Montrose improved its defensive effort and performance and, in the process, appears to have turned around its boys’ basketball season.
The Meteors won three games in four nights to open Lackawanna League Division 4 play and take the early division lead.
Montrose completed the first week of divisional competition at 3-0, including wins over the two teams it is most likely to have to battle for a potential division title. Lackawanna Trail, at 2-0, is the only other unbeaten Division 4 boys’ team.
“It has been a group defensive effort to force turnovers and move the ball up the floor,” Meteors coach Cody Ivey said.
Montrose opened the week by avenging an earlier tournament loss to Susquehanna and completed it by knocking off defending champion Elk Lake.
The Meteors improved to 6-5 overall.
An active 2-3 zone has limited opponents to 39.6 points per game while Montrose has won four of five games since losing to Susquehanna in overtime in the Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament.
The Meteors went into a strong defensive effort against Blue Ridge in the Christmas Tournament consolation game with just a 2-4 record and 62.3 points per game allowed.
“We have finally bought into the fact that defense is going to be what wins games,” Ivey said.
Montrose downed Susquehanna, 54-32, Tuesday; Blue Ridge, 56-32, Wednesday; and Elk Lake, 59-40, Friday.
Ivey said the team has a goal of holding opponents under 10 points in each quarter.
In 12 quarters during the week, the Meteors held opponents under 10 seven times, to exactly 10 two more times and gave up more than 10 just three times.
The Meteors held Sabers scoring leader and returning all-star Mason Deakin scoreless Tuesday.
They ran out to a 14-7 lead after one quarter and 29-9 at halftime.
“An overtime loss is hard on a team,” Ivey said. “We did not do well in overtime.
“Winning the Susquehanna game at Susquehanna is probably what jump-started the week for us.”
Andrew Rapisardi and Brennan Gilhool scored 13 points each in the win. Jacob Peck added 12.
Adam Rockwell led Susquehanna with 15 points and Bryce Baldwin added 10.
Montrose opened a 13-3 lead after one quarter the next night and held the Raiders to that three points until almost the midway point of the second quarter.
Gilhool and Rapisardi again shared scoring honors with 12 points each. Sam Cosmello had 12 for Blue Ridge.
Ivey was pleased with the defense in the first half for an 18-15 lead over Elk Lake. The Meteors then blew the game open with a 25-7 third quarter for a 43-22 lead.
“It was defensive pressure that turned into fast-break points and easy baskets,” Ivey said.
Peck had 15 points in the win. Rapisardi and Gilhool added 12 each while Tyler Rebello came off the bench to score 10.
Hunter Bomboy led Elk Lake with 17 points. Rierdan Reyan had 14.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Taylor Huyck scored all 13 of her points in the second half Jan. 8 when Susquehanna edged host Montrose, 43-39, in the Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ basketball opener for each team.
Montrose led 8-4 after one quarter. McKenzie Rhone scored five second-quarter points to help put the Lady Sabers up 14-12 at halftime.
Susquehanna built the lead to 30-24 after three quarters.
Huyck had eight points in the fourth quarter, including going 5-for-6 from the line to help the Lady Sabers go 8-for-12 as a team in the quarter.
Harper Andre scored all nine of her points for Montrose in the second half. Annalise Ely had six of her nine points in the fourth quarter.
Susquehanna and Mountain View each went 2-0 on the week.
Mountain View had won the only league game played prior to the week, leaving the Eagles alone in first place at 3-0.
The Eagles were 2-10 in the league and 3-20 overall last season. They have surpassed both win totals at 3-0 and 5-6.
Like the Montrose boys, the Mountain View girls took the division lead by completing the week with an impressive win over the defending champions.
Erika Freely had 22 points in a 58-26 rout of Forest City Thursday.
Freely had 21 points in an earlier 56-47 win over Lackawanna Trail, including eight in the fourth quarter when the Lady Eagles overcame a 40-38 deficit.
Susquehanna’s other win came 66-18 over visiting Blue Ridge Thursday.
Mackenzie Steele led the win with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.
Huyck also scored 15 points while Mackenzie Heath had 12 points and 5 assists.
In wrestling, Montrose improved to 3-1 in Lackawanna League Division 2 by beating Mountain View, 63-12, and host Elk Lake, 63-6, Wednesday.
Mikyle Fabrizio (152) and Cole Aukema (170) posted first-period pins in both wins.
The double-dual was the season opener for Elk Lake, which defeated Mountain View, 42-15.
Blue Ridge lost twice, falling 36-33 to Lackawanna Trail and 65-0 to host Western Wayne.
In college sports, Keystone College in LaPlume announced that it will add a football program for the first time in more than 70 years.
