Susquehanna’s Mackenzie Rhone plays defense against all-state point guard Carmella Bickel from Shamokin Lourdes Regional in Friday’s second-round state tournament game. Also pictured for the Lady Sabers are Lauren Soden (23) and Kaylin Trynoski (42)

YATESVILLE – Susquehanna established itself as a team with a bright future throughout the last two-thirds of the girls’ basketball season.

Lourdes Regional, from Shamokin, showed Friday night that it was not just a team with a past.

Carmella Bickel scored 26 points, dished out six assists and made five steals to lead the Red Raiders into the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A quarterfinals with a 50-26 romp at Pittston Area High School.

The senior point guard earned all-state recognition a year ago when Lourdes reached the Class A state championship game. The Red Raiders have been to three state championship games, including a 1994 state title, under Michael Klembara, and have advanced to the semifinals four other times. Lourdes also has 11 District 4 titles since 1995.

“They’re an excellent team,” Lady Sabers coach Errol Mannick said. “(Bickel), for them, I think makes all the difference.

“ … It was not just what she scored, but what she created for others as well.”

Susquehanna was coming off the first state tournament victory in school history, but never led in its attempt to make it two straight after a snowstorm pushed the second round back to two days and kept the team from getting together for practice throughout the week.

The Lady Sabers closed a six-point deficit to 11-10 on a Taylor Williams 3-pointer with 5:52 left in the half, but the Red Raiders scored the last 14 points of the half to break away for good.

“We just didn’t finish,” Mannick said. “That’s how it goes sometimes, especially when you’re playing at this kind of pace.

“I think it was just a little faster than they all expected.”

Susquehanna had offensive troubles against Lourdes, going the first 6:44 of the game, then another stretch of 7:27 – including the last 5:52 of the first half – without scoring.

“We didn’t pass the ball quick enough,” Mannick said. “I think we hesitated a little too much on offense.”

What grew into a 20-2 run over a stretch of 11:40 for a 31-12 lead late in the third quarter was too much to overcome.

“We fought the whole time,” Mannick said. “It definitely wasn’t an effort issue.

“The girls gave every possible amount of effort they had and they worked together as a unit. They didn’t break down that way.”

Selina Albert added 11 points, 13 rebounds and five steals for Lourdes, which was eliminated in the quarterfinal round Sunday with a 34-17 loss to District 1 champion Jenkintown.

Freshman Mackenzie Steele scored all 10 of her points and grabbed 11 of her 13 rebounds in the second half. She broke the scoreless drought by converting a rebound early in the third, then put an end to the 20-2 run by taking a steal the length of the floor for a layup later in the quarter.

Taylor Huyck, another freshman, hit all six of her free throws while adding 10 points.

“(Huyck), in my opinion, is going to be one heckuva ballplayer, along with (Steele),” Klembara said. “They’re going to be a team to be reckoned with.

“ … This is their first time getting this far. Our girls have been through the wars.”

Williams, a senior playing her last game with the team, did her best to keep the Lady Sabers in the game. She grabbed four defensive rebounds and hit her only two shots, a pair of 3-pointers, in the first half, to start and end a 10-5 surge that cut the deficit to 11-10.

The Red Raiders held the rest of the Lady Sabers without a 3-pointer on 13 attempts.

“We wanted to force them to run their offense outside the 3-point line,” Lourdes coach Michael Klembara said. “We knew they had people capable of making treys. We wanted to make sure we identified them.”

Lourdes did that well enough to extend its season one more round and bring an end to a special season for Susquehanna.

The Lady Sabers finished 15-14 despite getting off to an 0-7 start.

“It’s a testament to our senior leadership and the hard work of everybody who plays.” Mannick said. “We play nine or 10 players and everyone goes in there and works hard.”

That hard work produced a first-half Lackawanna League Division 4 championship, an appearance in the division’s all-season championship game, a District 2 title, a spot in the District 2-11 Class A Subregional championship game and a state tournament win.

“I think they’ve grown from an unsure group into a pretty strong, confident family,” Mannick said.

Lauren Soden, who ignited the first-round state win, and Taylor Bennett, who came off the bench late Friday, join Williams as the only seniors.

The first 10 players to appear Friday night included three freshmen, two sophomore and three juniors.

Facing Lourdes gave the team a taste of the level of competition that is out there if it continues to advance.

“I think it’s exactly what we needed,” Mannick said. “We need to see this team. We need to be in this type of game.

“We’ve never been in this situation before. We’re trying to get there.”

After ending one of those “nevers” with the state tournament victory over Benton, a 20-win team, Mannick said the Lady Sabers want more.

“We can’t rest on what we’ve got,” he said. “We have to have it make us hungry and I think they’re going to do that.

