had. We started the season with seven and ended with six,” Collins said. “We were the smallest team all year long, and for us to finish second in the division, I couldn’t be happier for them. Losing the last game is always tough for any team, but I think they have to be very proud of themselves for what they’ve done.

“Tonight, Saranac Lake was tougher than we were. They did a fantastic job,” Collins continued. They counteracted whatever we threw at them. When we’d stop them at times, they came up with a few other things. And, they had a deep bench. When you’re running and gunning with six, you’re going to get tired. Credit Saranac Lake. If they play like they did tonight, they’ll give Moriah all they can handle.”

Although Olivia Bell didn’t get in on the scoring for Saranac Lake, LaDue gave her credit for a strong game on the boards, and added that Glover, Sousa and Newton all chased down a lot of rebounds.

The Red Storm will face Moriah Monday at Beekmantown starting at 7:30. The game will be the second of a Class C semifinal doubleheader in the Eagles gym, with AuSable Valley and Northern Adirondack squaring off in the opening matchup.

Saranac Lake has lost to Moriah twice this season, but LaDue said his team has been able to compete with the Vikings, who enter the game with a 15-3 record and are powered by a pair of 1,000-point scorers.

“They have two really good seniors, and coach (Steve) Pelkey does a really nice job with them,” LaDue said. “I look at it this way. If we play Moriah 20 times, they’d probably beat us 19. So I told the girls, why not have Monday be the one. And I also told them that there’s zero pressure on us. The pressure is all on them. We’re not supposed to win. So let’s just go hang around and see what happens. there’s no pressure on us, so let’s go see.”

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Saranac Lake 47, Seton Catholic 21

Knights 4 2 6 9 — 21

Red Storm 12 14 9 12 — 47

Saranac Lake (47)

Clark 2-0-4, Carpenter 3-0-6, Leeret 3-08, Bova 0-0-0, Hurteau 1-0-2, Stevens 2-0-4, LaDue 2-2-6, McCarthy 0-0-0, Sousa 4-0-8, Glover 1-3-5, Newton 1-2-4. Totals: 19-7-47.

Seton Catholic (21)

Bilow 0-0-0, Murnane 3-3-10, Lawson 1-0-3, Trakarnsrisakul 0-0-0, Spriggs 3-2-8, Gao 0-0-0.

Totals: 7-5-21.

Three-point goals: Seton Catholic (2), Murnane, Lawson. Saranac Lake (2), Leeret 2.