Seven Susquehanna County players participated in Lackawanna League Basketball Senior All-Star Games and two others were selected.
Madison McGraw and Katelyn Zembrzycki each played one more game on their home court when Forest City hosted the girls’ game March 24. Montrose’s Morgan Groover, Mountain View’s Makenna Whitaker and Susquehanna’s Mikaela Hargett also played. Montrose’s Meghan Gilhool was selected but could not play because of recent anterior cruciate ligament surgery on her knee.
Montrose’s Jack Fruehan and Forest City’s Noah Fedak played in the boys’ game March 25 at Valley View. Blue Ridge’s Austin Darrow was selected, but could not play because of Blue Ridge’s volleyball season opener that night.
GIRLS’ ALL-STARS
FOREST CITY – All of the Susquehanna County girls were part of a small school team that made an impressive rally to create a close game with the Lackawanna League’s large schools.
The Purple team, made up of players from Divisions 1 and 2, posted a 67-65 win over the Gray, which featured players from Divisions 3 and 4.
North Pocono’s Kaitlyn Lewis earned Purple Most Valuable Player honors when she had 10 points and three steals, all of which came in the first half to help open a 31-21 lead.
Gabby Giordano from Holy Cross was Gray MVP with 12 points, including 11 in the second-half comeback.
Scranton Prep’s Jess Genco won the pre-game, 3-point shooting contest. Western Wayne’s Rebecca Carmody won the foul shooting contest.
Whitaker had the only Gray 3-pointer when the team went 1-for-12 in the first half. While Giordano was making two, Whitaker, Groover, and Hargett each made one to help the team go 6-for-13 in the second half.
Whitaker finished with eight points, the most by a county player in the game and the third-highest total for the Gray team.
Groover led the team with two blocked shots. She scored five points and grabbed three rebounds.
Hargett had four points, two rebounds and an assist.
McGraw and Zembrzycki had two points each. McGraw shared the team lead with three assists and also grabbed three rebounds. Zembrzycki had two rebounds and an assist.
Whitaker’s basket with six seconds left in the first quarter gave the Gray its final lead, 15-13.
BOYS’ ALL-STARS
ARCHBALD – The boys’ game underwent some adjustments after Clay Basalyga from Abington Heights shattered a backboard with a reverse dunk during warm-ups.
The 3-point shooting contest was canceled, half of the bleachers were removed and the teams played at the side baskets with wooden backboards.
Valley View’s Bryan Gallagher wound up earning the 3-point trophy by making five in the second half when he scored all 19 of his points to lead the Blue to a come-from-behind, 110-92 victory over the Red.
The Blue was made up of players from Scranton Prep, Valley View, Abington Heights, Scranton, Dunmore, Holy Cross and Lakeland.
The Red had players from Forest City, Montrose, Honesdale, North Pocono, Delaware Valley, Western Wayne, Wallenpaupack, Mid Valley, Riverside, Lackawanna Trail and Old Forge.
Tim Rose from Scranton Prep was named Blue MVP after scoring 12 points, grabbing four rebounds and handing out two assists.
Honesdale’s Nick Casazza, who had all 15 of his points in the first half to help the Red to a 51-41 lead, was named team MVP.
Casazza had the game’s first two baskets, both on 3-pointers, and hit another 3:24 in to complete a 3-for-3 start that gave the Red a 14-4 lead.
The lead held up until the Blue scored 17 straight points early in the second half, including consecutive 3-pointers by Gallagher, for a 62-54 lead midway through the third quarter.
The Blue outscored the Red 69-41 in the second half.
Fruehan made his last four shots to finish with eight points. He led the team in rebounds with six and blocked shots with two. He also had two assists.
Fedak had two points, two rebounds and two assists.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Mountain View was the first Lackawanna League boys' volleyball team to get off to a 2-0 start.
Abington Heights, the only other team to make it through the first week unbeaten, started 1-0.
