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Montrose, Blue Ridge Girls; Forest City Boys Win Openers
By Tom Robinson

SCRANTON - Dallas Ely contributed in every facet of the game.

Every member of the starting lineup made a contribution to the rebounding effort.

That combination made Montrose far too strong for Hanover Area Friday night in a 66-40 District 2 Class AA girls’ basketball quarterfinal at Scranton High School.

The Forest City boys and Blue Ridge girls also posted comfortable victories in Class A when the district tournaments got underway during the weekend.

Forest City defeated St. Michael’s, 54-26.

Blue Ridge downed Susquehanna, 51-36.

Montrose outscored Hanover Area in every quarter, steadily building a 43-31 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Ely then ran the Lady Hawkeyes into the ground for six fourth-quarter layups, including four on the fastbreak. She finished with game-high totals of 25 points, five assists and four steals.

The eight rebounds Ely grabbed were only fourth-best on a team that held a 57-37 advantage on the boards.

Sara Krupinski led with 13 rebounds. She also scored eight points and blocked six shots.

Amelia DiPhillips, who scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half, grabbed 10 rebounds.

Katelyn Spellman also had 10 rebounds.

Sam Abbott chipped in six rebounds, along with 11 points.

Even reserves Myra Lattimore, Brooke Malloy and Ashlee Lattner grabbed two rebounds each to add to the dominance.

“We try to focus on that,” Montrose coach Al Smith said. “We’ve been working on that lately in practice.

“It’s a team effort. It has to be.”

The rebounding control was established from the opening tip.

Montrose got off three shots, tracking down its first two misses, to score on a Krupinski basket just eight seconds into the game. Krupinski had four blocked shots and three offensive rebounds in the first 4:06 for a 10-4 lead.

“Rebounding was important tonight,” DiPhillips said. “We boxed out and were aggressive.

“We knew that if we pushed the ball, we would have a chance.”

Montrose finished with a 22-4 advantage in fast-break points.

Hanover Area rallied and there were five lead changes early in the second quarter.

Ely then had a basket and three assists, including one on an Abbott 3-pointer, in less than two minutes to produce a nine-point streak that put the Lady Meteors in the lead for good, 27-19.

Chelsea Cormier (14), Raisha Piper (13) and Danielle Tuzinski (12) scored in double figures for Hanover Area.

Joe Caruso scored 24 points to lead the Forest City boys to their romp over St. Michael’s.

The Foresters opened a 23-6 lead after one quarter.

Kristen Brown scored 21 points as the Blue Ridge girls posted their fourth win of the season, all over Susquehanna, which finished winless.

Ashley Warren added 12 points and Jenna Rupakus added 11.

Amber Dubanowitz led Susquehanna with 14 points and Mashawna Hargett had 12.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Blue Ridge’s Dalton Church and Susquehanna’s Tom Maby won District 2 Class AA wrestling titles Saturday night at Lake-Lehman High School.

Church (22-6) knocked off defending champion Devin Fiorentino of Elk Lake, 10-5, in the 130-pound semifinals before beating Nanticoke’s James McMoore, 7-4, in the final.

Maby (23-5) won three decisions, including two majors and a 4-2 overtime victory over Zach Macosky of Dallas in the semifinals. He beat Hanover Area’s Matt Lukachinsky, 12-3, in the 140-pound final.

Blue Ridge freshman Zach Edwards also reached the final before losing to take second place at 112 pounds. Edwards (24-4) had two pins, including one 26 seconds into overtime of the semifinals against Patrick Creedon of Scranton Prep. Edwards lost in the final when Vito Pasone (40-2) of Meyers pinned him in 3:10.

The three finalists and Montrose’s Zach Thorne, a third-place finisher at 160 pounds, advanced to the Northeast Regional Tournament.

Thorne had a pair of pins, then beat Lake-Lehman’s Brady Butler, 14-5, in the consolation final with a regional berth on the line.

Dallas won the team title of Lackawanna League Division 2 champion Western Wayne, 226-204.

Susquehanna County teams finished in the last four spots in the team standings.

Blue Ridge was 12th with 44 points, followed by Montrose with 41, Susquehanna with 37 and Elk Lake with 25.

Elk Lake’s Fiorentino closed out a 31-6 senior season by finishing fourth at 130 when he lost to Brian DeLuca of Dallas, 6-4.

Susquehanna’s Jarrett Coleman (17-6) took fifth at 285 pounds with the help of three pins, including two in under a minute.

Montrose freshman John Shaffer took sixth at 215.

In girls’ basketball, Montrose let a halftime lead and a possible top seed in the district tournament get away earlier in the week when it lost to Dunmore, 50-38, at Carbondale.

