The Elk Lake boys used two strong finishes to get through tense games.

The Montrose girls relied on two overpowering starts to make sure they could coast through their games.

Both approaches paid off in tournament championships.

The Warriors won the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament for the first time ever Thursday night after the Lady Meteors had successfully completed a repeat of their Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament championship.

The titles wrapped up two four-game days at Susquehanna High School.

COUNTY CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT

Elk Lake was behind at halftime of its first-round game and after three quarters of the championship game.

Rob Heft joined Chris Dudock to produce a comeback against Susquehanna, then led the way late against Blue Ridge to earn Most Valuable Player honors.

Heft scored seven of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, matching the Raiders’ output over the final eight minutes while rallying the Warriors to a 53-44 championship game victory.

Dudock scored all 15 of his points and Heft all 10 of his in the second half when the Warriors beat the Sabers, 53-39.

“I’m really happy with our guys’ effort,” Elk Lake coach John Warnero said. “We’ve been putting together some good spurts.”

Matt Cuomo scored 10 points in the first win and 13 in the second for Elk Lake to make the all-tournament team.

The all-tournament selections also included Blue Ridge’s Alex Cardoza, Montrose’s Tom Lewis and Susquehanna’s Andrzej Tomczyk.

The boys’ action began Dec. 27 with Blue Ridge defeating Montrose, 76-60, behind 26 points by Sawyer Dearborn and 20 by Cardoza.

Lewis had 20 points and Andrew Klein 15 for Montrose, which lost leading scorer Colby Major for the rest of the tournament, and possibly some league action, when he suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter.

Blue Ridge was up 33-26 at halftime before breaking out for a 33-point third quarter and 66-45 lead.

Cardoza had three of the team’s five 3-pointers in the quarter when he joined Dearborn in producing 11 points each.

Elk Lake earned its spot in the final when it overcame a 14-6 second-quarter advantage that gave Susquehanna a 21-18 halftime lead.

Heft hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Warriors to a 35-30 lead.

Dudock had 10 fourth-quarter points. Dudock and Heft each went 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter while the team was going 12-for-12 in the fourth quarter.

Tomczyk had 20 points, including seven of the nine Susquehanna managed in the fourth quarter.

Montrose pulled away Thursday afternoon to defeat Susquehanna, 52-36, for third place.

Cameron Dean took over in the second half, going 8-for-10 from the floor, hitting his last five shots and scoring 18 of his 22 total points.

The Meteors led by as little as one in the third quarter before building a late 21-point advantage.

Dean had 11 points in a 20-2 run from late in the third quarter to midway through the fourth for a 50-29 lead.

Lewis added 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Corey Adams assisted on all four of Dean’s third-quarter baskets and finished with nine assists and four steals.

Tomczyk had 12 points for the Sabers, who got seven points, six rebounds and three blocked shots from sophomore Mark Zappe.

The championship game stayed extremely tight for three quarters.

Neither team led by more than five points in the first three quarters, which featured six 10 ties and 10 lead changes.

“From everybody on the bench, you could tell, the intensity just increased,” Heft said.

Elk Lake produced the first six-point advantage when Heft and Tyler Arnold hit 3-pointers in the first 1:35 of the quarter. Blue Ridge climbed back within two when Cardoza made a steal and fed Dearborn, then Jesse Pruitt took a steal in himself to cap a run of six straight points to make it 46-44.

The Warriors shut Blue Ridge out over the final 3:30. Heft had four of the points in a game-ending, seven-point streak.

“Defensively, I’m thrilled,” Warnero said. “We have really hard workers.”

Dudock had 10 rebounds and Cuomo made three steals.

Dearborn matched Cardoza’s 12 points for Blue Ridge.

DENISE REDDON MEMORIAL

Defending champion Montrose showed why it is the favorite to also repeat its Lackawanna League Division 3 title.

The Lady Meteors stormed both opponents early then used their bench extensively in comfortable victories.

Montrose scored 28 first-quarter points in the championship game on the way to a 78-36 romp over Susquehanna.

The Lady Meteors had shut out Blue Ridge in the first quarter while scoring 21 points on the way to a 61-21 rout in the tournament opener.

“I’m happy for the girls coming right to play and taking care of business,” Montrose coach Al Smith said.

Dallas Ely was named tournament MVP while teammate Sara Krupinski was on the all-tournament team.

Susquehanna’s Mashawna Hargett, Elk Lake’s Casey Tyler and Blue Ridge’s Jacquelyn Furch also made the all-tournament team.

