SCRANTON – Montrose snapped out of a week-long shooting slump just in time to recover and earn a spot in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA girls’ basketball state tournament for the second time in three years.

The starting lineup shot less than 20 percent in regulation for the Lady Meteors in the February 25 semifinals and Friday’s third-place game.

Sophomore Kourtney Snigar came off the bench to join Meghan Gilhool and Myra Lattimore in leading Montrose back from an eight-point deficit in the final seven minutes of regulation on the way to a 50-42 victory over Hanover Area Friday night for District 2’s third and final Class AA berth in the state tournament.

“It was really frustrating because we ran some sets and got some good looks, but we just couldn’t get the ball to go in,” Montrose coach Al Smith said. “The girls showed a lot of grit in hanging with it.”

Gilhool hit 3-pointers 1:05 apart, thenLattimore made two free throws with 1:53 remaining to complete an 11-2 run and put Montrose in front for the first time in the second half.

Lattimore, who shared team scoring honors with Gilhool at 16 points each, erased one more deficit.

After Gilhool hit a free throw for a 40-38 lead, Haylee Bobos forced overtime by hitting a 5-footer from the right side with 43.8 seconds left then blocking two Montrose shots in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Snigar, who shot 6-for-14 from the floor in the last two rounds of the district tournament while her teammates struggled, banked in a shot from a foot beyond the foul line to open overtime and put the Lady Meteors ahead to stay.

“When one person is off, it seems like the next person is off,” Snigar said. “You try to get the momentum going once someone hits a shot.

“That shot set the tempo for overtime.”

The offense came back to life from there, with an assist from a defense that forced 31 turnovers.

Gilhool hit two free throws, then Snigar turned a steal into a basket for a 46-40 advantage.

After Hanover Area finally scored in the final 30 seconds of overtime, Nicki Lewis hit two free throws and Morgan Groover’s steal led to a Gilhool layup with two seconds left.

“I’m extremely proud of our team,” Smith said. “We’re playing in the state tournament for the second time in three years.

“I told the girls that’s a very big accomplishment.”

Gilhool had a team-high four steals and blocked two shots. Lattimore had eight rebounds and three steals.

Fallon Gurn grabbed 10 rebounds and Groover seven. Snigar had seven, including six on the offensive end.

Hanover Area got 20 points from Asdone Hooper, who stayed on the court for the final 6:29 of the first half despite three fouls. Amber Grohowski added 16 rebounds and four blocked shots while Bobos had 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Montrose led for all but 50 seconds of the first quarter with the help of nine points from Lattimore.

Both offenses struggled from there.

Montrose gave up its lead in the first minute of the second quarter and did not regain it until Lattimore’s free throws in the final two minutes of regulation.

Hanover Area broke a tie that lasted through a 4:10 scoreless stretch in the second quarter when Hooper hit a 10-footer from the left side. The Lady Hawkeyes stretched their lead while the teams combined to shoot 1-for-25 to open the second half.

Montrose had managed just five points in 13:49 and Gilhool was scoreless on 10 shots for the night before she started the comeback on a 3-pointer with 1:06 left in the third. She wound up with 16 points in the final 12:06.

Free throws by Groover and Gilhool helped Montrose score six straight to get within, 27-26.

Marissa Keegan converted a four-point play at the third-quarter buzzer and Hooper a three-point play 50 second into the fourth for 34-26 lead.

ARCHBALD – Montrose fell into the District 2 Class AA girls’ consolation game when it suffered through extreme shooting problems early in a 47-30 loss to Holy Cross.

The Lady Meteors missed their first 12 shots over the first 7:14 and were 1-for-21 for the first 12:20 despite getting themselves several mid- and close-range shots.

Holy Cross used those struggles to take a 22-6 lead on the Lackawanna League Division 4 champions.

Alyssa Alfano had 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals for Holy Cross, which reached the district final with an all-underclassmen starting lineup. Olivia Kosin, who grabbed 11 rebounds, and Gabby Giordano added 11 points each.

Montrose was led by Lattimore with eight points and eight rebounds. Morgan Groover added six points, six rebounds and two blocked shots and Snigar came off the bench to contribute six points and four steals.

The Lady Crusaders opened leads of 15-3 and 16-4 before Groover converted an offensive rebound for Montrose’s first basket with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.

Holy Cross scored the first six points of the second quarter for its 22-6 advantage before Lattimore scored on a drive with 3:40 left in the half.

Montrose got within 12 points three times before halftime and once more in the first two minutes of the second half, but never any closer.

