The Forest City girls took one of the longest possible routes while the Elk Lake boys took the most direct path.
Both emerged as Lackawanna League Division 4 basketball champions.
Forest City had already won the first-half title, but lost a playoff for the second-half championship, forcing it into an all-season title game, the last played in any of the Lackawanna League’s four girls’ basketball divisions. Once there, the Lady Foresters had to make it through overtime before locking up the championship.
Elk Lake followed up its first-half title by claiming the second-half outright, finishing a 12-0 season in the division to win the championship in the regular season.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
After losing Friday night’s second-half playoff game at the Lackawanna College Student Union in Scranton, Forest City came out Saturday afternoon and scored just two points in the first quarter of the all-season championship game rematch with Elk Lake at Lackawanna Trail.
Kendra Bendyk led the Lady Foresters back, helping force the overtime where they held the Lady Warriors to two points for a 48-45 victory.
Bendyk, who did not score in the first quarter when Elk Lake took a 9-2 lead, finished with 23 points. She scored 10 points in the second quarter to help cut the gap to 20-15, then added eight more in the third for a 30-30 tie.
Mackenzie Hartman had not scored at that point, but finished with eight. She was 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter, including going 3-for-4 in the final 23 seconds for a 43-41 lead.
Justine Johns, who scored all 11 of her points for Elk Lake after halftime, answered with two late free throws to force overtime.
Bendyk had four of the five Forest City points in overtime. Hartman then made one of two free throws with 7.1 seconds left, forcing Elk Lake to try a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a failed attempt to force another overtime.
Keri Jones led Elk Lake with 13 points.
Elk Lake carried the second-half lead into the final day of the regular season, gave away a share of it, but then took the title with a 53-41 win in Friday’s playoff that extended the season one more day.
Jones scored 21 points, including 11 in 93 seconds during the first half to start putting the Lady Warriors in control.
Forest City led, 5-0, with 5:18 left in the first quarter before Elk Lake used pressure defense and rebounding to spark a running game that produced a 23-17 lead just 40 seconds into the second quarter.
Johns got the flurry started and Jones finished it off.
After converting an offensive rebound, Johns added five points in transition to score Elk Lake’s first seven points in 1:01.
Forest City took one last lead, then the teams were tied twice before Jones stepped in.
Jones hit a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left in the first quarter to break the last tie. She hit another with eight seconds left, but Hartman answered with a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Elk Lake lead to 18-17.
A 3-pointer on the first possession and a basket off an Elk Lake steal gave Jones five more points in the first 40 seconds of the second quarter for the six-point lead.
Whitney Tyler had a three-point play off a rebound to start a 9-0 streak and converted another rebound to end it as the Lady Warriors held the Lady Foresters scoreless for 5:48 while building a 32-22 lead.
Hartman, who finished with 17 points to lead Forest City, hit the last of her four 3-pointers to complete the first-half scoring. The Lady Warriors, however, then held the Lady Foresters to one field goal and six points in the third quarter to open the lead to 45-31.
Jones scored at least five points in every quarter.
Tyler had seven of her nine points for Elk Lake in the first half. Johns had seven of her eight in the game’s first four minutes.
Bendyk added 11 points for Forest City.
Blue Ridge knocked off Elk Lake, 47-40, to force the tie between Forest City and Elk Lake at the end of the second-half schedule.
Isabella Cosmello led Blue Ridge with 16 points. Kaylynne Myers went 7-for-10 in the second half while scoring nine of her 13 points and helping the Lady Raiders break away from a halftime tie.
Jones and Johns led Elk Lake with 12 points each.
Elk Lake had clinched at least a tie for the second-half title two days earlier when it shut out Montrose in the first quarter of a 53-34 win.
Jones scored 15 points, Darci Warner 12 and Johns 10 for the Lady Warriors, who opened a 16-0 lead after one quarter.
Forest City rallied into the tie for first by winning its final two games, 60-38 over Mountain View and 54-40 over Montrose.
Bendyk scored 19 of her 28 points and Hartman had 12 of her 15 when the Lady Foresters overcame a 23-20 halftime deficit against Mountain View.
Allison Decker led the Lady Eagles with 16 points.
Bendyk scored 17 points against Montrose.
Skylar Fortuner, who finished with 15 points, and Hartman, who finished with 11, had six points each to help the Lady Foresters to a 20-8 lead after one quarter.
Katie Warner led Montrose with 11 points.
The final second-half standings were: Elk Lake 5-1, Forest City 5-1, Blue Ridge 4-2, Montrose 3-3, Susquehanna 3-3, Mountain View 1-5, Lackawanna Trail 0-6.
The final all-season records were: Forest City 11-1, Elk Lake 10-2, Blue Ridge 7-5, Montrose 5-7, Susquehanna 5-7, Lackawanna Trail 3-9, Mountain View 1-11.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Elk Lake gave itself a large margin for error with a 72-63 win in a February 9 showdown at Montrose, then made sure it was not needed by wrapping up an unbeaten championship season in the division with a 65-50 victory over visiting Blue Ridge.
First-half champion Elk Lake and defending champion Montrose went into the game tied for the second-half lead. When the week was over, the Warriors had finished up as the only Lackawanna League basketball team, boys or girls, to finish with an unbeaten division record.
Montrose led Elk Lake, 37-31, at halftime before Bailey Newhart and Seth Tewksbury rallied the Warriors.
Newhart, who finished with 24 points, scored nine in the third quarter then went 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth. Tewksbury had 12 of his 19 points in the second half.