“These kids want it.”

WEEK IN REVIEW

Malachi Phillips scored a game-high 16 points Friday when Holy Cross had its season come to an end with a 63-53 loss to Constitution High of Philadelphia in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball tournament.

Phillips, a 6-foot-6 senior center who lives in the Mountain View School District, was also the team’s season scoring leader.

The Crusaders cut into a 39-22 halftime deficit against the state’s top-ranked Class 2A team, according to cityofbasketballlove.com.

Only two District 2 basketball teams made it through the weekend and two rounds of state play.

Abington Heights, in Class 5A boys, and Nanticoke in Class 4A boys, each won twice to reach the state semifinals.

Abington Heights won back-to-back, double-overtime games against Philadelphia-area teams.

Nanticoke has won four straight playoff games since seeing a 24-point, second-half lead get away in a double overtime loss to Scranton Prep in the district semifinals.

In high school swimming, Wyoming Seminary’s Marcos Rico won the Class 2A boys’ 100-yard breaststroke Friday at the PIAA Championships.

The Blue Knights appeared to win the opening 200 medley relay Thursday, but were disqualified because of an illegal stroke by Rico in his leg of the relay.

Wyoming Seminary was sixth in Class 2A boys and 10th in Class 2A girls for the highest spots in the standings by District 2 teams with diving still to be contested.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins remained the top team in the entire American Hockey League and held on to a three-point lead in the East Division by splitting a pair of games with the second-place Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Tristan Jarry made 29 saves Friday when the Penguins won, 4-1, in Allentown.

The Phantoms won, 3-2, Saturday in Wilkes-Barre when they carried a shutout almost five minutes into the third period.

The Binghamton Senators used seven goals in a 16:06 stretch of the third period Saturday to pull out an 8-4 win over the Toronto Marlies.

Jason Akeson and Chad Nehring each scored twice during the outburst.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Montrose is home against Riverside Thursday when the Lackawanna League boys’ tennis season is scheduled to open.

In basketball, the Lackawanna League Senior Girls’ All-Star Game will be held Monday, March 27 at Forest City.

The PIAA will complete its state tournament with title games Thursday through Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.

If Abington Heights reaches the Class 5A boys’ final, it will play Friday night at 8. If Nanticoke makes the Class 4A boys’ final, it will play Saturday at 2 p.m.

In swimming, the diving portion of the PIAA championships, postponed from last week because of snow, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday to complete the winter sports schedule around the state.

In boys’ volleyball, the Lackawanna League season is set to open Tuesday, March 28 with three matches. Western Wayne is at Susquehanna, Forest City is at Mountain View and Blue Ridge is at Elk Lake.

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.

“ROCKET RYAN” WINS IN THE DESERT

"Rocket Ryan" Newman Wins in The Desert (Furnished by NASCAR)

PHOENIX, Ariz.--Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race consisted of 314 laps.

Forget the first 312 laps.

The last two were the only ones worth watching.

Kyle Busch was leading with six laps to go. Joey Logano had a right front tire blow, sending him into the wall and bringing out the race's last caution.

Most of the leaders pitted, but Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remained on the track. On the restart, Newman and Stenhouse were at the head of the pack. Behind them were the previous leaders that had pitted for two fresh tires; Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick, in that order.

When the green flag was given, Newman shot out in front like he was driving a rocket ship. Larson came down on Stenhouse and lost momentum. By the time the field reached turn-2, Newman was waving bye-bye to them.

Larson was able to get around Stenhouse for second, and Kyle Busch moved into third, but at the finish line it was Newman by 0.312-seconds.

“We had a good car and was able to get out front and out of trouble,” said Newman, who broke a 128-race winless streak. “But I have to credit the guys in the pit, because they made the call for me to stay out during that last caution.”

Kyle Larson drove a good race, but just came up a little short. Had the race gone another two laps, he might have gotten by Newman, because of fresher tires.

But that's racing.

“I probably made a mistake on that last restart,” said Larson. “My spotter said “clear,” but I probably came down a little too fast. If I had remained in the middle of the track, I might have been able to catch him. But that's the way things play out sometime.”

Kyle Busch led the most laps, and even though he didn't get the win, it erased some of the bad memory from the Las Vegas race when Joey Logano tapped him, forcing him down pit road and into a DNF.

“Everything is great,” said Busch. “We got a top-3  and that's good. We had a bad break on pit road, and we fought a little bit in traffic early on, but it was a great finish.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished third, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Eric Jones, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin.

Martin Truex, last week's Cup winner finished 11th. He had a fast car, but problems in the pits probably cost him a better finish. On five of his pit stops he lost several positions. During the last one he dropped 17 spots after getting an air hose caught under the frame of his car.