The game between the Lackawanna League Division 2 champion Lady Bucks and Lackawanna Division 3 champion Lady Meteors was to determine district seeding for the teams that had already qualified.

Corinna Palko hit four 3-pointers in the second half when she scored 17 of her 19 points to lead Dunmore’s comeback.

Montrose held Dunmore scoreless for the first 6:10 while taking a 6-0 lead.

Ely had 11 second-quarter points to help the Lady Meteors to a 22-17 halftime lead.

The Lady Bucks, however, limited Ely to one field goal in the second half. She finished with 19 points.

Ashley Murray went 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter to finish with 14 points for the Lady Bucks.

In boys’ basketball, Mid Valley knocked off Montrose, 55-52, in the Lackawanna League’s qualifying tournament for District 2 Class AA tournament berths.

In swimming and diving, Dylan Simmons was seventh among boys and Heather Wimmer was 10th among girls for Elk Lake when the diving portion of the District 2 Swimming and Diving Championships was conducted in Wilkes-Barre Saturday.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators dumped the American Hockey League-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 4-1, Wednesday night.

Penguins goalie Brad Thiessen had been on a streak of seven straight games allowing zero or one goals until the loss to the Senators.

COLLEGE CORNER

Marywood University fell to Neumann University, 78-73, Feb. 18 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference men’s basketball quarterfinals, ending the season for a pair of Susquehanna graduates.

The Pacers finished 9-9 in the CSAC and 13-13 overall.

Brent Keyes played all 26 games, including 23 as a starter. Keyes was second on the team in playing time while tying for fourth in scoring with 7.2 points per game.

The 6-foot-6 junior forward was also second on Marywood in 3-pointers with 34 and fourth in rebounds with 3.6 per game.

Kirk Fallon appeared in 11 games. He produced 15 points, four assists and two steals in 53 minutes.

Fallon, a 5-foot-11 junior guard, shot 3-for-8 on 3-pointers and 4-for-5 on free throws.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Class AA Northeast Regional Wrestling Tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Williamsport.

Church, Maby, Edwards and Thorne will be seeking top-three finishes in their weight classes to try to land spots in the state tournament the following weekend.

In swimming, the swimming events for the District 2 Swimming and Diving Championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre Catholic Youth Center.

Adam Phillips of Elk Lake is the top seed in Class AA boys in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.

In girls’ basketball, Montrose will play for either a Class AA district title or third place and a state berth Friday night, depending on Tuesday’s result against Lake-Lehman. Dunmore and Mid Valley are in the opposite semifinal.

Blue Ridge and Forest City meet Wednesday at 6 at North Pocono in a Class A semifinal. The finals are scheduled for Saturday against the winner of the Old Forge-Northwest semifinal.

In boys’ basketball, the Class A district final is set for Friday night.

Forest City was facing top-seeded Old Forge and Susquehanna was taking on Freeland MMI in games scheduled for Tuesday to try to reach the final.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

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NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

Jeff Gordon Pulls Away For Phoenix Win

By Gerald Hodges; The Racing Reporter

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Jeff Gordon is back.

Gordon, who led 168 of the 312 lap Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix on Sunday, caught and passed Kyle Busch on lap 308, then pulled away for his first win in 66 races.

“Are you kidding me, it’s been way too long,” said Gordon, who started the race 20th. “Ooh, this feels good. I didn’t care how we did it, I just wanted to get to victory lane.”

Jeff Gordon, winner of Sunday's Phoenix Cup race. Furnished by NASCAR.

Gordon had lost the lead during a round of pit stops, but on lap 308, he was able to squeeze under Kyle Busch’s No. 18 as the two cars went into turn-1. That was enough to loosen Busch’s car up, and Gordon sailed by.

Busch was not able to regain his momentum and had to settle for second.

“We came through a lot of adversity during the race,” said Busch. “We had good pit stops, but Jeff ran me down and passed. He had the fastest car.”

Busch got into the polesitter, Carl Edwards, forcing Edwards to pit for extensive repairs to his No. 99.

“I really hate what happened between me and the 99-car,” continued Busch. “I really hate that I got into him after he raced me so clean in the Nationwide race.”

On lap 59, Edwards saw his day go sour after Kyle Busch veered hard left into his No. 99 Ford along the backstretch. Edwards ran through the dogleg grass and into the wall.

“Hopefully that was an inadvertent move on Kyle’s part. I’ll talk to him and we’ll deal with it accordingly,” Edwards said.

After watching a replay of the incident, Edwards added, “I thought at first he was just frustrated and he turned left to get back in line and he didn’t know I was there, but I watched the tape and I think he really did get loose.”

Brian Vickers triggered a 13-car pileup on the backstretch after his left rear tire went down.

Vickers blamed it on Matt Kenseth.

