The Baldwin girls basketball team earned a spot in the elite eight by beating Indiana 51-45 in the second round of state playoffs Wednesday night.

Sophomore Hannah Prilla said making it to the third round of state playoffs was a huge achievement, but there is still work to be done.

“These games are either win or go home at this point, so we want to keep winning to keep playing, especially for our seniors,” Prilla said.

Senior Isabella Niles said the team did well passing and stopping Indiana from scoring.

“We did a great job at finding the open person and stopping Indiana from getting open shots underneath,” Niles said.

While Indiana took the lead in the first half, Baldwin was able to come back for the win after the half. They figured out what went wrong during halftime and knew they needed to fix it for the second half, Niles said.

“We did not follow the game plan. We knew the main ways they scored and did not follow through on stopping them,” Niles said. “We knew what we were doing wrong and that we just needed to play how we knew we could.”

Prilla agreed.

“Our coaches didn’t panic and kept it positive the whole time. They told us what we were doing wrong and we stepped it up and then we realized this could have been our last game,” Prilla said.

After trailing two points at the half, the Highlanders outscored Indiana by six in the third quarter and led the rest of the way.

Senior Laci Bernotas had a standout game, with 16 points, including four three-pointers.

“Laci Bernotas stood out. She has been really hustling and scoring huge points for us,” Niles said.

Junior Lynsey Bernotas had another high-scoring game with 18 points. Senior Jules Ott added another 10 points for the Highlanders.

Baldwin will face WPIAL champions South Fayette Saturday night at a site to be determined.