Sports

Susquehanna started fast on the road, then held on at the end Friday night to defeat Lackawanna Trail, 50-46, in a battle between two of the three teams that entered the night tied for the Lackawanna League Division 3 boys' basketball lead.

By winning their fifth straight, the Sabers improved to 4-0 in the division and 9-2 overall to keep pace with defending champion Elk Lake at the top of the division standings.

Griffin Fisk capped a 21-point effort with four late free throws after hitting his fourth 3-pointer of the night as part of turning back a comeback by the host Lions.

Mason Keyes got started toward his 13-point, eight-rebound effort with two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Fisk and Hudson Stengel also connected from long range as the Sabers raced to a 17-3 lead after eight minutes.

Susquehanna maintained the 14-point lead at halftime.

Stengel finished with eight points and four assists.

Linden Baker led the team with nine rebounds.

The Sabers also got off to a strong start in their game earlier in the week, a 66-31 rout of Forest City Jan. 6.

Fisk scored 29 points, including 13 during a 25-4 first quarter. He had 22 of his points in the first half, which ended with the Sabers in front, 41-16.

Keyes added 11 points, including six in the first quarter and nine in the first half.

Stengel had nine assists and three steals. Baker and Spencer Ott each grabbed seven rebounds.

T.J. Collins led Forest City with 10 points.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Mountain View and Montrose each had 2-0 weeks to reach 4-0 in Lackawanna League Division 3 girls' basketball.

The Lady Eagles opened the week Jan. 5 with Addison Kilmer's second straight 40-plus scoring effort in a 64-38 romp over Lackawanna Trail, then avenged last season's two league losses to Elk Lake Thursday with a 40-34 road win over the defending champions.

Kilmer scored 20 points against Elk Lake as Mountain View improved 7-5 overall.

Kilmer scored eight points in the first quarter to get the Lady Eagles out to a 10-6 lead. She finished 6-for-6 from the foul line and hit 3-pointers in both the third and fourth quarters.

Aubrey Sanders had nine of her 11 points in the second half. Seven of those points came in the third quarter when Mountain View stretched its lead from 18-13 to 33-24.

Madisyn Casselbury scored 12 points and Kylie Shingler 11 for Elk Lake.

Kilmer had 41 points, 12 rebounds, five blocked shots and four steals against Lackawanna Trail. Sanders added eight points and eight assists.

Montrose kept pace, improving to 6-6 overall.

The Lady Meteors have won six out of eight since an 0-4 start and have won their last three by a total of 69 points.

Montrose rolled at Carbondale, 71-22, Jan. 5, then beat visiting Blue Ridge, 73-43, Thursday.

Sadie Jones and Molly Weller led the win over Blue Ridge.

Jones had 28 points, including 13 during a 24-12 third quarter that built the lead to 57-34.

Montrose led 26-11 after one quarter when Weller scored 11 of her 18 points.

Myckenna Kublo added 13 points in the win.

The Lady Meteors overcame a 33-point outburst from Blue Ridge's Abigail Gelinger.

Montrose made 11 shots from beyond the 3-point arc against Carbondale.

Weller had four of them, including two in the first quarter when she had 10 of her game-high 18 points.

Jones scored half of her 14 in the 22-point first quarter by Montrose.

The Lady Meteors built a Mercy Rule lead, then shut out the Chargerettes in the running-clock fourth quarter.

Forest City also won its two league games, beating Susquehanna, 51-25, Jan. 5 and Carbondale, 37-11, Thursday, but remained winless outside the division with Saturday's 60-39 loss at Old Forge.

Kayla Pesko (14), Sophia Lombardo (12) and Claire Lombardo (11) scored in double figures for Forest City against Susquehanna.

Kiera Burke led the Lady Sabers with 13.

The Lady Foresters led the Chargerettes, 23-1, at halftime.

Sophia Lombardo scored 15 points.

Before losing to Mountain View, Elk Lake defeated Blue Ridge, 53-47, behind 18 points by Casselbury, to run its winning streak to four games.

Lynndee Barbour made five 3-pointers while scoring 21 points for the Lady Raiders.

The Lady Warriors added a 40-35, non-league win over Tunkhannock Saturday.

Susquehanna went 1-2 overall for the week, picking up its first league win, 45-40, over visiting Lackawanna Trail Thursday before losing a non-league game at Wyoming Seminary, 40-12, Saturday.

The Lady Sabers rallied from deficits of five after one quarter and three at the half against Lackawanna Trail. They used extreme balance to also overcome a 26-point game by Ayla Seigle.

Madyson Beach and Burke scored 10 points each while Cassandra Cottell and Lauren Huyck had nine each.

In boys' basketball, Elk Lake ran its winning streak to eight games by beating Blue Ridge, 69-64, Jan. 6 and winning at Mountain View, 66-36, Friday.

Chase Pond scored 18 points while John Heitsman and Branden Miller had 16 each against Blue Ridge.

Pond had three 3-pointers in the first half, including two while scoring 12 points in the second quarter. The Raiders were within one point before Heitsman scored eight in the fourth quarter.

Paxton Pingarelli had 15 of his 17 points in the second half for Blue Ridge. Jack Parks hit four 3-pointers while scoring 16.

Pond had all 17 of his points in the middle two quarters when Elk Lake outscored Mountain View 43-15 to take a 60-26 lead.

Heitsman had seven of his 16 points and Connor Stephens had eight of his 14 in the first quarter.