Hunter Watkins added 12 points for the Warriors.
Austin Smith drained five 3-pointers while leading Montrose with 33 points. Jacob Peck added 10 points.
With the first-half title in hand and a share of the second-half title, the Warriors put themselves in position where they would be champions by winning any of the next three division games, if needed.
Elk Lake got it over with in one more game by beating Blue Ridge to lock up the championship.
Mountain View improved three games between halves, finishing in sole possession of third place in the second-half standings after defeating Susquehanna, 65-48, in the finale.
Matt Lavin scored 20 points to lead Mountain View. Cody Hollister added 15 points and Deon Faramelli had 10.
Susquehanna was led by Mason Deakin (14), Adam Rockwell (13) and Bryce Baldwin (12).
The final second-half standings were: Elk Lake 6-0, Montrose 5-1, Mountain View 4-2, Blue Ridge 3-3, Forest City 2-4, Lackawanna Trail 1-5, Susquehanna 0-6.
The final all-season records were: Elk Lake 12-0, Montrose 10-2, Blue Ridge 6-6, Forest City 6-6, Mountain View 5-7, Lackawanna Trail 3-9, Susquehanna 0-12.
FOOTBALL SCHEDULES
The Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association and Wyoming Valley Conference each passed a joint scheduling plan for the next two football seasons.
Realignment again became necessary after the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association decided to make the switch from four classifications to six classifications, beginning with the 2016 season.
The Lackawanna Football Conference has decided to go with three divisions. Division 1 will be for the four Class 6A and 5A teams. Division 2 consists of the six Class 4A and 3A teams.
Montrose and Susquehanna are each part of Division 3 for the 10 Class 2A and 1A teams.
The division also includes Carbondale, Dunmore, Holy Cross, Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Mid Valley, Old Forge and Riverside. The division members will all play each other for a nine-game league schedule and fill their regular season with one other game.
Susquehanna will play at Montrose in the August 26 opener, which will also determine the Bluestone Trophy winner. The two Susquehanna County schools will both play their only non-league game the next weekend when Montrose is at Meyers and Susquehanna hosts Holy Redeemer.
Montrose’s 10-game schedule, in order: SUSQUEHANNA; at Meyers; OLD FORGE; HOLY CROSS; at Riverside; at Dunmore; MID VALLEY; at Carbondale; at Lakeland; LACKAWANNA TRAIL.
Susquehanna’s schedule: at Montrose; HOLY REDEEMER; RIVERSIDE; at Old Forge; at Carbondale; at Lakeland; DUNMORE; LACKAWANNA TRAIL; MID VALLEY; at Holy Cross.
COLLEGE CORNER
Dallas Ely kept climbing toward the West Chester University scoring record and the Golden Rams kept winning.
Ely and teammate Brittany Sicinski are racing toward Kiesha Mack‘s school record of 1,556 points.
Both Ely and Sicinski went over the 1,500-point mark in the same game Wednesday during an 85-77 victory over East Stroudsburg University.
West Chester has won 10 straight to take over first place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference at 15-4 while improving to 18-5 overall.
Ely had 15 points and seven rebounds against East Stroudsburg. She assisted a Kendall Benovy basket for a 70-69 lead with 1:09 left in regulation, hit one of two free throws with 20 seconds left for a 71-69 lead, then opened overtime with a three-point play for a 74-71 lead.
The senior guard from Montrose has 1,530 points, eight more than Sicinski.
Ely had 16 points, five rebounds and four assists in Saturday’s 81-71 win over Mansfield University.
On the season, Ely is averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Both Forest City teams landed the top seed in the District 2 Class A basketball tournaments.
The Lady Foresters are the top seed for the Class A girls’ basketball tournament, which opens Wednesday.
The Lady Foresters (14-10) have a first-round bye in the five-team tournament, along with Susquehanna and Lackawanna Trail.
Forest City gets into action Friday on a neutral court against the winner of the game between Old Forge (2-20) and MMI Prep (0-20).
Second-seeded Susquehanna (6-15) and third-seeded Lackawanna Trail (3-19) play in the other Friday semifinal.
The Montrose girls opted not to continue into the postseason. The Lady Meteors are the only District 2 basketball team, boys or girls, that chose not to participate in the open tournaments.
Blue Ridge and Elk Lake had a chance to meet in Friday’s quarterfinals. They were scheduled to open Tuesday night at home. Fifth-seeded Blue Ridge (8-14) was facing Wyoming Seminary (9-13) and fourth-seeded Elk Lake (15-8) was playing Mid Valley (9-12).
Mountain View (1-19) needed to get past third-seeded Holy Cross (21-2) to make it to Friday.
The semifinals are scheduled for Monday, February 22.
In boys’ basketball, Forest City is seeded first in Class A and Elk Lake is second in Class AA.
The Class AA playoffs open Wednesday with 15th-seeded Northwest (5-16) at second-seeded Elk Lake (18-4) and ninth-seeded Blue Ridge (9-13) and Holy Redeemer (11-11).
At presstime, the Class AA field had not been finalized. Montrose (15-6) was headed for either a fourth or fifth seed and an opening home game against Mountain View (8-14), Riverside (10-12) or Carbondale (9-13).
The tournament continues Friday with quarterfinals and Monday, February 22 with semifinals.
Forest City (7-15) begins Class A play in the semifinals Thursday. The Foresters are waiting for the winner of a game scheduled Tuesday between Susquehanna (1-21) and MMI Prep (5-17).
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.