Mountain View opened the season March 24 by winning at Blue Ridge, 25-20, 25-13, 25-22. The Eagles then knocked off defending champion Western Wayne, 25-21, 25-22, 25-17, Thursday.
The Eagles finished second in the league, one match behind the Wildcats last season.
In track and field, the Lackawanna Track Conference canceled the entire first week schedule.
Conference teams would have started last week with crossover meets that do not count in the divisional standings. With weather conditions putting all teams behind schedule, those meets will not be made up.
In professional hockey, Jason Megna scored a short-handed goal and Matt Murray made 26 saves Friday night when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins won in Binghamton, beating the Senators, 3-1.
Megna’s goal gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead late in the first period.
COLLEGE CORNER
Jared Conklin, a senior from Blue Ridge, finished 11th in the weight throw for Ashland University at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Huntsville, Ala.
Conklin qualified for nationals as the fourth seed, but fouled on two of three attempts and fell short of being among the nine finalists.
Ashland, from Ohio, finished fourth in the team standings at nationals.
Conklin was selected as a second-team U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American thrower for indoor season.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Mountain View is at Abington Heights Tuesday, April 7 in a meeting of the early top two teams in Lackawanna League boys’ volleyball.
In high school baseball and softball, the Lackawanna League moved all openers scheduled for March 30 back to April 24 and all Wednesday’s games back exactly one month to May 1.
The league will try again to open Monday, April 6. Mountain View will be at Montrose, Susquehanna will be at Elk Lake and Lackawanna Trail will be at Blue Ridge.
The Mountain View at Montrose combination will have the defending champion Meteors baseball team against a third-place team from last season and the defending champion Mountain View softball team against one of the two teams that tied for second last 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.
HAMLIN HOLDS OFF KESELOWSKI
Denny Hamlin celebrates his Martinsville Cup win
MARTINSVILLE, Vir.—Denny Hamlin ended a 31-race winless streak as he held off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski to win Sunday’s Sprint Cup race by less than two-tenths of a second.
The race was characteristic Martinsville, because of the bumping and shoving, but it was also the best Cup race of the season so far.
Hamlin, who led 91 laps took the lead from Matt Kenseth on lap 473 of the 500-lap race and held on for his first Cup win of the season, which automatically assures him a Chase spot.
“It was just a great car the guys gave me today,” said Hamlin. “If I hadn’t won, I would have been disappointed. I’ve missed out on a lot of wins here because of mechanical problems, but we weren’t to be denied today.”
Brad Keselowski, winner of last week’s Cup race in California caught up with Hamlin on lap 485. He remained on his rear bumper for the last 15 laps, but was unable to get by.
“I really wanted to win,” said Keselowski. “I really wanted one of those clocks the winners get. We had the car but just couldn’t quite make the move we needed.”
Keselowski’s teammate and polesitter, Joey Logano was third.
“I was just watching and trying to keep up there at the end,” he said. “Our car went away during the center of the race, and we had to work our way back to the front.”
Matt Kenseth was the leader when the race’s last caution for debris came out on lap 462. On the restart, he spun his tires, and Hamlin and several other drivers were able to get by him.
“I really thought we had a shot to win,” said Kenseth. “We had a good car, but that last restart killed us.”
David Ragan, who was substituting for the injured Kyle Busch was fifth, while Martin Truex was sixth.
Danica Patrick was seventh, her highest finish of the season.
Kevin Harvick, who came in eighth, saw his string of top-two finishes end after eight.
Jeff Gordon came on strong in the latter stages of the race, even leading 21 laps. A pit road speeding penalty during the race’s last caution sent him to the tail-end of the field, but he still managed a ninth-place finish.
“We struggled early in the race,” said Gordon. “We finally got our car in a position to win, then-‘oh my gosh’-I really messed up.”
