The Montrose girls’ and boys’ basketball teams used similar approaches to win the titles of Susquehanna County basketball tournaments on their home floor Friday and Saturday.

Both teams jumped to early leads in their two games and remained in control throughout, beating Blue Ridge then Elk Lake.

Tournament Most Valuable Players Meghan Gilhool and Jack Fruehan started the Denise Reddon Memorial girls’ tournament and Susquehanna County Christmas boys’ tournament with big scoring outbursts in the first round, then put together strong all-around games in the finals.

The tournaments, organized by the Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains, raised funds for scholarships to be awarded for a county boy and girl at the end of the school year.

REDDON MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Montrose allowed just one first-half point in Saturday’s championship game, that on a free throw with 18.4 seconds left in the second quarter, on the way to a 48-19 romp over Elk Lake to remain unbeaten in the history of the Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament.

The defending champion Lady Meteors prepared for the start of the Lackawanna League Division 4 schedule by winning their second and third consecutive games following an 0-5 start.

“I was happy with the defense,” Montrose coach Al Smith said after Montrose held Elk Lake to 0-for-25 shooting in the first half. “We’ve had a tough exhibition schedule.

“We’ve actually played well. Even though we lost some games, we’ve played well against some good teams.”

After the 0-5 start, which included a two-point loss to Valley View and a one-pointer against Abington Heights, the Lady Meteors have outscored their last three opponents by an average of 56-25.

Gilhool had 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals in the final to claim MVP honors for the second straight year.

“The joy with her and players like that is they give you a lot of effort,” Smith said. “She’s been a very good player for us and an asset to this program.”

Angela Russell also scored 11 points while Morgan Groover grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots. Fallon Gurn was 4-for-5 while scoring eight points.

Justine Johns led Elk Lake with seven points. Abigail Jones had eight rebounds.

Montrose grabbed eight offensive rebounds while building a 12-5 advantage on the boards in the first 4:40.

Although the Lady Meteors had some dry spells offensively, the defense made sure the game was never close.

Russell and Gurn each had four points and Gilhool three assists for a 12-0 lead after one quarter.

“I knew they were scouting us (Friday) night,” Gilhool said. “I figured their game plan might make it hard for me to score. I try to give the team rebounds, points and assists.

“Tonight, it was assists.”

Montrose scored the game’s first 18 points before Keri Jones broke through by hitting the first of two foul shots in the last minute of the half.

“I just wanted to focus on being active defensively and for our rotations to be crisp,” Smith said.

Johns hit a 3-pointer for Elk Lake’s first field goal with 6:50 left in the third quarter but Montrose came back with the next nine points for a 29-4 lead.

Elk Lake never got closer than 26 in the fourth quarter.

Montrose reached the final with a 62-29 rout of Blue Ridge.

Gilhool hit four 3-pointers while scoring 14 points to get Montrose out to an 18-3 lead after one quarter.

“That felt good,” said Gilhool, who finished with five 3-pointers and 26 points, all by the end of the third quarter. “In the first couple games, my shot wasn’t falling.”

Groover had all nine of her points in the first half when the Lady Meteors extended their lead to 39-12.

Montrose was up 55-18 after three quarters.

Isabella Cosmello led Blue Ridge with 10 points.

Elk Lake went 7-for-14 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, hitting just enough to turn away Susquehanna, 36-31, in the other first-round game.

Whitney Tyler led the Lady Warriors with 10 points. Darci Warner and Abigail Jones, who did all her scoring in the second-half comeback, added eight each.

Susquehanna led 11-8 after one quarter and 16-12 at halftime.

Nicole Barnes scored all eight of her points for the Lady Sabers in the first half.

Susquehanna came back Saturday to defeat Blue Ridge, 55-29, for third place.

Mikayla Hargett scored all 10 of her points in the first quarter when the Lady Sabers opened a 21-6 lead.