Chase Elliott, who led 106 laps, and finished 12th won the second 75-lap Segment.

It was a famine to feast role reversal for Busch and Logano from the previous week's race at Las Vegas. In it, Busch came away empty-handed, while Logano feasted. This week, Busch finished third, while Logano wound up with a DNF and a 31st place finish. Logano did manage to win the first 75-lap Segment of the race.

Top-10 leaders after 4 of 36: 1. Larson-184, 2. Keselowski-178, 3. Elliott-171, 4. Truex-153, 5. Logano-135, 6. Blaney-127, 7. Harvick-123, 8. McMurray-119, 9. Kurt Busch-105, 10. Kahne-105.

ALLGIER RACES TO XFINITY WIN

Justin Allgaier was clearly the class of the field in Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Phoenix, but he had to do some hard driving before he took the checkered flag for his first win in the last 80 races.

Allgaier led 85 laps of the 200-lap race, but the last 36 were the most difficult, because there were four cautions and one red flag period during those laps. Erik Jones was able to take the lead on one of the restarts, but on the next one, Allgaier regained it and led the last 12 laps.

“That was hard racing,” said Allgaier. “Those restarts were something. It took a lot to stay out in front of those guys. I knew we had the car, but it's really hard to keep the lead on short runs.”

There were a couple of racing incidents between Cole Custer and Austin Dillon that occurred late in the race. The first one came during lap 164. Custer appeared to lose the handling of his 00-car and drifted up into Dillon's No. 2. Dillon spun around and hit the wall.

The second incident came on the next lap. Dillon had stopped his car on the apron of the track, and when the field of cars came back by, he drove up into Custer, pushing him into the outside wall. Dillon said afterward, “It was just racing, but I wanted to make my point. Everything's O.K.”

Ryan Blaney was second, followed by Erik Jones, William Byron, Elliott Sadler, Darrell Wallace Jr., Daniel Hemric, Brennan Poole, Michael Annett, and Ty Dillon.

Top-10 leaders after 4 of 33: 1. Sadler-144, 2. Byron-133, 3. Reed-121, 4. Allgaier-115, 5. Wallace Jr.-109, 6. Hemric-104, 7. B. Poole-98, 8. Tifft-91, 9. Annett-89, 10. Armstrong-84.

ROUSH IS NOT READY YET

Within the past few months there have been rumors that Jack Roush might be retiring soon. During a press conference prior to the weekend racing at Phoenix, Roush shrugged off the reports of an early retirement.

“I'm 74, and I can't do what I'm doing today for another 10 years,' he said. “My window is, the longest I've been able to predict what I was going to do in life, has been five years. I'm probably down to a three-year window. I'm looking at how I can be useful.”

Two years ago, Roush reorganized his team, investing more in technology and people he thought knew how to use it to go fast. Now?

“We've restructured our management group to be able to operate with greater independence from me," he continued. “And without as much of the inspiration for what we do as, maybe, I've been in the past.

“The race team, with the partnership we've got with John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group, has got plenty of depth. As long as . . . we're able to make a viable business out of it, I'm sure the people that will follow me and will manage the affairs after my passing, they will look favorably on the involvement.”

Roush has won seven championships as a car owner in NASCAR's top three series: two Sprint Cup titles (2003 with Matt Kenseth and 2004 with Kurt Busch), 4 Nationwide Series titles (2002 with Biffle, 2007 with Edwards and 2011-2012 with Stenhouse, Jr.) and a Camping World Truck Series title in 2000 with driver Biffle. Roush has two Daytona 500 victories as a car owner, both with driver Matt Kenseth in 2009 and 2012. Since Roush entered NASCAR competition his team has 283 wins and 212 poles.

Throughout his NASCAR career Roush has been an outspoken opponent of Toyota's NASCAR operations. Roush has made cracks against Toyota being in NASCAR. One time in 2003 when asked for a reaction to Toyota's interests in joining NASCAR as a manufacturer team, Roush compared it to Pearl Harbor and called them "Ankle-biting chihuahuas."

WEEKEND RACING: The Cup and Xfinity teams will be having their third consecutive race in the western U. S. This weekend they are at the 2-mile Fontana, California facility. The track held its first race in 1997. Jeff Gordon was the winner.

Sat., Mar. 25, Xfinity Series race 5 of 33; Starting time: 4 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sun., Mar. 26, Cup Series race 5 of 36; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Martin Truex Jr. broke into the Cup ranks in 2004. Which team did he drive for in 2004 and 2005?

Last Week's Question: When was the first year Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran a full Cup series schedule? Answer. It was 2000. He had two wins and finished 16th in points.

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