Ely had 22 of her 27 points in the first half and Krupinski added 14 when Montrose beat Blue Ridge in the first game of the event Dec. 27.

Montrose led, 37-9, at halftime.

Ashley Warren had six points to lead Blue Ridge.

Susquehanna made a big breakthrough in the next game, ending a 49-game losing streak that dated back to the end of the 2008-09 season when it dumped Elk Lake, 52-49.

Hargett scored 17 points and Brianne Bianco 11 for Susquehanna.

Hargett had 10 of her points in the second quarter when the Lady Sabers used a 19-10 advantage to move into a 25-20 lead.

Sara Kwiatkowski had eight of her 12 points in the third quarter and Taylor Watkins had nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter to try to bring Elk Lake back, but Susquehanna held on.

Elk Lake took control early in the consolation game.

Meagan Bush had 10 of her game-high 13 points in the first half of a 40-24 victory.

Elk Lake led 8-2 after one quarter and 20-8 at halftime.

Tyler added nine points for Elk Lake, including six in a 9-0 run late in the third and early in the fourth quarter to put the game away, 34-15.

Furch led Blue Ridge with seven points.

Krupinski had a game-high 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals for Montrose in the final.

“She moved inside this year for us,” Smith said. “She’s done a real nice job in the post.”

Krupinski and Brooke Malloy each had seven of the 19 offensive rebounds the Lady Meteors grabbed in the first half to break the game open.

Montrose led 28-6 after one quarter and 43-10 at halftime.

Malloy finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds as part of a 58-35 rebounding advantage.

Amber Dubanowitz had 11 points while Emily Carmody had eight points and seven rebounds for the Lady Sabers.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Tournament Most Valuable Player James Hawk scored 11 points Dec. 26 to lead Tunkhannock to a 43-33 victory over Forest City in the Forest City Rotary Tournament final.

Hawk had 17 points in a 38-27 semifinal victory over Mountain View.

Austin Yanora, who had 10 points in the final, made the all-tournament team for the Tigers.

Matt Nevins and Dylan Walsh were all-tournament selections for Forest City. Freshman Noah Fedak hit five 3-pointers while scoring 17 points to lead the Foresters in the final.

Tunkhannock took a 36-18 lead into the fourth quarter.

Forest City cut the advantage to six with less than two minutes remaining before Tunkhannock used foul shots to lock up the win.

The Foresters reached the final with a 44-38 win over Western Wayne.

Mountain View took third place with a 46-35 victory over Western Wayne. Joel Madas made the all-tournament team for Mountain View while James Berger was selected from Western Wayne.

In girls’ basketball, Mountain View finished fourth at the Pittston Area Invitational and Forest City was fourth at the Honesdale Jaycees Tournament.

In wrestling, Zach Edwards of Blue Ridge finished fourth at 126 pounds in the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament, a 23-team event.

Derek Smith of Elk Lake was fifth at 145.

Montrose’s Aaron Grochowski took sixth at 112.

Elk Lake’s Mason Maye (120) and Blue Ridge’s Tom Maby (145) finished eighth.

Wyalusing won the team title.

Blue Ridge was 19th, Elk Lake 20th and Montrose last.

COLLEGE CORNER

The Western New England University women’s basketball team, coached by Montrose graduate Nicole Chaszar, dropped four straight to hit the holiday break with a 2-6 record.

Chaszar, a former Temple University captain, is approaching her 100th career win. She is 95-65 with at least 12 wins in every season. She had winning marks in five of her six full seasons.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Lackawanna League wrestling schedule moves into full swing this week.

Blue Ridge, which includes wrestlers from Susquehanna in a cooperative sponsorship for the first time, lost in the only league match wrestled to date and has another tough challenge Wednesday at defending champion Western Wayne.

Western Wayne and Lackawanna Trail, which downed Blue Ridge, 51-24, in the league opener, rate as co-favorites in Division 2.

Blue Ridge, with returning District 2 Class AA champions Dalton Church and Tom Maby, could still be a threat to move to the top half of the standings. Maby won his district title with Susquehanna last season.

Montrose is home Wednesday against Valley View and Saturday against Scranton Prep.

Elk Lake is at Scranton Prep Wednesday.

In basketball, league play was scheduled to resume Monday for girls and Tuesday for boys with the second Division 3 game for each team.

Montrose is at Blue Ridge in girls Thursday and Blue Ridge is at Montrose in boys Friday in games matching teams that won their openers before Christmas.

Friday’s schedule also features Elk Lake at Forest City in a boys’ game that will include ceremonies to retire Paul Prezelski’s jersey.