D.J. Decker, who finished with a team-high 15 points, hit two 3-pointers and had eight points in the second quarter when Susquehanna extended the advantage to 33-8.

Haley Aldrich added 11 points in the win.

Cosmello scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half to lead Blue Ridge.

Montrose’s Groover, Elk Lake’s Johns, Susquehanna’s Decker and Blue Ridge’s Cosmello joined Gilhool on the all-tournament team.

COUNTY BOYS’ TOURNAMENT

Fruehan scored one basket and set up two others when Montrose scored the first nine points of the championship game and the Meteors were never seriously threatened in a 61-37 win over Elk Lake.

Elk Lake never got closer than six points after the opening run and the Montrose lead was not in single digits again after Austin Smith hit a 3-pointer with 4:55 left in the second quarter.

Fruehan, Montrose’s 6-foot-4 senior center, scored 13 points while leading the team with seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots. When he drew attention under the basket, he found his teammates around the perimeter.

“When we’re working inside-out, we’re tough to beat,” first-year Montrose coach Tim Lopez said.

Fruehan set up Troy Ely’s basket on a backdoor cut on the opening possession. After rebounding his own miss and scoring, Fruehan grabbed another offensive rebound and found Smith for a 3-pointer.

Hunter Traver hit from the wing when Montrose broke the Elk Lake press, completing the 9-0 run.

Smith, who scored a game-high 16 points, had five straight to break the game open for good midway through the second quarter. After his 3-pointer, on another kick out from Fruehan, he drove for a basket and 27-14 lead with 3:54 left in the half.

With Lopez repeatedly imploring his team to slow down the pace and run a half-court offense, Montrose hit better than 50 percent (23-for-45) from the floor.

Traver added 11 points. In addition to his scoring, Smith had six rebounds and three assists before fouling out.

Seth Tewksbury led Elk Lake with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Montrose built a 34-20 rebounding advantage.

“It all starts on the defensive ned of the floor, not giving up lay-ups, not giving up shots,” Lopez said. “I thought above all else that we rebounded really well. We did not let them have second and third opportunities.

“Once you rebound like that, the rest of it will take care of itself.”

While Montrose got the shots it was seeking offensively, Elk Lake struggled. The Warriors shot just 14-for-44 (31.8 percent).

“We tried to make sure all shots were contested,” Fruehan said.

Fruehan led Montrose into the final with a 62-51 win over Blue Ridge.

The senior center had 10 of his 25 points in the first quarter when the Meteors jumped out to a 21-7 lead.

Austin Darrow had nine of his 19 points in the second quarter when Blue Ridge cut the deficit to 31-19.

Smith had seven of his 15 points for Montrose in the third quarter to push the lead to 47-32.

Troy Ely finished with 12 points for the Meteors.

Michael Allen chipped in 11 for the Raiders.

Elk Lake handled Susquehanna, 66-50, in the other first-round game.

Ben Woolcock and Bailey Newhart fueled a fast start and each finished with 14 points.

Woolcock had seven points and Newhart hit two 3-pointers when the Warriors took 22-13 lead after one quarter.

Dalton Sherman added 13 points.

Christian Miller led Susquehanna with 15 points. Tyler Williams added 14, including 12 in the first half.

Miller hit a pair of three-point plays in the fourth quarter when Susquehanna held on to defeat Blue Ridge, 45-44, for third place.

Luke Falletta led the Sabers with 13 points, Williams added 12 and Brady Towner had 10.

Austin Harper had 12 points and Ty Herbert 11 for Blue Ridge.

Blue Ridge led 15-6 after one quarter, but Susquehanna closed to within 29-26 at halftime and moved in front 39-35 after three.

Miller was scoreless until getting all of Susquehanna’s fourth-quarter points.

Montrose’s Ely, Elk Lake’s Tewksbury, Susquehanna’s Williams and Blue Ridge’s Darrow joined Fruehan on the all-tournament team.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Forest City won its own Forest City Rotary Tournament in boys’ basketball with victories before and after Christmas.

