ARCHBALD – For a change, the Elk Lake boys’ basketball team was not supposed to be contending for a Lackawanna League Division 4 championship this season.
At least that’s what the Warriors heard.
They thought and proved otherwise.
“We heard a lot about how there was nobody left and ‘you guys will be lucky to get five wins’,” coach Rich Emmons said after the Warriors beat Blue Ridge for the first time in four tries this season with a 63-55 victory in the division’s all-season championship game at Valley View. “That’s kind of been our motivation all year.”
There were reasons for such speculation.
Senior point guard Ben Woolcock was the team’s only returning starter. The team’s biggest player, 6-foot-5 senior Griffin Bunnell, had been playing well but was lost for the season to a torn meniscus in his knee before the team could wrap up the first-half championship in the division. Emmons was in his first season as a varsity head coach, replacing John Warnero, who had won nearly two-thirds of his games while guiding the Warriors.
“We’re a bunch of guys that not a lot of people think a lot of or think can compete at that level,” Emmons said.
With the title on the line against second-half champion Blue Ridge, Woolcock reached a new level. He scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and made 10 steals for the first triple-double of his career.
“It’s just about court awareness,” Woolcock said. “Coach preaches about help-side defense.
“If I had that opportunity to go pick it, I took it.”
While Woolcock led the defensive effort, the offense still needed a boost.
Reirdan Reyan provided it, bouncing back from a tough first half shooting to make his first four shots of the second half while scoring 12 of 23 points in the first 5:08 of the second half.
It was during Reyan’s outburst that the game turned.
Blue Ridge did its best to respond, going 5-for-6 on 3-pointers to start the third quarter, but when it was over, the Warriors had turned a 24-19 deficit into a 49-45 lead.
The frantic third quarter wound up producing nine lead changes and six ties.
Woolcock broke the last of those ties – and the last one of the game – on a drive in the final minute of the third quarter, then set up Zach Groover in transition for the four-point lead.
Defenses took over down the stretch.
Elk Lake’s last field goal came when Woolcock made his 10th steal, leading to Groover’s low post move to complete a 5-for-5 shooting effort and give the Warriors a 55-47 lead with 4:26 left.
Jeff Morris scored on a three-point play, Jarred Mills added a free throw and Kyle Donovan converted a rebound for Blue Ridge’s last basket, cutting the margin to 55-53 with 3:40 left.
The Warriors put the game away with foul shooting, ball handling and defense.
Woolcock went 4-for-4 from the line and Reyan was 4-for-5 during a game-ending, 8-2 run.
Groover finished with 10 points. Jayne had six of his eight points and three of his four offensive rebounds during the 30-point third quarter.
Morris finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead Blue Ridge. Sam Cosmello came off the bench to add 12 and Donovan had 10.
The title was the fourth in five years for Elk Lake.
GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP
Forest City needed two consecutive playoff wins to repeat as Lackawanna League Division 4 girls champion.
Mackenzie Hartman made sure the Lady Foresters got them.
Hartman scored nine of her 24 points in the fourth quarter and also finished with six steals and four assists in Saturday’s 49-37, all-season championship game victory over Susquehanna at Valley View.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Hartman had 17 points, seven assists and four steals when Forest City won the second-half championship in a 45-31 victory over Montrose at Carbondale.
“I didn’t care how tired I was, I was going to power through and get this win,” Hartman said after the Lady Foresters broke open a four-point game in the fourth quarter against Susquehanna.
Hartman’s 3-pointer with minutes left was the only field goal in the fourth quarter by either team to help the Lady Foresters even the season series with the Lady Sabers at two games each.
“Hartman’s always an unbelievable player,” Forest City coach John Duffy said. “ … She wants to play. She wants to win. You can’t teach that kind of stuff.
“She passes when she should. She shoots when she should.”
Skylar Fortuner finished with 11 points and had three of her four steals while Forest City was holding Susquehanna scoreless for the first 7:10 of the fourth quarter.
“We wanted this title and we weren’t going to let them take it away from us,” Hartman said.
The second-half champion Lady Foresters did not trail in the last three quarters. They took an 11-point lead in the second quarter on the way to avenging a loss in a playoff for the first-half title.