The number 40 jersey will be retired between the junior varsity at varsity games at Julius Prezelski Gymnasium.

Paul Prezelski is Forest City’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,113 points. He played before the 3-point line was instituted and was 22nd on the state career scoring list when he graduated in 1985.

During Paul Prezelski’s career, Forest City won three Northeast Athletic Conference and three District 12 Class A titles under coach Julius Prezelski, his father. Paul was a three-time, first-team, all-star and two-time scoring champion in the NAC.

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

Kurt Busch Joins Phoenix Racing

Kurt Busch will start off the 2012 Cup season as driver of the No. 51 Chevrolet owned by James Finch.

But that doesn’t mean he will last the full season with Finch’s Phoenix Racing team.

Finch and Busch are practically calling it a match made in heaven, but unless Busch is able to straighten up and control his emotional outbursts, it could turn out to be a hellish ride.

Why?

Finch is cut out of the same material as Richard Childress. Remember how Childress walloped Kurt’s brother, Kyle, in 2011? Finch is not above doing the same.

James Finch and driver Brad Keselowski, 2009 at Talladega.

Finch told a reporter from radio station WHJG in Lynn Haven, Florida that he hired Kurt Busch for his foot and not his mouth.

“He (Kurt Busch) lost a job and several million dollars,” said Finch. “I think that’s been a wake up call. I told him, ‘I said Kurt, it’s about winning races.’

“Hopefully we can get him controlled. He’s got a long way to come. He’s got to show people he’s going to be a driver.

“And show NASCAR that he’s going to do what’s expected as a driver.”

Finch and his South Carolina-based, moderate-budget team has only 18 employees and gets its engines and chassis from Hendrick Motorsports. They ran the full 2011 schedule and finished 30th in owner points. Crew chief Nick Harrison didn't get any poles, wins, top-fives or top-10s from drivers Landon Cassill, Bill Elliott, Boris Said, or Mike Bliss.

Finch has run at least a partial Cup schedule for 18 years after one season in the Nationwide Series. All told, Phoenix Racing has 13 NASCAR wins, including the 2009 Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway with Brad Keselowski. It has one Camping World Truck Series start, 530 starts in the Nationwide Series (12 wins) and 191 starts in Cup (one win). The team has used 45 drivers since its NASCAR debut in 1990.

Despite not being one of NASCAR’s star teams, Finch is well respected and has helped several drivers break into NASCAR. He simply has not had the big sponsors needed to fund his efforts. Practically all the team’s money comes from Phoenix Construction, his own company.

“James has always had pretty stout cars for the restrictor-plate races and I know we'll be very competitive at Daytona,” said Busch, who won this year's Budweiser Shootout and a 150-mile Daytona 500 qualifying race. “We'll participate in the [Jan. 12-14] test to get a good handle on our Daytona 500 car but also to win another Budweiser Shootout. Christmas came early for me this year, and I honestly can't wait for the season to begin.

“We're going to have fun. It's going to be old-school racing, where we show up, race hard and go for the win. And if we don't win, we'll go back to the shop, work hard and do it all over again next week. That's the way we all started racing and it's great to get back to that. After entertaining a lot of quality offers, there's no better place for me.”

Kurt and brother Kyle, may be their own worst enemies, but no one can deny that they are racers who have the talent to win races and championships year in and year out.

If Kurt can take advantage of his past mistakes, and Finch’s team gets a couple breaks on the track, both driver and owner will benefit.

But if things go sour, I don’t believe James Finch would hesitate to use his “boot power.”

RAGAN, REUTIMANN, AND VICKERS STILL OUT

David Ragan, David Reutimann, and Brian Vickers have yet to find a Cup ride for next year.

Each driver has won races at the Cup level. Yet, it looks as if they will each go into the 2012 season as outsiders.

Ragan was cut at Roush Fenway Racing when that company reduced its numbers from four full-time teams to three, due to a lack of sponsors.

Reutimann won a race in each of the 2009 and 2010 seasons for Michael Waltrip Racing. And strangely enough, his team actually expanded rather than downsizing during the off season. However, new drivers Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin were brought into the fold which pushed Reutimann out.

Waltrip and Martin will split time in car No. 55, which is the same car Reutimann drove last year.

Brian Vicker’s ride at Team Red Bull simply went away when that organization closed up shop at the end of the 2011 season. However, he did not help himself throughout the season by having run-ins on the track with drivers Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.

Vickers, who has two Sprint Cup wins to his credit, was apparently not on the radar screen of any major team or sponsor during the off season. His name was rarely mentioned as a potential driver for any vacant ride.