Hudson Bain led Mountain View with 14.

Parks, a Blue Ridge freshman, provided the week's most exciting finish.

Evan McCombs completed a Montrose comeback from a double-figures deficit by dribbling up the floor and pulling up on the left wing for the game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.

Travis Rutter then pushed the ball up floor against pressure, finding Parks in the right corner just in time for him to beat the buzzer with a game-winning 3-pointer for a 59-56 victory.

Pingarelli had scored 20 points in the first half, including 13 of his 26 for a 19-7 lead at the quarter.

Landon Bishop had 15 points on five of the team's nine 3-pointers. He made three in the second quarter for a 35-24 halftime lead.

McComb scored 13 points and Sawyer Brown 12 for Montrose.

The Meteors had won their earlier game, 69-61, over Carbondale.

Jude Adams led the way with 20 points. Brown had 12 and Jai Herman 11.

The Meteors led 39-17 at halftime before the Chargers made things interesting with the help of a 25-point third quarter.

Mountain View and Forest City each lost twice during the week to remain winless in the division.

Lackawanna Trail topped Mountain View, 51-41, Jan. 6 and Carbondale defeated Forest City, 40-30, Friday.

In swimming, Scranton Prep swept visiting Elk Lake Wednesday in boys' and girls' meets that trimmed the list of unbeatens in each set of Lackawanna League standings from four teams to three.

Scranton Prep won the boys' meet, 94-58, and girls' meet, 95-61.

Both Elk Lake teams are 2-1.

COLLEGE CORNER

Vanessa Hodges is a junior guard on the improving Penn State Scranton women's basketball team.

The Forest City graduate has played 33 minutes in six games, producing three points, five rebounds and three steals. Hodges is 1-for-7 from the floor while missing her only 3-point attempt and making her only free throw.

Penn State Scranton is 4-4 after going 1-20 last season.

Hodges has 34 points in 38 career games. She made six starts last season as a sophomore.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Mountain View is at Forest City in a Thursday girls' basketball game that has developed into surprising significance.

The Lady Eagles will be coming off a first-place battle that was scheduled for Monday against Montrose with both teams coming in 4-0 in Lackawanna League Division 3. The Lady Foresters, who were scheduled to play at Blue Ridge Monday, entered the week 3-1 after finishing last with a 1-13 record a year ago.

In boys' basketball, Susquehanna is at defending champion Elk Lake Friday in a meeting of teams that took a first-place tie and 4-0 records into their Tuesday games. Susquehanna was scheduled to be home against Carbondale Tuesday while Elk Lake faced the bigger challenge, hosting third-place Lackawanna Trail.

In wrestling, two dual meet tournaments are scheduled for Saturday.

The Mayhem at Montrose will include the host Meteors and Elk Lake.

Blue Ridge is competing in the Berwick Duals.

In swimming, Elk Lake will face teams that are currently unbeaten in boys and girls again when it hosts Abington Heights Tuesday, Jan. 20.

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.

From beginning to end, Addison Kilmer continued to shine in the Mountain View girls' athletic program during 2025.

Kilmer, now a senior, won championships, surpassed milestones, collected awards, set records and secured an opportunity to play in college.

In a year full of accomplishments by local athletes, Kilmer edged a pair of state champions for her latest honor, Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year for 2025.

Montrose's Cara Evans, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 2A girls' singles state tennis champion, and Elk Lake's Kendel Jones also received strong consideration for the honor. Jones medaled in track and field, then was an individual state silver medalist, following up his fourth straight District 2 Class A title by leading Elk Lake to the state championship in cross country.

Kilmer, who had already scored her 1,000th career point late in 2024, reached 1,000 rebounds for her career in February.

On the final day of the month, Kilmer grabbed 15 rebounds as Mountain View defeated Elk Lake, 34-17, at Mohegan Sun Arena for its third straight District 2 title and first since jumping from Class A to 2A.

The rise in enrollment classification did not slow down the Lady Eagles or Kilmer.

They reached the state semifinals for the third straight year with three PIAA tournament victories in March.

In April, the state's Class A Player of the Year as a sophomore learned that she had been selected first-team, all-state for the third straight time. She had averaged 18.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.6 blocked shots and 2.4 steals per game to make the Class 2A team.

Kilmer continued her status as a starter on the school's softball team in the spring and kept working on her basketball game as a member of the NEPA Elite AAU team in the spring and summer.

That offseason work led to Kilmer's August decision to accept an offer to play National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II basketball on scholarship at East Stroudsburg University.

Kilmer was also a major factor in Mountain View winning a District 2 Class A volleyball title. She had 23 kills in both the district final at the end of October and in a November state tournament match in which the Lady Eagles extended Sayre to five sets before having their season end.

The basketball season got off to a fast start before November was over.

Kilmer scored 34 points in the season opener, then scored 19 points in the championship game of the Lambert-Simons Tournament to earn tournament Most Valuable Player honors and become the school's all-time leading scorer. While leading a second-half rally past Nanticoke in the final, Kilmer pushed her career scoring total to 1,556 to break Helen Schlasta's 64-year-old record.

The year wrapped up with Kilmer leading Mountain View back into a tie at the top of the Lackawanna League Division 3 girls' basketball standings in a season in which she is now averaging more than 28 points per game with the help of scoring 45 and 41 points in back-to-back games early in 2026.

Addison is the daughter of Matthew and Ashley Kilmer of South Gibson.

Following are all of the Athletes of the Month for 2025