Susquehanna’s Bethany Maby hit 3-pointers with 1:20 left in the first half and 20 seconds into the second half during a 9-0 run to close the gap to 25-23.
The Lady Sabers got as close as 27-26 on a 3-pointer by Taylor Williams.
Hartman scored four points in the quarter and set up consecutive baskets by Fortuner that produced five points to hold off the comeback.
Forest City then broke away when Susquehanna missed all 14 of its fourth-quarter shots while committing 11 of its 27 turnovers.
“All our kids stuck together and said, ‘we’re not going to lose our title’,” Duffy said.
Taylor Huyck, who also grabbed six rebounds and had a team-high four assists, and Maby finished with 11 points each for Susquehanna.
Mackenzie Steele grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots for the Lady Sabers. Skyla Wilson came off the bench to grab eight rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.
The strong finish allowed the Lady Foresters to pull away from the Lady Sabers Saturday afternoon.
It was a fast start that separated Forest City from Montrose Friday night.
The Lady Foresters scored the first 10 points and never trailed.
Hartman made sure the Lady Foresters put the Lady Meteors in trouble early. She made her first three shots, then set up Fortuner for an easy basket and a 14-2 lead with 40 seconds left in the first quarter.
Fortuner converted another Hartman assist and Caitlyn Bonham added a 3-pointer for the first five points of the second quarter and a 21-5 lead with 5:40 left in the half.
After falling behind, 26-9, in the opening seconds of the third quarter, Montrose put together a 9-2 burst, matching its first-half output in less than two minutes. That was the first of two times in the third quarter and another in the fourth that the Lady Meteors cut the deficit to nine.
Forest City, which rebuilt the lead to 38-22 after three quarters, made sure Montrose never got any closer.
Fortuner finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds while Kendra Bendyk had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Harper Andre scored all 11 of her points in the second half, hitting three straight 3-point attempts at one point, to lead the Montrose comeback effort. Raville Vaiciulyte added six points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Brianne Spence gave the Lady Meteors a spark with her hustle. She came off the bench to contribute eight rebounds, three blocked shots, three points and two steals in the second half.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose’s Jacob O’Brien posted a 13-2 major decision over West Scranton’s Yahnzy Ortiz in the final to claim the 120-pound championship in Saturday’s Lackawanna League Wrestling Tournament at Wallenpaupack.
The Meteors finished ninth out of 14 teams with 82 points.
West Scranton edged Delaware Valley, 172-165 ½, for the team title despite four individual titles by the Warriors.
Blue Ridge was 12th with 32 points, Elk Lake 13th with 17 and Mountain View last with four.
Montrose’s Joe Hester (126) and Cole Aukema (160), Blue Ridge’s Fred Lewis (120) and Elk Lake’s Jake Hand (170) all finished third.
In boys’ basketball, Blue Ridge finished an unbeaten second half when Morris scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half Thursday in a 53-46 victory over Mountain View.
Matthew Lavin had 14 points and Alex Showalter 10 for the Eagles, who went into the game with a chance to force a tie for the second-half title.
Elk Lake got some momentum back, finishing up the regular season with two straight wins, including a 54-51 victory over Forest City that featured 26 points by Woolcock.
Susquehanna went from last place in the first half to a second-place tie in the second-half standings with a 4-2 record.
The Sabers edged Mountain View, 56-55, and beat Forest City, 47-41, to end the regular season on a three-game winning streak.
Susquehanna rallied from deficits of 12 points at halftime and eight points after three quarters to hand Mountain View its first loss of the half.
Tyler Williams had 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter when he was 4-for-4 from the line. Mason Deakin went 5-for-5 from the line while scoring seven of his 11 in the fourth.
Garret Grausgruber hit three of his four 3-pointers and scored all 11 of Susquehanna’s points in the first quarter on the way to a team-high 18 points.
Mountain View led 16-11 after one quarter, 36-24 at halftime and 43-35 after three quarters. Matthew Lavin led the Eagles with 25 points.
Williams had 17 points, Deakin 13 and Grausgruber 11 against Forest City. The Sabers shot 7-for-9 at the line in the fourth quarter and 8-for-10 in the game.
Jared Paulin and Kolby Rotella had 18 points each for Forest City.
