Both Susquehanna basketball teams continued their in-season turnarounds last week.

The Lady Sabers won twice to add the second-half lead of Lackawanna League Division 4 to the first-half title they had already won.

The Sabers split a pair of overtime games, suffering the loss to first-half Division 4 champion Elk Lake and avenging an earlier loss to Lackawanna Trail, and continued to tighten the race for a District 2-11 Class A Subregional boys’ playoff berth.

The Susquehanna girls have played much better since the start of league play.

The Susquehanna boys began their surge at the end of the first half of the league schedule.

Susquehanna was winless in girls’ basketball until Jan. 7, but is now within two wins of its first division championship in more than 20 years. The Lady Sabers are 12-2 since the 0-7 start.

The Sabers were winless in league play and on an eight-game overall losing streak until Jan. 28. They are now 3-3 since a 3-11 start and are 2-2 in the second half of league play after beginning the first half 0-5.

Susquehanna took over sole possession of the second-half division girls’ lead with the help of Montrose handing Forest City its first loss of the half.

The Lady Sabers defeated Elk Lake, 39-31, Feb. 6, then handled Lackawanna Trail, 58-33, Friday with the help of 18 points by Taylor Huyck.

Sabers coach Lawrence Tompkins feared the team had given away a big chance to make the boys’ playoffs when it lost, 66-64, to Elk Lake Feb. 7, but the team kept alive hopes when it bounced back to defeat Lackawanna Trail, 62-57, Friday.

Reirdan Reyan scored 20 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead Elk Lake past Susquehanna. He hit seven 3-pointers.

Mason Deakin scored 19 points, Tyler Williams added 17 and Garret Grausgruber had 13 for the Sabers.

Susquehanna shot 10-for-14 from the foul line in overtime while outscoring Lackawanna Trail 19-14.

Tyler Williams hit all eight of his foul shots to finish with 15 points.

Mason Deakin led the Sabers with 20 points in the win. Garret Grausgruber added 14.

Eric Lee had all seven of his points in the four-minute overtime period.

BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

District 2 revealed plans for the upcoming basketball tournaments, including the schedule for the championship games at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township, last week.

Schools had until Monday to inform the district if either of their teams did not want to participate.

Plans for the District 2-11 Class A Subregionals were clarified.

District 2 will have two of the seven spots in Class A girls. Susquehanna and Forest City are both enjoying winning seasons and will be in that tournament, likely seeded in the top half of the field.

The district will have just one spot in the six-team boys’ tournament. MMI Prep was clinging to a .277-.274 power ratings lead over Susquehanna in that race going into the final week of the regular season.

There will be between 10 and 12 championship games at the arena March 2-4.

If there is a Class A girls’ district championship game, it will be open the championship weekend Thursday, March 2 at 4 p.m.

If Susquehanna and Forest City wind up paired in the Subregional semifinal, which is a realistic possibility, that game would be played at the arena as the district final with the winner moving on the regional championship game against a District 11 team. If both teams have already been eliminated from the subregional, they would also play a district title game at the arena, but the winner would not go on to state play.

The rest of the March 2 schedule has the Class 4A girls’ game at 6 p.m. and the Class 3A boys’ game at 8. The are no Susquehanna County teams in Class 6A, 5A or 4A. Montrose is a Class 3A boys’ team.

If the District 2 representative has already been eliminated from the District 2-11 Class A boys’ subregional, Susquehanna and MMI Prep will meet to start the Friday, March 3 action. That game would be scheduled for 2 p.m.

The remainder of the March 3 schedule has Class 2A girls at 4 p.m., District 2-4 Class 6A girls’ subregional at 6 p.m. and Class 5A boys at 8 p.m. Blue Ridge, Elk Lake and Mountain View are among the Class 2A girls’ teams.

The March 4 schedule is: Class 3A girls at noon; Class 2A boys at 2 p.m.; Class 4A boys at 4; Class 5A girls at 6; and Class 6A boys at 8. Montrose is a Class 3A team in girls. Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Forest City and Mountain View are Class 2A teams in boys.

The District 2 Class A Subregional will send one team to state play. The District 2 Class 2A boys’ and girls’ tournaments and Class 3A boys’ tournament will each send both finalists to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament. In Class 3A girls, the top three teams will make the state tournament.

Tournament quarterfinals are scheduled for Feb. 21-24.

Semifinals are Feb. 24, 25, 27 and 28. Third-place games, where needed, are Feb. 28.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Elk Lake defeated Valley View, 118-30, Feb. 6 to improve to 5-2 in Lackawanna League boys’ swimming, heading into the regular season finale, which was scheduled for Monday against Abington Heights.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins opened a four-goal lead 1:56 into the second period Saturday night on the way to a 4-2 American Hockey League victory over the visiting Binghamton Senators.

