Now in her second year as a starter, Emily Martin is well educated on the multiple benefits of Lancaster Catholic's trademark press.

"The press is kind of our backup," the Crusaders' junior center said Wednesday night. "When it's not a great shooting night, it helps us get back into the game."

Just one of the reasons Catholic lives and dies by it.

Fact is, without their press Wednesday, the Crusaders might not have lived through the first round of the District Three playoffs.

Countering a dismal shooting night by forcing 32 Big Spring turnovers, Catholic pulled away in the second half for a 62-42 victory in its Class AAA opener in Lancaster.

The win puts the fifth-seeded Crusaders (23-3) in Saturday's quarterfinals opposite No. 4 seed Gettysburg (22-3), which advanced with a 42-25 victory over Fleetwood Wednesday.

Saturday's game is set for 1 p.m. at Dallastown.

"Slow start, conversation at halftime, different second half," Catholic coach Lamar Kauffman said of his team's latest performance. "I was very pleased with the response to the things we talked about at halftime."

And there was plenty to talk about, considering the Crusaders were clinging to a 25-21 lead after two quarters, during which they shot a mere 12 for 33 from the floor (36.4 percent).

Still, Catholic managed to build that edge by forcing 18 first-half turnovers — 10 in the second quarter — out of the 12th-seeded Lady Bulldogs (14-8).

As a result, Big Spring got off just 16 shots before halftime, but made nine.

"We weren't focused, honestly," admitted Martin, who finished with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. "I think we were expecting an easy win and we didn't bring our best game. We weren't playing our kind of basketball."

Which brings us to Kauffman's halftime discussion.

"I said, 'We're not leaving this gym playing basketball like that,' " Kauffman recalled.

While the Crusaders' shooting percentage never did pick up, their execution did, resulting in a 14-0 run to open the second half.

Porscha Speller (game-high 17 points, 10 rebounds) capped that surge with a pair of free throws that gave Catholic a commanding 39-21 lead with 3:18 left in the period.

Victimized by 11 more turnovers in the third, the Bulldogs — who got off just nine shots in the quarter — didn't get their first bucket of the half until Danielle Kepner (team-high nine points) scored on a drive with 2:03 remaining in the third.

"It's hard to keep your confidence up (when your committing so many turnovers)," Big Spring coach Randy Jones said. "I told (the Bulldogs) that (Catholic) wasn't going to go away, they were going to press us for four quarters."

And with the Crusaders' press hounding Big Spring all night, there were other effects, like the 46-33 rebounding edge Catholic had built in the end.

One more reason why the Crusaders were able to overcome 36.1-percent shooting (26 for 72) for the night.

"Those steals (off the press) give us so much momentum for the rest of the game," Martin said.

And, apparently, have the power to remedy other problems.

jfulginiti@lnpnews.com