Jamie McMurray was the 10th-place driver.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a rough day on the track. First, his car developed a vibration, which broke the gear shifter, and then he was involved in several accidents, finally running into the back of Paul Menard. His team managed to patch up his damaged car and he returned to the track to finish 36th.
Young Chase Elliott was finally able to realize his dream of one day racing in the Sprint Cup series. The 19-year-old driver was caught up in several racing skirmishes that made his “dream” race appear “nightmarish”. He wound up 38th.
There were 16 caution periods for 112 laps.
Top-16 Chase contenders after 6 of 26: 1. Harvick-263, 2. Logano-239, 3. Truex-231, 4. Keselowski-206, 5. Kahne-193, 6. Newman-180, 7. Menard-173, 8. Hamlin-172, 9. Earnhardt-172, 10. Almirola-170, 11. Johnson-168, 12. Kenseth-168, 13. Ragan-163, 14. Mears-161, 15. McMurray-154, 16. Patrick-148.
LOGANO TAKES TRUCK RACE
With his win in Saturday’s Truck race at Martinsville, Joey Logano has now won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s major series’.
He led 150 laps of the 258-lap race on the way to his first Truck win.
Matt Crafton, who led six times for 100 laps, was second, followed by, Erik Jones, Johnny Sauter, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, James Buescher, John Wes Townley, Matt Tift, and Justin Boston.
Top-10 leaders after 3 of 23: 1. Crafton-128, 2. Reddick-126, 3. Jones-122, 4. Sauter-112, 5. J, Buescher-100, 6. Townley-90, 7. Black-89, 8. Hayley-84, 9. Gallagher-84, 10. Kennedy-83.
LARSON OUT AT MARTINSVILLE
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Ganassi Racing Chevrolet didn’t make Sunday’s Sprint Cup race.
During an autograph session at his hauler on Saturday, Larson fainted and slipped to the pavement unconscious. He was first taken to a Martinsville hospital, where he reported that he was feeling fine. Later, he was transferred to Charlotte’s Carolina Medical Center for further evaluation by a neurologist. After the initial examination, it was recommended that he stay over for additional tests on Monday.
A team press release said all tests came back negative and Larson feels completely fine, but his doctors felt like he should be held for more testing, and subsequently, was unable to race at Martinsville.
Regan Smith filled-in for him and finished 16th.
Smith, who drives full time in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, has 175 career Cup starts. He has nine career Cup starts at Martinsville, with a best of 13th in 2011. He has not raced at Martinsville since April 2013.
Smith also filled in for Kurt Busch for the first three races this year when Busch was suspended.
Larson became the third driver to miss a race this season with medical problems.
Kyle Busch is sidelined indefinitely after breaking his right leg and left foot in the season opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona on Feb. 21.
Brian Vickers, who drives the No. 55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip, is out while being treated for blood clots. He missed the first two races, returned at Las Vegas and Phoenix, and then was pulled out of the car last week prior to the California race.
Meanwhile Joe Gibbs Racing announced that J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, is starting treatment for symptoms impacting areas of brain function. Gibbs has undergone a series of tests after experiencing a gradual onset of symptoms that includes speech and processing issues. Gibbs' doctors believe the complications he has experienced were triggered by head injuries likely suffered earlier in life.
“As he goes through treatment, he will probably be doing less at the race track because he has a full week that demands quite a bit from him as he goes through treatment,” said Joe Gibbs. “You will probably see less of him at the race track, but he'll be there on a day-to-day basis with the race team and be in all of our meetings and all of the key decisions that we make, J.D.'s going to have a huge impact on that.”
NOTE: There is no NASCAR racing the weekend of April 3-5. Teams have the week off because of the Easter Holiday.
Racing Trivia Question: Where is Cup driver Paul Menard’s hometown?
Last Week’s Question: The first NASCAR race held at Martinsville Speedway was in 1949. Who was the winner? Answer. It was Red Byron, driving for Raymond Parks.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com.