Noah Fedak scored 16 points when the Foresters defeated Mountain View, 52-45, in Friday night’s championship game.

Adam Kowalewski had 14 points and Fedak had 13 Dec. 23 when Forest City defeated Western Wayne, 53-33, to reach the final.

Mountain View topped Tunkhannock, 50-44, in the other semifinal.

Williams had 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists Dec. 22 when Susquehanna defeated Mountain View, 42-39, in the Bill McLaughlin Game.

Williams, Austin Felter, Towner and Miller combined for 12-for-14 free throw shooting in the fourth quarter.

Miller had six steals and Towner had six rebounds.

In girls’ basketball, Wallenpaupack routed Forest City, 78-41, Saturday night in the opening round of the Honesdale Jaycees Tournament.

In professional hockey, Scott Greenham made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season Friday night to lift the Binghamton Senators over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-0, in an American Hockey League game.

Ryan Dzingel scored goals 3:33 apart in the third period to break the game open. Max McCormick had scored in the first period.

The result was a reversal of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 3-0 win over Binghamton six days earlier.

COLLEGE CORNER

Sara Krupinski, a 5-8 junior from Montrose, is a guard on the King’s College women’s basketball team.

Krupinski has appeared in four games for a total of 20 minutes. She has four points, two rebounds and an assist. She is 1-for-3 from the floor, 0-for-1 on 3-pointers and 2-for-2 on free throws.

King’s, which will resume play Wednesday with a game at Division I University of Pennsylvania, is off to a 3-4 start.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Lackawanna League basketball schedule starts this weekend.

Defending champion Montrose is home against Blue Ridge, Susquehanna is at Forest City and Mountain View is at Lackawanna Trail when Division 4 girls’ play begins Friday. Elk Lake plays a crossover at Holy Cross that night and opens its division schedule Monday, January 5 at home against Forest City.

The boys’ schedule opens Saturday with Forest City at Susquehanna, Montrose at Blue Ridge and Lackawanna Trail at Forest City in Division 4. Elk Lake opens with a crossover against Holy Cross and then begins defense of its division title Tuesday, January 6 at Forest City.

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.

TWO DRIVERS WITH DIFFERENT ENDINGS

Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates winning the 2014 Daytona 500

While there were many 2014 NASCAR stories that could be considered major, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski were right near the top. While neither made the final Chase cut they had outstanding seasons.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the season-opening Daytona 500, plus three other races, and ended the season with a positive outlook. Brad Keselowski on the other hand had six wins, but failed to make the final cut for the Chase, and wound up as the butt of criticism by several of his colleagues.

The season-opening Daytona 500, which was delayed six hours by rain, played right into Earnhardt's hands as he led the last 18 laps of the 200 lap race.

It was his second win, but what made it even better is that it put him in the Chase automatically (Note: the 2014 Chase format stated that any race-winning driver would be included in the 16-driver Chase field).

He took the points lead after Watkins Glen, but was unable to build on his early momentum.

After easily going through the Challenger Round in the Chase, Earnhardt’s dream season was put on hold in the Contender Round opener at Kansas. A tire failure and crash there put him in a points hole that he was unable to recover from.

A 31st-place finish at Talladega two weeks later officially ended his title hopes.

Earnhardt bounced back with a win at Martinsville Speedway, which would prove to be his last one with crew chief Steve Letarte.

As Earnhardt and his no. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team prepare for the 2015 season, there is a big question mark. In the past, Earnhardt has had problems working well with some crew chiefs.

Replacing Letarte will be Greg Ives, who led Chase Elliott to this year’s NASCAR Nationwide Series title for JR Motorsports. Earnhardt’s pit crew will also be somewhat different as well.

The question now is about how quickly can Earnhardt get that all-important chemistry going with Ives and the new members of his team.