Sahir Gill scored two of the first three goals and Casey DeSmith finished with 30 saves.

COLLEGE CORNER

Montrose graduates Meghan Gilhool, a freshman point guard, and Nicole Chaszar, the head coach, have helped the Western New England College women’s basketball team to a 12-4 record in the Commonwealth Coast Conference and a 16-7 mark overall.

Gilhool has played in all 23 games, starting three and averaging 21.4 minutes. She averages 3.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.

Gilhool is shooting 28-for-74 (37.8 percent) from the floor, 5-for-21 (23.8) from 3-point range and 25-for-39 (64.1) on foul shots. She has 19 steals and seven blocked shots.

Chaszar is 117-64 in the conference and 186-134 overall in her 12-year career.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Lackawanna League basketball regular season comes to an end this week and both Division 4 second-half races could come down to the final night of the schedule.

When the regular season ends, there will be some type of playoff needed for the boys. A girls’ team will have to catch first-half champion and second-half leader Susquehanna in order to force a playoff.

The second-half boys’ champion will wind up needing to face first-half champion Elk Lake for the all-season title.

Blue Ridge and Mountain View entered the final week unbeaten in the division and face each other Thursday at Blue Ridge. It is the only division game of the week for the Raiders (5-0). Mountain View was 4-0 going into its scheduled Tuesday home game against Susquehanna.

Susquehanna, which started the week 4-0 for the half, is at defending champion Forest City, which was 3-1, in a Wednesday girls’ game. The Lady Sabers beat the Lady Foresters twice in a row, including in a playoff for the first-half title.

Montrose also started the week in second-half contention with a 4-1 record and only a game at Lackawanna Trail remaining. In other Monday games, Susquehanna was scheduled to play Mountain View and Forest City was facing Elk Lake.

League playoffs will need to be squeezed in between the end of the regular season and the start of district play.

District 2 will finalize all plans for the basketball tournament in a meeting Monday, Feb. 20.

Tournament play begins Tuesday, Feb. 21, including quarterfinals in Class 2A girls and Class 3A boys.

Blue Ridge, Elk Lake and Mountain View are part of the Class 2A girls field with Mountain View likely to face Blue Ridge or Elk Lake in the quarterfinal. The other is likely to face Lackawanna Trail.

Barring late developments, Blue Ridge and Elk Lake could be the second and third seeds in a seven-team tournament, putting them on course for a potential semifinal meeting.

Montrose entered this week ranked sixth of eight teams in Class 3A boys. The Meteors’ most likely quarterfinal opponents are either Holy Redeemer or Wyoming Seminary.

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.

RACING RETURNS TO DAYTONA

Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Watkins Glen in 2016. Furnished by NASCAR

The racing drought is almost over.

NASCAR racing returns this Saturday with the season-opening “Clash”, a 75-lap non-points race at Daytona. Last year it was known as the Sprint Unlimited. In earlier years, it was called the Bud Shootout or the Budweiser Shootout, and  Busch Clash.

Drivers earned their way into this event by one of the following ways: 2016 Pole winners, former Clash race winners and former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full-time in 2016. All 16 drivers from the 2016 playoffs are also eligible.

The eligible drivers are: Chris Buescher, Greg Biffle, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, and Martin Truex.

Greg Biffle does not have a ride as of yet for the 2017 season, so he will not be competing. Carl Edwards stepped away from racing last month, but NASCAR has allowed his replacement, Daniel Suarez, to drive in the race. Stewart has retired from NASCAR competition, so that puts the field at 18.

Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will serve as a guest analyst on FS1 during the Clash. He will join  Darrell Waltrip, Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon in the broadcast booth.

This isn’t Earnhardt’s first time in the booth, since he called three Cup Series races last season. Alex Bowman will be driving the Earnhardt's No. 88. He earned a Phoenix pole last season while filling in for Earnhardt. After missing the final 18 races of 2016 due to concussion-like symptoms, Earnhardt will make his return to racing in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 26.

One of the major topics of conversations among race fans is Earnhardt's future health, and what if he gets another concussion.

“I was a little disappointed that he decided to return to racing,” Richard Petty said on Fox Sports last week. “I just feel like he got through with it two or three times and he had some pretty big knocks to the head.