WEEK IN REVIEW

DUNMORE – Lauren Carey and Tori Tansley scored 16 points each while making other contributions Saturday afternoon to lead Old Forge to a 53-37 victory over Forest City in the District 2 Class A girls’ basketball championship game at Marywood University.

Carey led the defense by making six steals, including five in the middle two quarters.

Tansley, who did not play in the first quarter, had four offensive rebounds.

Teri Vieira added eight points, seven rebounds and six assists to help Old Forge win the title for the third straight time since losing to Forest City in the 2011 final.

Cassandra Bendyk led Forest City with 11 points and six rebounds. Madison McGraw and Carly Erdmann each hit two 3-pointers while adding eight points each.

Old Forge jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the first quarter.

The Lady Foresters took two runs at the Lady Devils before having their season come to an end with a 12-11 record.

Old Forge opened the lead to 26-10 when it held the ball for more than a minute to set up Rhyan Barnic’s 3-pointer from the left corner with six seconds left in the half. Erdmann, however, answered by draining a runner from midcourt at the buzzer.

The Lady Devils went up 35-14 midway through the third before Congdon and Erdmann each hit 3-pointers in a 10-point Forest City streak to get within, 35-24, with 1:15 left in the quarter. Erdmann hit another basket to start the streak that ended when McGraw scored on a foul-line jumper.

When Old Forge shot 6-for-7 from the line in the fourth quarter, Forest City was not able to get any closer.

In wrestling, Montrose 106-pounder Jacob O’Brien came within two wins of reaching the state tournament as a freshman when he pinned Hanover Area’s Jeffrey Bennett in 2:23 Saturday at the Class AA Northeast Regional in Williamsport.

O’Brien finished his season 28-5 with losses in three of his final four bouts. He was pinned by Lewisburg’s Brian Friery in 5:21 of his regional quarterfinal Friday.

After beating Bennett to reach the consolation semifinals, O’Brien lost by technical fall when Muncy’s Angelo Barbeiro built his lead to 15-0 at the final buzzer.

Chad Swift, O’Brien’s Montrose teammate, was the only other Susquehanna County wrestler to reach the consolation semifinals.

O’Brien picked up a forfeit in the 220-pound consolation quarterfinals between a pair of losses by pin in less than a minute.

Blue Ridge’s Dalton Hogle, at 138, and Elk Lake’s Blaise Cleveland, at 182, both dropped a pair of decisions and were eliminated.

Hogle only gave up a total of 11 points, falling to Williamson’s Trevor McWhorter, 4-2, and Western Wayne’s Morgan Fuller, 7-1.

Cleveland lost to Benton’s Brad Miccio, 8-3, and Lake-Lehman’s Brady Butler, 13-5.

In boys’ swimming, Elk Lake scored 51 points to finish eighth out of 15 teams in the District 2 Class AA championships Friday and Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC.

Tunkhannock outscored Dallas, 211-206, for the title.

Codie Malloy led the way for Elk Lake finishing in the top eight in two individual and two relay events. He had a team-high, sixth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle in 51.30 seconds and added a seventh in the 100 butterfly.

Alex Manzek finished 10th in the 50 freestyle and 11th in the 100 freestyle.

Malloy and Manzek scored in four events. They joined Mike Pettit and Chase Orlandini for the sixth-place, 400 freestyle relay. They were also part of the eighth-place 200 freestyle relay.

In girls’ swimming, Elk Lake was eighth of 17 teams in the District 2 Class AA championships Friday and Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC.

The Lady Warriors scored 47 points. Abington Heights beat out Scranton Prep, 215-187, for the title.

Taylor Watkins had the best individual finish, placing seventh in the 50 freestyle in 26.17 seconds. She was also part of two relays that finished in the top eight.

Watkins, Cami Perry, Becca Sisson and Leah Ofalt formed the 200 freestyle relay team that finished fifth and the 400 freestyle relay that was eighth.

In spring sports, official practice sessions began Monday for baseball, softball, track and field, boys’ volleyball, and boys’ tennis.

COLLEGE CORNER

Brooke Darling pitched in three games, including two as a starter, when Columbia University opened its softball season by traveling to Texas and going 0-5 in the Houston Classic.

Darling completed one game, but finished the event 0-3 with a 6.30 earned run average. She gave up 23 hits and nine walks while striking out eighth in 13 1/3 innings.

The junior from Elk Lake led the team with 10 wins last season while throwing 12 complete games with two shutouts. She also had a save and a team-best 2.61 ERA while striking out 58 in 128 2/3 innings.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Montrose (19-6) will open the state Class AA girls’ basketball tournament Friday night against Mount Carmel (23-4) at a District 4 site.