“Matt wrecked us,” Vickers said. “He just door-slammed us in the corner. It’s gonna come back to him.”

A red flag lasting 14 minutes was required to clean up the resulting mess. Several big-name drivers were involved: Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. among them.

Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Top-12 points leaders after 2 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-80, 2. Kurt Busch-77, 3. Stewart-69, 4. Allmendinger-69, 5. J. Gordon-65, 6. Martin-65, 7. B. Labonte-64, 8. Newman-64, 9. Montoya-64, 10. Gilliland-63, 11. Menard-63, 12. Edwards-59.

BUSCH LEADS EVERY NATIONWIDE LAP

Kyle Busch held off a challenge from Carl Edwards in the closing laps of Saturday’s Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway to win his 44th Nationwide series race.

“First person I have to thank is Carl Edwards for racing me clean. He raced me hard, but raced me clean,” Busch said. “After that second long run, I was like, ‘Man, so far I’ve led every lap of this thing,’ and it came down toward the end of the race and Carl was alongside me and he was trying to pass me and I was like, ‘Man, just beat him back to the start-finish line, just beat him back to the start-finish line.’

“I was just trying to hold on for as long as I could. Finally, it seemed like it was about 15 laps or so that his stuff would just start falling off enough where we could start clicking back away and get away from him a little bit. I knew if I could just make it to that threshold, that I thought we’d be okay. Fortunately we got there. It was pretty cool. I love doing that stuff and being in the position where you’re the guy to beat.”

Busch became the first driver to lead every lap of an event in one of NASCAR’s top three series since Dale Earnhardt Jr. did it on July 4, 2003, in a Nationwide race at Daytona.

Edwards, who finished .514 seconds behind Busch, made a contest of the race over the final 20 laps, running side by side with Busch for extended stretches as the race neared its end.

The remaining top-10 finishers were: Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Reed Sorenson, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse, Justin Allgaier, Brian Scott and Kenny Wallace.

Danica Patrick finished 17th, three laps down, and posted her third straight top-20 result in the series.

Top-10 points leaders after 2 of 34: 1. Reed Sorenson-78, 2. Ricky Stenhouse-73, 3. Jason Leffler-71, 4. Danica Patrick-58, 5. Joe Nemechek-58, 6. Aric Almirola-56, 7. Mike Bliss-55, 8. Justin Allgaier-53, 9. Kenny Wallace-50, 10. Jeremy Clements-50.

KYLE BUSCH DOMINATES TRUCK RACE

Busch beat polesitter Clint Bowyer to the checkered flag by .291 seconds, as Bowyer tightened the margin on the final lap of Friday night’s Camping World truck race at Phoenix.

Ron Hornaday Jr. was third, followed by Johnny Sauter and Austin Dillon.

As full-time Sprint Cup drivers, Busch and Bowyer aren’t collecting points in the truck series. Consequently, seventh-place finisher Matt Crafton left Phoenix with a one-point lead over Clay Rogers in the series standings.

Top-10 points leaders after 2 of 25: 1. Matt Crafton-71, 2. Clay Rogers-70, 3. Cole Whitt-68, 4. Johnny Sauter-67, 5. Timothy Peters-66, 6. Austin Dillon-63, 7. Jeffrey Earnhardt-62, 8. Max Papis-61, 9. Miguel Paludo-59, 10. Ron Hornaday-57.

Commentary: This year’s Daytona 500 seemed to get NASCAR off to a good start. There was great fan enthusiasm, and with a 17 percent increase in television viewers, the season is looking good.

While the fan news appears to be positive, there was no optimism this past week for the Nationwide Series race at Phoenix.

Only 40 cars started the race, which was dominated by Kyle Busch. It was the first time Nationwide didn’t have a full 43-car field since February 2008 at California.

NASCAR officials believe the full-time move to the new Nationwide Series car and long travel distance to Phoenix contributed to the shortage of cars. In addition to having only 40 cars, there were five that parked within the first 20 laps.

“Long term, with the new car coming on board, we expected there will be some challenges for some of the smaller-budget teams to get up to speed, which you’re seeing,” NASCAR VP of Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell said.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the Nationwide Series shakes out, but most fans I talked with are more optimistic than in the past.

Weekend Racing: It’s off to Las Vegas for the Cup and Nationwide teams. The truck teams have their first off weekend.

Sat., Mar. 5, Nationwide Series, race 3 of 34; Starting time: 3 p.m.; TV: ABC.

Sun., Mar. 6, Sprint Cup race 3 of 36; Starting time: 2 p.m.; TV: Fox.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team does Regan Smith drive for?

Last Week’s Question: Who is Kurt Busch’s teammate in the Cup series? Answer. It is Brad Keselowski.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.

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