“I’ve had them too but mine was never that bad. You say, ‘Look, man, you are still a young man, you still have your career in front of you’ He’s lived half his life and he don’t need to be messed up going into the next half. And I don’t know if Carl Edwards hadn’t thought about that same kind of stuff when he decided to retire.”

Edwards suffered a hard blow to his head in the last race of the 2016 season at Homestead, but he stated that his health was good when he announced his retirement plans a couple weeks ago.

But Edwards did say that Earnhardt's battle with concussions affected his decision to step away from NASCAR. Even weeks after his concussion this summer, Earnhardt was having issues with his balance and vision.

Earnhardt's first concussion happened in April, 2002 but he did not disclose it until September while continuing to race. In 2012, Earnhardt sustained two concussions in six weeks, one he self-diagnosed at a tire test in Kansas and another after a big crash at Talladega. Afterward, he voluntarily went to a doctor for an evaluation and had to sit out two Chase races in October because of the injury.

Earnhardt has said several times over the past two months how good he feels and is anxious to get back to racing.

Good luck and welcome back. The sport needs you.

NEW DAMAGED VEHICLE REPAIR POLICY

NASCAR is at it again. This time it's a new updated damaged vehicle policy.

This past week a policy was announced that will be enforced in all three national series; Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series in 2017. Under the new guidelines, teams no longer will be allowed to replace damaged body parts that are the result of accidents or contact.

Repairs, such as fixing damaged sheet metal, will be allowed; however, teams will be given five minutes to fix damage once they enter pit road. If the damage requires the car to go behind pit wall or to the garage for repairs, the car will not be allowed to return to the race. Also, if the repairs take longer than the five minutes allowed, the car will not be permitted to return to the race.

Once repairs have been made, a car is still required to maintain the minimum speed determined for that event. Once that has been accomplished, the five-minute clock is reset in case the car needs to come back down pit road.

Previously, teams were allowed to replace any damaged panels or parts with no time limit and no penalty. Quarter panels, splitters, hoods and deck lids damaged in accidents were often removed and replaced. Some repairs were completed on pit road; more extensive damage often meant a trip to the garage. Each time, the driver was sent back out onto the track as quickly as possible.

Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition said the move is to help officials, who didn't often see what goes on in the garage but can better observe repairs on pit road.

  “Safety is a crucial component of the policy, and for any vehicle undergoing repairs, the integrity of the safety systems must be maintained,” Miller said. “Teams will be allowed to correct mechanical or electrical failures that aren't the result of an accident or contact without penalty.

“Such repairs may be done on pit road or in the garage area, and the five-minute clock will not be in play in those instances. We're not going to tell a guy who breaks his transmission at Watkins Glen or Pocono, for instance, and coasts into the garage area that he's out.

“That doesn't create an unsafe situation; that is a mechanical failure. It's more about crashed vehicles and all that is involved with that, from the crew guys to the drivers to dropping more debris on the track, which always happens. So there are exceptions for mechanical failures, those things can be rectified in the garage. That's going to be up to the series director's discretion to make those calls, but it's not going to be that difficult.”

There will be modifications to at least two pit-road penalties under the policy for those making repairs. Any driver receiving a pit-road speeding penalty (entry or exit) will lose 15 seconds from the five-minute clock. Any team sending too many men over the wall will result in that car being removed from the race. When a car is damaged and repairs are made on pit road, teams know they will be at the tail end of the longest line, so extra men often go over the wall. (Each team is allowed six to work on the car and one to service the driver and/or windshield).

NASCAR also announced the segment lengths for the 2017 race at Watkins Glen. When the Cup Series and Xfinity Series roll into Watkins Glen International this coming August, it will be with a twist. As announced previously by the sanctioning body, the 2017 season will feature an enhanced competition format that will be implemented in both series.

Races will now consist of three stages, with championship implications in each stage. The Top-10 finishers of the first two stages will be awarded additional championship points, with the race winner being the recipient of additional championship and playoff points at the conclusion of the final stage. In the Cup Series race, the first two stages will be made up of 20 laps each, ending with caution periods on laps 20 and 40, respectively. Then, a 50-lap third segment will take the field to the checkered flag.

In the Xfinity Series race, the first two stages will be made up of 20 laps each, ending with caution periods on laps 20 and 40, respectively. Then, a 42-lap third segment will take the field to the checkered flag.

Weekend Racing: Sat., Feb. 18; The Clash at Daytona International Speedway; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., Feb. 19; Cup Series Qualifying for the Daytona 500; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Who won the 2016 Daytona 500?

Last Week's Question: Which Cup team will Greg Biffle drive for in 2017? Answer. As of Feb. 12 he does not have a confirmed Cup ride.

You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.