Deciding Lackawanna League basketball championships was generally a complicated process this season.

When the regular season concluded last week, four of the six divisions required second-half and/or all-season playoffs to determine titles. The Dunmore girls, who won their seventh straight title in Division 2, had needed a first-half playoff before going 7-0 to win the second-half and all-season championships.

Only one team, the Montrose girls, managed a Lackawanna title without needing a playoff in either half.

The Lady Meteors used the next-closest thing to a playoff game to complete their successful defense of the Division 3 title.

Montrose and Lakeland went into the regular-season finale Feb. 13 tied for the second-half lead with 6-0 records.

Sara Krupinski scored a game-high 14 points as the Lady Meteors defeated the visiting Lady Chiefs, 43-32.

Myra Lattimore and Dallas Ely added eight points each in the win.

The two wins over Lakeland were decided by eight and 11 points. Otherwise, Montrose won every other division game by at least 17.

Montrose took an 18-game overall winning streak and 19-2 record into Tuesday night’s scheduled game against Dunmore to determine which division champion took the Lackawanna League’s top seed in the upcoming District 2 Class AA tournament.

The Lady Meteors had the only 14-0 record this season to extend the longest active Lackawanna League regular-season winning streak to 23 games.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Montrose boys, who had won the first-half title, went into the second-half finale with a chance to tie for first place.

Lakeland defeated Montrose, 49-30, to take the second-half title and force an all-season playoff where it won again, 59-48.

Montrose coach Todd Smith turned in his resignation, effective at the end of the season, prior to the playoffs. He said he made the decision to allow more time to be with his daughters.

“I love coaching these kids,” said Smith, who has guided the Meteors in 23 of the past 26 seasons, “but I want to be with my daughters.”

By the time, the Meteors arrived at their most important games of the season, they were struggling to overcome injuries.

Starters Colby Major and Cameron Dean missed the regular-season finale with ankle injuries. Lance Nealy (bloody nose) and Jordan Smith (lower leg) each started that game, but missed some time.

Lakeland pressured the less-experienced lineup, forcing 24 turnovers, including making six steals during a streak of 16 straight points to end the half with a 28-15 lead.

“That’s what hurt us,” Smith said.

Alex Filarsky hit his five first 3-point attempts while leading Lakeland with 15 points.

Tom Lewis had nine points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in the first quarter to help Montrose to an 11-9 lead. He finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Kyle Kiehart had 27 points in Friday’s all-season championship game when Lakeland broke away from a halftime tie.

Lewis scored 22 points and Dean added 11 in that loss.

Montrose bounced back just one night later to defeat Mountain View, 60-39, in the Lackawanna League Qualifying Tournament for the District 2 Class AA playoffs.

Lewis again led the way, scoring 21 points in the win. Major added 13.

Joel Madas led Mountain View with 17 points.

Blue Ridge also won its quarterfinal game in the qualifying tournament while Elk Lake was being eliminated.

Blue Ridge defeated Mountain View, 72-63, and Dunmore topped Elk Lake, 43-32.

Final second-half Division 3 standings: Lakeland 7-0, Lackawanna Trail 6-1, Montrose 5-2, Blue Ridge 4-3, Susquehanna 2-5, Elk Lake 2-5, Forest City 1-6, Mountain View 1-6.

Final all-season Division 3 standings: Lakeland 13-1, Montrose 11-3, Lackawanna Trail 10-4, Blue Ridge 9-5, Elk Lake 6-8, Susquehanna 3-11, Mountain View 3-11, Forest City 1-13.

In girls’ basketball, Elk Lake and Mountain View were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the qualifying tournament for the District 2 Class AA playoffs.

Holy Cross hammered Elk Lake, 58-16, while Mid Valley ripped Mountain View, 56-30.

Final second-half standings in Division 3: Montrose 7-0, Lakeland 6-1, Forest City 5-2, Lackawanna Trail 4-3, Elk Lake 3-4, Mountain View 2-5, Susquehanna 1-6, Blue Ridge 0-7.

Final all-season standings in Division 3: Montrose 14-0, Forest City 11-3, Lakeland 11-3, Lackawanna Trail 8-6, Elk Lake 5-9, Mountain View 4-10, Blue Ridge 2-12, Susquehanna 1-13.

In wrestling, Elk Lake’s Blaise Cleveland (120) and Derrick Smith (145) and Montrose’s Aaron Grochowski (113) all finished third at the Lackawanna League Tournament Saturday at Scranton High School.

Cleveland edged Scranton Prep’s Pat Creedon, 11-10, in the consolation final. Smith decisioned Honesdale’s Chavez Lill, 3-1. Grochowski shut out Valley View’s Nick Chesko, 6-0.