The Giants will organize during the 2018-19 academic year, play a limited schedule in 2019 and aim for a full National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III schedule in 2020.
COLLEGE CORNER
Meghan Gilhool more than doubled her previous career-high in scoring Dec. 29 when she hit 5 of 10 shots from 3-point range while scoring 19 points for Western New England College in a 90-89 overtime women’s basketball loss to Framingham State.
The junior guard from Montrose is 12-for-26 on 3-pointers on the season, hitting 46.2 percent.
Gilhool hit the game-winning basket on a drive with three seconds left Dec. 7 to lift Western New England over Eastern Connecticut State, 67-65.
Western New England, coached by Nicole Chaszar, another Montrose graduate, is 7-5.
Gilhool is averaging 7.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists while starting every game and averaging 31.4 minutes. She leads the team in rebounds.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Two of the Lackawanna League Division 2’s top three teams meet Wednesday when Montrose (3-1) faces Western Wayne (2-0) at Valley View.
Both teams also face the host Cougars (2-2).
In girls’ basketball, Susquehanna is at Mountain View Monday, Jan. 22 in a meeting between what were the last two unbeaten teams in Lackawanna League Division 4.
In boys’ basketball, Lackawanna is at Montrose Tuesday, Jan. 23 in a game between what were the last two unbeaten teams in Lackawanna Division 4.
FURTHER AHEAD
District 2 has set plans for postseason wrestling tournaments.
The Dual Meet Championships will open with quarterfinal doubleheaders, followed by first-round consolations and semifinals at the site of the top seed from each league Jan. 31. Wrestling begins that night at 6.
The consolation semifinals, consolation finals and championship matches will be held at Pittston Area Feb. 3, with action starting at 9 a.m.
The District 2 Individual Wrestling Championships are Feb. 23-24 at the Kingston Armory.
All county teams and wrestlers compete in Class 2A, the smaller of the two classes.
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.
Curtis Turner Was A Free Spirit
Nascar drivers Joe Weatherly and Curtis Turner in 1956. (Furnished by NASCAR)
Curtis Turner was one of racing’s earliest stars and perhaps its most controversial driver. He lived just as hard away from the race track as he did while driving in a race.
Tom McGeehan of Wilmore, Kentucky recalls an incident while working for Chris Economaki as associate editor of the National Speed Sport News.
“I remember one time, back in the early 50's, I attended an engine tear down after a 100 mile NASCAR Grand National at Morristown, NJ,” said McGeeHan. “It was a half mile dirt track, and they started 44 cars. Lee Petty won it in a strictly stock Chrysler. At the teardown at a Ford dealership, Petty got into a heated argument with Curtis Turner, who placed second. The argument got more heated, and Petty hauled off and hit Turner. Turner staggered backwards into a wall. Overhead, there was a generator hanging on the wall above Turner. The generator broke loose, and fell on Turner's head. Turner was unconscious for quite a few minutes. He finally came to, and staggered to his feet. His first words were: 'DAMN! THAT OLD MAN SURE CAN HIT!'”
Perhaps Turner is most remembered because of his suspension from NASCAR competition by Bill France Sr. from 1960 until 1965, after he tried to organize the drivers for the Teamsters Union.
In a storybook comeback in 1965, Turner won a 500-mile race at North Carolina Motor Speedway on October 31.
But what makes him stand out is the way he lived his life.
He was a racer, party-thrower, moonshine hauler, pilot and timber baron.
He threw parties that lasted all night and sometimes several days. A small party would consist of 250-300 people. Some came for the whiskey, while others came for the dancing, lie swapping and music.
“He could really throw them,” said Bobby Allison. “I was just a young hot shot driver at the time, but he could put on some big shindigs. I remember one time the police coming in about daylight and asking him if he didn’t think it was too late to party.
“It didn’t bother him, I think he just said something like, ‘hell no, it’s just beginning.’”
Curtis Morton Turner was born in 1924 on a small farm in Floyd County, Virginia. Like most early racers, his heritage included moonshine running.
In the late 1940s it was not uncommon for many moonshine runners to wind up in Atlanta, or other large cities in Georgia and the Carolinas. They might race on Saturday or Sunday in some cow pasture, and then head back home with a load of sugar for the still.
Turner says he was ten, and had just learned to drive when he made his first run. He was driving along a dirt road with about 100 gallons of whiskey when he came up on a mail truck.
He forgot which side he was supposed to pass on and went around on the right side and wound up against a fence.
After dropping out of school at the age of fourteen, he went to work in his father’s sawmill. To supplement his salary of 10-cents an hour he got into the transporting business. By the time he was eighteen, he owned three sawmills.