Meanwhile veteran driver Geoff Bodine, at age 62, made some type of comeback this past season, competing in four Sprint Cup races with sponsorship from Luke & Associates.

Bodine has sponsorship for a minimum of 15 Sprint Cup races next season. He said he and his sponsor are not just shopping this deal around to teams but instead want a partnership.

“They are serious about it and they want some ownership with a team,” Bodine said. “A little bit this year (2012), and next season a little bit more. We've got a lot of data from different teams and we're looking through it so that we can try to make the best decision, business-wise and performance-wise.”

Bodine said while it won't be a top-tier team, it will be a competitive team that already runs multiple cars. Bodine said a deal would be completed before New Year's.

Depending on the team deal, Bodine could race fewer than 15 events himself or even a full season if more sponsors come aboard. Driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing this year, Bodine had a best finish of 30th in his four starts.

Racing Trivia Question: Which year did Kurt Busch win the Sprint Cup championship?

Last Week’s Question: Car owner James Finch has one Cup victory, which came at Talladega. Who was his driver? Answer. Brad Keselowski.

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

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe reminds hunters and trappers they still have a mixed bag of seasons from which to choose even though the statewide firearms deer season concluded on December 10. They include seasons for deer, ruffed grouse, squirrel, cottontail, pheasant, coyote, fisher, bobcat, beaver and other furbearers, crows and waterfowl.

With the regular firearms seasons for deer closed, a wide variety of hunting and trapping opportunities remain over the next couple of months.

The small game seasons are: squirrel, Dec. 26-Feb. 25; ruffed grouse, Dec. 26-Jan. 28; and rabbit, Dec. 26-Feb. 25. 31. In addition, pheasants (males and females) will be open from Dec. 26-Feb. 4 in WMUs 1A, 1B, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4D, 5C and 5D.

The statewide late archery and flintlock muzzleloader deer seasons run concurrently from Dec. 26-Jan. 16. Further, all hunters with WMU 2B, 5C or 5D antlerless deer licenses may use any legal sporting arm to harvest antlerless deer from Dec. 26-Jan. 28.

Flintlock muzzleloader season participants may harvest an antlerless deer with a WMU license, DMAP permit, or a general hunting license deer harvest tag. During the late season, antlered deer may be taken only by bowhunters and flintlock muzzleloader hunters who possess an unused general hunting license deer harvest tag.

Hunters using archery or muzzleloader licenses, and hunting with those special sporting arms, are not required to wear fluorescent orange, but are encouraged to do so, especially when hunting in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, where an antlerless season for limited-range firearms users will also be in progress. Refer to the Digest for firearms restrictions in special regulations areas. Hunters using conventional firearms in those WMUs must wear 250 square inches of fluorescent orange.

Furbearer hunting seasons continuing through the winter months include: red and gray foxes, until Feb. 18, including Sundays; raccoons, until Feb. 18; and bobcats, in designated WMUs, from Jan. 17-Feb. 7.

Furbearer trapping seasons include: beavers, Dec. 26-March 31 (bag limits depend on WMU, outlined on page 74 of the 2011-12 Digest); mink and muskrats, until Jan. 8; raccoons, skunks, opossums, foxes, coyotes and weasels, until Feb. 19; and bobcats until Jan. 8.

Trappers also may use cable restraints for foxes and coyotes from Dec. 26-Feb. 19, providing they have passed a mandatory cable restraint certification course. For information on courses, visit the Game Commission’s website and click on the “Hunter Education” link in the right-hand column and choose the month of interest to find the nearest course.

Waterfowl hunters have plenty of hunting opportunities to pursue into April. Hunters may take Canada geese and white-fronted geese during the following upcoming seasons: Atlantic Population Zone, Dec. 17-Jan. 25; Southern James Bay Canada Goose Hunting Zone, Dec. 12-Jan. 25; and Resident Canada Goose Zone, from Dec. 20-Feb. 25. Snow goose season is open and runs until April 27; special permit required in the Atlantic and Southern James Bay Zones from Jan 26-April 27; and from Feb. 27-April 27 in the Regular Population Goose Zone.

Hunters can check traffic and road conditions on more than 2,900 miles of roadways by simply calling 511 or logging onto the Department of Transportation’s website (www.511pa.com) before heading out to participate in any of the late seasons.

“511PA is Pennsylvania’s official travel information service,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “This service from PennDOT provides travelers with reliable, current traffic and weather information. This site enables hunters to check on the status of road conditions before heading out during the winter hunting and trapping seasons.”