In high school swimming, Elk Lake’s Adam Phillips was the top individual boys’ performer at the Lackawanna County Championships.

Phillips set meet and pool records while winning the 200-yard individual medley in 1:59.62 and added a victory in the 100 butterfly.

Elk Lake's Abby Zdancewicz won the girls’ 500 freestyle.

Final Wyoming Valley Conference Northern Division boys’ standings: Delaware Valley 7-0, Scranton 5-1-1, Tunkhannock 5-1-1, Scranton Prep 4-3, Abington Heights 3-4, Valley View 2-5, Elk Lake 1-6, West Scranton 0-7.

Final WVC Northern Division girls’ standings: Abington Heights 6-0-1, Delaware Valley 6-1, Scranton Prep 5-1-1, Valley View 4-3, Scranton 3-4, Elk Lake 2-5, West Scranton 1-6, Tunkhannock 0-7.

In professional hockey, the last-place Binghamton Senators broke a five-game losing streak Saturday night when Robin Lehner, the Most Valuable Player of last season’s Calder Cup championship run, made 36 saves in a 6-2 win over the Portland Pirates.

“Robin has been out for a while,” Binghamton coach Kurt Kleinendorst said after Lehner posted just his second win since Dec. 4. “He’s really just starting to find his game again.

“He had to earn his net.”

One night earlier, Alex Grant and Matt Rust scored two goals each to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 6-1 romp over the Senators.

COLLEGE CORNER

Kelsey Hermick finished third out of 17 entries in the 400-meter dash while competing for the host team at the Susquehanna University Invitational February 12.

The time was one of two personal bests for the indoor season put up by Hermick at the meet. She was ninth out of 24 in the 200 meters with a time of 28.21.

The freshman from Elk Lake has a season-best time of 45.75 for 300 meters.

Hermick is already competing in her second college sport.

In the fall, she played in five games for the Susquehanna women’s soccer team, which went 7-8-3.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The District 2 basketball playoffs get underway Friday with Class AA girls’ quarterfinals.

Montrose is the only county team in that bracket. The Lady Meteors were scheduled to play Division 2 champion Dunmore Tuesday to determine the order of the top two seeds from the Lackawanna League. A Montrose win Tuesday would mean a game at North Pocono at 6 against the Holy Cross/Mid Valley loser. A Montrose loss Tuesday would mean a game at Scranton against the Wyoming Seminary/GAR winner at 7:30.

Class AA boys and Class A girls begin with quarterfinal play Saturday.

The winner of a Montrose-Blue Ridge qualifying game Monday will determine the only county representative in Class AA boys. If that team goes on to win again Wednesday, it takes the league’s fourth seed and plays Meyers Saturday at 1 at Wyoming Area. A loss Wednesday would mean a game against the Holy Cross/Lakeland winner Saturday at 2:30 at Lackawanna College.

Blue Ridge plays Freeland MMI Saturday at Scranton at 1. Forest City has a quarterfinal bye as the top seed. The Blue Ridge-Freeland winner will play Forest City February 29.

Class A boys’ play begins with semifinals Tuesday, February 28. Susquehanna is the top seed and will play MMI or Forest City. The more likely pairing has Forest City meeting Old Forge in the semifinals.

Class AA girls and Class A boys both have semifinals February 28 and finals March 2.

The Class AA boys and Class A girls will continue with semifinals February 29 and finals March 3.

In high school wrestling, the District 2 Class AA tournament is Friday and Saturday at Lake-Lehman.

Friday’s action begins at 5 p.m. The semifinals are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday with the consolation finals at 4 and the finals at 6:30.

In high school swimming and diving, the diving portion of the District 2 championships will be held Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC. Class AA action will begin at 10 a.m.

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.

“Rowdy” Busch Wins Shootout Within A Shootout

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Sparks flew as Kyle Busch rescued his car from certain doom, not once, but twice, and went on to make a dramatic last lap pass over Tony Stewart to win the 2012 Budweiser Shootout.

Busch’s margin of victory was only thirteen-thousandths of a second, the closest in speedway history.

“It’s great that we were able to win our first race back in the M&M’s car and get back in Victory Lane,” Busch said. “It means a lot to myself and this team, Joe Gibbs Racing. I can’t say enough about all the support that helped us get to Victory Lane.”

Kyle Busch celebrates on the track after his Shootout win.

It was incredible that Busch was even in position to win, as he made two great displays of driving skill to avoid crashing twice earlier in the race. While Busch was in second place on Lap 47, five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson bumped the rear of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota in Turn 2 and caused him to nearly spin out of control. But Busch gained control of his car and continued while the race remained under green.