While most sawmill operators sold their timber to the first buyer, Turner waited for his price. Quite often wood stacked up outside his mills and in order to make his weekly payroll he ran whiskey at night.
During World War II he served in the U. S. Navy. After the war he went back to running moonshine but now he was getting pursued. After one run he found three bullets embedded in the rear of his 1942 Ford coupe.
A few years after the war ended Turner went into the timber business. In a 1968 Sports Illustrated interview Turner said he had sold two million acres of North Carolina timberland during his lifetime.
Turner was always restless. He threatened to retire from racing after every big timber deal, but he usually wound up broke. This happened several times.
The years in which he started building the Charlotte Motor Speedway were the most tumultous of his life. The bitter struggle with finances caused him many problems.
The financing of the speedway by Turner and his group of backers was very marginal to begin with. They started out with $2.3 million, but construction costs soared and Turner scratched, begged and borrowed from everyone.
He even bought a small bank. It was so small that the maximum it could loan was $12,000. But Turner gave himself a loan of $75,000, which wasn’t discovered for years.
Two days before the 1960 World 600, the paving contractors demanded their $75,000 immediately. To back up their demands they moved all their heavy equipment on the track in front of the paving machine, which still had about 100 yards to go to finish the track.
Turner and one or two other directors, took shotguns and pistols in hand and backed the operators against the wall, while Turner’s own men completed the job.
Three races were run and each one was a financial success, but the money drain had been too much for speedway directors and in order to get the track on a sound financial footing, Turner went to the Teamsters Union for a loan of $850,000, promising to unionize NASCAR drivers in return. He did not know it at the time, but the Teamsters Union could not have loaned him the money.
Turner, along with Tim Flock were barred from NASCAR after the failed unionization. Meanwhile, he lost control of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
France ended the suspension on Sept. 30, 1965, and Turner quickly showed that four years on the sidelines hadn’t diminished his skills. In his first race, the National 500, he finished third. Two weeks later, he won the inaugural race at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
“Turner was one of my early heroes,” continued Allison. “But the thing about the man is he could do so much. He could have made it in practically anything he chose.
“He had that sixth sense that just told him where he needed to be on the track. That sometimes means more than horsepower or handling. He just had it. That’s all I can say.”
Turner died in a 1970 plane crash at the age of 46.
Quote of the Day: “The good Lord doesn't tell you what His plan is, so all you can do is get up in the morning and see what happens next.” Richard Petty.
Racing Trivia Question: Who won the 2017 Daytona 500?
Last Week's Question: How many championships did Cale Yarborough win? Answer. Three; 1976, '77, and '78.
Gerald Hodges is a syndicated NASCAR writer and author. His books may be viewed and ordered online at Amazon.com. You may contact him by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.
Skyla Wilson
During the spring, Skyla Wilson was a shining star as an individual performer.
In the winter, the current Susquehanna senior comfortably fits in as a role player contributing to a team success story.
That combination makes Wilson, the Lady Sabers track and field standout and basketball player, the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year for 2017.
Wilson finished second in the state in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles in May to complete her senior season that also included District 2 Class 2A championships in both events. She scored more points at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships than any other District 2 girl and singlehandedly put Susquehanna in eighth place in the team standings.
As a basketball player, Wilson was a key reserve, getting regular playing time off the bench for Susquehanna teams that produced the school’s first state tournament victory in the 2016-17 season to complete a major in-season turnaround and the first Denise Reddon-Jill Hoffman Memorial Christmas Tournament title to start a promising 2017-18 season.
Wilson earned honorable mention in the 300 hurdles on the all-state team chosen by the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association, which honors the state’s best athletes regardless of school size.
A year earlier, Wilson finished third in the state in the 100 hurdles, but fell short of a medal in the 300 by finishing 12th. She still expected to be more of a threat in the 100 hurdles, but benefited from efforts to build stamina through competing in other events.
“I ran a lot of 400s the whole season,” Wilson said.
Wilson was guided through that plan by her mother and coach, Teresa Covert, the most decorated athlete in Susquehanna history with four state individual championships and her own effort as making the Lady Sabers a state team runner-up by scoring all of their points at the PIAA Championships.
“She has me choose the events I want to focus on, then from meet to meet, during dual meets, she’ll pick events that will help me with those main ones,” Wilson said in a June interview.
Wilson ran as a sprinter in the 100, 200 and 400 and as part of the 400 and 1600 relays while helping the Lady Sabers finish second in Lackawanna League Division 4. She may add the long jump and triple jump to her routine as a senior.
Wilson, who has been in the track and basketball programs throughout high school, also ran cross country as a freshman.
Skyla lives in Susquehanna and is the daughter of Shawn Wilson and Teresa Covert.