“We’re going to miss Steve, of course … but I hope fans don’t see this as our only opportunity,” Earnhardt said to NBC SportsWorld’s Joe Posnanski earlier this year. “To me, I see no reason why we can’t be in the mix for two or three more years at least. I think that’s realistic, I really do.”

No matter what the outcome of his 2015 season is, don’t expect Junior to ask for any handouts. According to Forbes Inc. his net woth is in excess of 300 million dollars.

While Earnhardt started and ended his season in an upbeat manner, the same cannot be said for Brad Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion.

Keselowski had suffered a terrible season in 2013 and was determined to change that.

He started off with a win at Las Vegas in just the third race of the season. Then, he fell into a nine-race slump where he finished in the top-five, only once..

Wins at Kentucky and Loudon followed in the summer.

He dominated the last race before the Chase began at Richmond, leading 383 of the 400 laps.

He won a week later at Chicagoland firmly established him as the title favorite.

But then things began to fall apart for him.

Or we could say, he began to experience a string of bad luck.

While the opening Chase round (Challenger) was fine for him: a win, a seventh and a second, poor finishes at both Kansas (36th) and Martinsville (31st) set him back early in each of the second and third Chase rounds.

But then came his controversial skirmish with Jeff Gordon at Texas, which might have been instigated as much by Kevin Harvick.

Events on and off the track cast a cloud over what had been a championship-worthy season prior to that point.

“I think last year I got away from being as aggressive as I was in 2012,” said Keselowsli. “I didn't make the Chase. Won one race. That's not acceptable to me. I'm here to win races for Roger Penske and for my team. That means when there's a gap, I have to take it. If it requires a tiny bit of rubbing, that's okay. It's not anything I don't expect on the other side. Plenty of times I got rubbed. It will go both ways. That's okay by me.

“I'm not asking anyone to take something. I'm not trying to dish out something that I couldn't take myself. But these guys have their own code, and they race differently than that. That's their right.

“But what I'm not going to do is back down. I'm not going to get in the spot where I was in 2013 where, you know, I tried to be exactly what they all wanted me to be, because what they want me to be is a loser, and I'm not here to lose, I'm here to win. That means I'm going to have to drive my car, harder, stronger, faster than everybody out there.

“Would I be disappointed if I just dumped somebody to win the race? Yeah. I think you look through my history of racing, and that's never been the case. That's not the way I race. I don't wreck people to win. I've been in incidents at the end of the race, but I could say with a clear mind and heart that they weren't intentional, that they were all out going for the win and some things happen.”

Despite six wins, consistency was not part of his game plan, especially in the Chase. Keselowski was either running up front, or behind the pack.

And the way he spouted off made him appear as a “bad boy.”

Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick both said it wasn’t so much how Keselowski raced, but the way he handled himself afterwards.

Keselowski never backed down in his frank assessments of how he would race this past year.

Neither he or his owner Roger Penske thought there was anything wrong in his style of racing. But the critical elements that defined his season centered around emotions.

In 2015 he will be a year older, and maybe more mature.

It’s possible the Wood Brothers Race team might go back to full-time racing in the Cup Series.

As NASCAR’s oldest team begins its 65th year with Ford Motor Company, owner Eddie Wood said, “It's not out of the question at all that the team could go back to racing full time.”

Wood, a guest on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's "The Morning Drive" last week, said the team's new alliance with a fellow Ford organization may mean more races for them.

“I think if we have some success and just keep doing what we're doing, I think eventually we can get back full time,” Wood continued. “When I started racing, we raced every race, every week. It was like that for years. Now that we've cut back a bit, there is a life, but if you're us, your life is really at the race track so that's just the way it is.”

Racing Trivia Question: Dale Jr.had wins at Martinsville and Daytona. Where were his other two victories?

Last Week’s Question: When will Sprint discontinue their sponsorship of NASCAR’s premier series? Answer. At the end of the 2016 season.

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