The final second-half standings: Blue Ridge 6-0, Susquehanna 4-2, Mountain View 4-2, Montrose 3-3, Elk Lake 3-3, Lackawanna Trail 1-5, Forest City 0-6.
The final all-season standings were: Blue Ridge 10-2, Elk Lake 8-4, Montrose 7-5, Mountain View 7-5, Susquehanna 5-7, Lackawanna Trail 3-9, Forest City 2-10.
In girls’ basketball, Forest City had the division’s best all-season record, going 5-1 in each half. Susquehanna beat Forest City twice in days at the end of the first half, but the Lady Foresters repeated that at the end of the season to take the title.
The Lady Foresters earned their second-half playoff shot with Montrose by shutting out Susquehanna in the first quarter of Wednesday’s 49-39 victory.
Bendyk scored 20 points and Hartman 15 in the win.
Huyck led Susquehanna with 11 points and Steele had 10.
Bendyk and Hartman had 18 each in a 52-38 win over Elk Lake earlier in the week.
Justine Johns led Elk Lake with 12 points.
The Lady Sabers started the week 4-0 in the second half, but lost three straight, including a 31-27 upset by Mountain View, which had been winless in the second half.
Montrose clinched a tie for the second-half title when Annalise Ely scored 10 points in a 27-19 victory over Lackawanna Trail.
The final second-half standings: Forest City 5-1, Montrose 5-1, Susquehanna 4-2, Blue Ridge 3-3, Elk Lake 2-4, Lackawanna Trail 1-5, Mountain View 1-5.
The final all-season standings were: Forest City 10-2, Susquehanna 9-3, Blue Ridge 7-5, Montrose 7-5, Elk Lake 6-6, Mountain View 2-10, Lackawanna Trail 1-11.
THE WEEK AHEAD
District 2 playoff pairings became official Sunday.
The District 2 Class 2A boys’ basketball quarterfinals Wednesday will have a Susquehanna County team in each game.
Blue Ridge (16-7) is the second seed and will play seventh-seeded Lackawanna Trail (5-17) at Tunkhannock in the second game of a doubleheader. Mountain View (9-13) is the third seed and will play sixth-seeded Northwest (7-15) in the 6 p.m. opener.
Elk Lake (11-11) is seeded fourth and plays fifth-seeded Old Forge (6-16) at Abington Heights at 7.
Eighth-seeded Forest City (3-19) takes on top-seeded Holy Cross (14-8) at Carbondale at 7:30.
The winners advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
District 2 did not release the site and time for the District 2-11 Class A boys’ basketball openers, but they were listed on District 11’s website.
According to that site, sixth-seeded Susquehanna (8-14) will play third-seeded Salem Christian (14-8) Thursday at 6 p.m. at Allentown Allen High School.
If the Sabers win, they advance to the semifinals against second-seeded Pottsville Nativity (12-10) Monday, Feb. 27.
The District 2 Class 3A boys’ semifinals are scheduled for Friday.
Sixth-seeded Montrose (11-11) was scheduled to play in Tuesday’s quarterfinal against third-seeded Holy Redeemer (14-8). The winner of that game advanced to play the Riverside-Dunmore winner Friday.
In girls’ basketball, Friday’s District 2 Class 2A semifinals will involve at least one – and probably two – county teams.
Elk Lake (12-10, third seed) and Mountain View (13-9, sixth seed) were scheduled to play Tuesday in the quarterfinals. The winner of that game will meet either Blue Ridge (13-9, second seed) or Lackawanna Trail (1-21, seventh).
The District 2-11 Class A Subregional quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday.
At presstime the site and starting times were not available.
Forest City (15-10) is the second seed and will face seventh-seeded Salem Christian (15-7). Third-seeded Susquehanna (12-12) takes on sixth-seeded Lincoln Leadership Academy (9-12).
If both Susquehanna County teams win, they will qualify to play at the Mohegan Sun Arena March 2 in a District 2 Class A championship game that also serves as the Subregional semifinal. If both teams lose, they will be eliminated from state tournament consideration, but will still play the March 2 district final. If one team wins and the other loses, the winning team will play in the Subregional semifinal Tuesday, Feb. 28.
In high school wrestling, the District 2 Class 2A Championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Kingston Armory.
In swimming, the diving portion of the District 2 Championships is set for Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC.
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.