Mount Carmel won its fourth straight District 4 title with a 46-44 victory over Central Columbia Saturday. It is led by senior Ali Varano, daughter of coach Lisa Varano, with a 15.2 points per game average. Brianna Lutz, a 5-9 senior, is the team’s tallest player.

The Lady Meteors are the last county team or individual competing in the fall winter sports season.

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.

EARNHARDT IS NO LONGER A TEAM NAME

Dale Earnhardt Sr. in Japan, 1996

While Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been the center of attention since winning this year’s Daytona 500, for the first time since 1996, there will not be a team in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series with "Earnhardt" in its corporate name.

The string began in 1996 when the late Dale Earnhardt formed Dale Earnhardt Inc. In less than a decade, it had become one of the premier teams in Cup competition, with son and namesake Dale Earnhardt Jr. as its on-track figurehead. But once Junior left DEI for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, the once-feared company began by the man they called The Intimidator began to slowly disappear.

Now, the Earnhardt corporate name is essentially extinct.

After an ill-fated and short-lived merger with Ginn Racing in mid-2007, team owner Teresa Earnhardt lent her company's name and some of its assets to fellow team owner Chip Ganassi, forming Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in 2009. In the year before Junior left the family fold, Earnhardt's widow also lent her late husband's surname to Richard Childress Racing to form a new business - known as Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technology, designed to build motors for both RCR and other teams that would lease the engines.

But as the Earnhardt name lived on with other teams, Teresa Earnhardt withdrew more and more from being active in racing. She continued to oversee the still-thriving souvenir business that memorialized her late husband and kept his name and legend alive, but that was about it.

Chip Ganassi spoke at Daytona International Speedway about how the relationship with Teresa Earnhardt essentially disappeared with time, to the point where it no longer made sense to keep her late husband's surname as part of the team.

“I wish I could explain it but I can't,” Ganassi said. “I don't have a good answer for you. We had a relationship and I don't know what happened. We can't get her on the phone; it's hard to try to communicate with somebody. She obviously has some other things on her plate, I guess, and that's her prerogative.

“She was never active in the team. I think she wanted to keep the name out there to some extent, and I don't know what Richard's (Petty) relationship is there (to Richard Petty Motorsports), but it's kinda the same thing. There's no ill will, I just don't have an answer, to tell you the truth. She just wasn't there anymore.”

Now in 2014, what was Earnhardt Ganassi Racing for the last five seasons has reverted back to its original name prior to joining forces with Earnhardt, namely Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. And what was Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technology has quietly become simply ECR, with a team source telling MotorSportsTalk that “the E no longer stands for anything. It doesn't stand for Earnhardt. It's just ECR now.”

NASCAR MAY LIMIT DRIVER DOUBLE-DIPPING

During a press conference on Saturday, NASCAR said they are looking at limiting the number of Nationwide and Truck races, Sprint Cup regulars can run during the season.

“We're definitely aware of the fan messaging we get,” said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing operations. “There's a balance, especially talking to the tracks, of having a Cup driver or two in the Trucks or Nationwide. We have had discussions with the race teams about ownership and should Cup drivers get points and we've looked at should they be limited in the number of races. It's something we are really studying.”

While this move might help lower tier drivers break into the sport, it would be detrimental for tracks, because they depend on big-name Cup drivers to boost ticket sales for those events.

Incidentally, the winners of the Daytona Nationwide (Regan Smith), and Truck Series (Kyle Busch) races are both Cup drivers.

TELEVISION RATINGS: The Daytona 500 was clearly impacted by the weather delay that included torrential rain and tornado warnings for local areas. As a result, the race posted a 5.6/10 fast national household rating/share, averaging 9.3 million viewers. The last Daytona 500 to face Olympics' competition came in 2010, and that race posted a 7.7/16, with 13.3 million viewers. The top five ranked markets were down 32 per cent from 2010.

Weekend Racing: This week the Cup and Nationwide teams continue to race out west. This weekend they will be at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The trucks do not race again until March 29.

Sat., Mar. 8, Nationwide Series race 3 of 33; Starting time: 4 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Mar. 9, Sprint Cup race 3 of 36; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Jeff Gordon has said he would retire if he won this year’s Cup championship. How many Cup championships has he won?

Last Week’s Question: Who was the first American driver to win a NASCAR race held outside the United States? Answer. It was Neil Bonnet. He won in Australia, when NASCAR went to that country in 1988.

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