But his most impressive save came on Lap 74 when he was again in second place and was tapped from behind in Turn 4 by four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Busch’s car turned hard to the left, and slid off the banking and onto the apron in a shower of sparks. The car straightened, and then headed left again while spraying sparks as Busch tried to regain control. After a third trip violently to the left and a third shower of sparks, Busch finally tamed the car and was able to stay in the race.

As the cars entered the last lap, Tony Stewart was the leader, with Busch in second.

“I knew that I was going to have to do something between Turn 4 and the start-finish line,” said Stewart, the Shootout winner in 2001, ‘02 and ‘07. “When we got there, it was like, ‘Well, we’re going to run first or second here.’ So I knew we had enough of a gap that it was going to be a race between the two of us. It was a matter of when he was going to make his move off of (Turn) 4. I saw it coming. I thought I gave myself enough room to get away from him, but I didn’t. Guess I’ll have to work harder on it this week and see if we got something for them on Sunday.”

Marcos Ambrose recovered from two wrecks to finish third, followed by Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, and Juan Montoya.

The remaining finishers were, Jeff Burton, AJ Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Martin Truex, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, David Ragan, and Michael Waltrip.

EDWARDS EARNS DAYTONA 500 POLE

Carl Edwards led a strong showing by Ford teams with his lap of 194.738 mph, which was good enough to earn him the pole in Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Teammate Greg Biffle (194.087) will start on the outside of the front row, giving Roush Fenway a sweep of the top two positions.

The top two spots are the only ones locked in for the 500 - the remainder of the 43-car field will be determined by Thursday’s Gatorade Duels, a pair of 150-mile qualifying races.

EXPECT A WILD DAYTONA 500

The two-car tandem that NASCAR worked so hard to perfect in the past at Daytona and Talladega might be gone. It’s been replaced by the old-fashion pack racing.

At least that was the case this past Saturday night during the Budweiser Shootout, and I think we can expect to see the same thing during Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Everything that people love and hate about pack drafting was evident Saturday night. There was of course two-car tandems, but there were saves like Kyle Busch's double-correction, down-on-the-apron, type maneuver, along with drivers who were able to go from the back to the front.

And then there were the wrecks.

The two-car tandem drafting that's cropped up on restrictor-plate tracks served to string out the field, and make the big ones just a little smaller and little less catastrophic. But with NASCAR’s new rules, everything is magnified. There was a nine-car pileup early in the Shootout, a six-car wreck later, and an eight-car pileup near the end, which took out a number of top contenders including Jeff Gordon, who barrel rolled down the track.

Despite the craziness of it, most drivers said they prefer the new style racing.

“It was pretty wild and crazy,” Gordon said, “But I mean, I like this better than what we had last year, definitely.”

Most drivers agreed with Gordon despite all the accidents.

“You can choose your own fate in this kind of racing," said Denny Hamlin, who finished fifth. “You don't have to rely on someone else for you to have a good day. You can race your own race. If you choose to run in the back, or choose to run in the front, or mix it up all day, you choose your own fate. You don't have to continue to worry about someone else, and I think everyone else will agree that they like it like that.”

Tony Stewart, who finished second, said: “It was definitely a lot more fun, and you felt a lot more eager to be engaged in the race this way than in the two car deal. I actually had fun racing at Daytona again, which I haven't had for a while. I don't know what the consensus is from everybody else, but I had more fun as a driver than what we've had in the past.”

For good or bad, pack racing has returned to Daytona and Talladega. If the Shootout is any indication of what fans can expect in this week’s Daytona 500, it should be an exciting race to watch.

Weekend Racing: Daytona is the center of racing this week. All three of NASCAR’s major series’ will be competing on the 2.50-mile track.

Thurs., Feb. 23, Gatorade Duels (two non-points races to finalize the starting lineup for the Daytona 500); Starting time: 1 p.m. ET; TV: SPEED.

Fri., Feb. 24, Camping World Trucks Nextera Energy Resources 250, race 1 of 22; Starting time: 7 p.m. ET; TV: SPEED.

Sat., Feb. 25, Nationwide Drive4COPD 300, race 1 of 33; Starting time: Noon ET; TV: ESPN.

Sun., Feb. 26, 54th Annual Daytona 500, race 1 of 36; Starting time; Noon ET; TV: FOX.

Racing Trivia Question: What year did Dale Earnhardt Sr. win his first Daytona 500?

Last Week’s Question: Austin Dillon won the 2011 Truck Series championship. Which series will he be running in 2012? Answer. He will be running for the Nationwide Series title, plus a few Cup races.

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