Hailey Kline (center) and her Lake-Lehman teammates will be seeking their third consecutive WVC Championship tournament title. The Black Knights play Hazleton Area in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Holy Redeemer High School.
Fred Adams file photo | For Times Leader
There’s more to the Wyoming Valley Conference Championship tournaments than winning a basketball title.
“If you don’t get into the conference playoffs, you don’t play for two and a half weeks,” Hazleton Area girls coach Joe Gavio said after a regular-season win at Wilkes-Barre Area on Feb. 2. “That’s a hard thing. Our thing is to get that last spot. We have it in front of us if we run the table.”
Hazleton Area wasn’t able to run the table but was able to squeeze in. The Cougars will join three other teams — a field of two division winners and two runners-up — in the girls semifinals on Wednesday. Four boys teams will be in the semifinals on Thursday.
Admission is $5 and no passes will be accepted. The championship games are Saturday at Dallas High School. The girls game is at 6 p.m. and the boys game at 7:30 p.m.
The alternative was no game until the District 2 tournaments start next week. The hiatus is even longer for Class 6A teams like the Hazleton Area girls.
“Usually before they started the Wyoming Valley Conference playoffs, we’d be contacting other schools trying to get scrimmages,” Nanticoke Area boys coach Zach Pientka said. “Now we’re going to have the best scrimmage — playing some meaningful basketball.”
None of the games will have any bearing on the District 2 power rankings, which determine seedings for the district playoffs. Seedings are based on regular-season games only.
Wyoming Seminary won the boys championship in 2019 and 2020. Dallas won it last season. Holy Redeemer won the girls title in 2019. Lake-Lehman won it in 2020 and 2022.
The WVC Championship tournament was canceled in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WVC GIRLS SEMIFINALS
Hazleton Area vs. Lake-Lehman
6 p.m. Wednesday
Holy Redeemer H.S.
Lake-Lehman (12-1 Div. 2, 19-4) won its third consecutive Division 2 title by defeating Holy Redeemer in a special playoff game. Now the Black Knights go for their third consecutive WVC championship.
Lehman has three players who finished in the top-eight in scoring in the division — Ella Wilson (11.7 ppg), Hailey Kline (11.3 ppg) and Lia Keefe (9.8 ppg). Wilson shoots a WVC-leading 80% from the foul line. Brenna Hunt (7.1 ppg) has also been solid after missing some early games with an injury. Molly Jenkins (4.2) does her work inside.
The Black Knights have won 14 in a row.
Hazleton Area (9-5 Div. 1, 16-6) tied Wyoming Valley West for second place, but made the tournament based on the District 2 power rankings. The first tiebreaker was head-to-head and the teams split their two games.
The Cougars had some adversity this season, starting with a couple players expected to play significant roles deciding not to play. Then their best player, Lacie Kringe, suffered a season-ending knee injury nine games into the season.
Veterans Sophia Shults (13.1 ppg) and Brianna Kennedy (8.5 ppg) and freshman Alexis Reimold (10.2 ppg) are the top scorers.
Both teams can shoot 3-pointers, but it’s not a major weapon in either teams’ arsenal.
Pittston Area vs. Holy Redeemer
7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Holy Redeemer H.S.
Division 1 champion Pittston Area (13-1 Div. 1, 21-1) has arguably the best backcourt in the tournament with sophomore Daniella Ranieli and senior Kallie Booth. Ranieli (16.5 ppg) was the top scorer in Division 1 and also led the divisional with 44 3-pointers. Booth (12.6 ppg) can also drill the 3-pointer. She has 30 this season. Ava Callahan, who has 31 3-pointers, is also a threat behind the arc.
Pittston Area’s other two starters — veteran Taylor Baiera and sophomore Maddie Karp — do the stuff that doesn’t show up in the box score.
Holy Redeemer (11-2 Div. 2, 14-9) fell behind 20-0 in the Division 2 title game before falling 60-46 to Lake-Lehman. The horrendous start was an anomaly. The Royals’ overall record doesn’t look too impressive, but they did play an very challenging non-conference schedule.
Jillian DelBalso (14.4 ppg) and Mia Ashton (9.3) are Redeemer’s top scorers. Meghan Albrecht is an excellent free-throw shooter. The Royals are also deep and have 12 players who have been in the rotation.
Unlike Pittston Area, Redeemer doesn’t have obvious 3-point shooters in the lineup.
WVC BOYS SEMIFINALS
Holy Redeemer vs. Pittston Area
6 p.m. Thursday
Wilkes-Barre Area H.S.
Division 2 champ Holy Redeemer (12-0 Div. 2, 20-2) rides a 15-game winning streak where all but two games were won by double digits. The Royals haven’t lost since Dec. 19 when they fell to Williamsport 67-63. Guards Zach Perta (13.2 ppg) and Darryl Wright (8.8 ppg) along with big man Jeff Kozerski (5.4 ppg) were starters on last season’s team which lost in the Class 3A state semifinals. Perta has a team-leading 37 3-pointers.
Guard Jacob Hunter, a top reserve last season, has been a standout as a starter. He averages 15.7 points, has connected on 35 3-pointers and is the Division 2 free-throw champ by hitting 79% from the line.
Division 1 runner-up Pittston Area (10-4 Div. 1, 14-7) enters on a three-game losing streak where it has surrendered 66.3 points per game, 22 more per contest than in the other 18 games. First-year starter Silvio Giardina (15.3 ppg) led the entire WVC with 66 3-pointers during the regular season. Anthony Cencetti (15.4 ppg) gets to the foul line often, with his 111 free throws leading Division 1. He was the only returning starter from last season’s District 2 Class 5A championship team.
Dallas vs. Nanticoke Area
7:30 p.m. Thursday
Wilkes-Barre Area H.S.
Division 1 champion Dallas (12-2 Div. 1, 19-3) won last season’s tournament. The Mountaineers had a pair of since-graduated 1,000-point scorers in their backcourt — Austin Finarelli and Nick Nocito. Their departures have been filled nicely by Darius Wallace (13.8 ppg) and Jude Nocito (9.7 ppg), Nick’s brother. Holdovers Michael Bufalino (12.0 ppg) and Mike Cumbo (11.4 ppg) picked up where they left off last season, although Cumbo missed five games to start the season with an injury.
Nick Williams (8.5 ppg) is an athletic inside player. Reserve Cameron Faux has established himself as a perimeter threat with his 53 3-pointers fifth-most in the entire WVC.
Division 2 runner-up Nanticoke Area (10-2 Div. 2, 15-7) has won nine of its last 11, with the only losses 57-51 and 48-33 to Redeemer. The latter came last Thursday where a 19-0 third-quarter run doomed the Trojans.
Nanticoke Area’s Jaidyn Johnson (18.3 ppg) had the highest scoring average in the WVC. He’s a tough inside player who does most of his damage in the paint. Ibn Jordan-Thomas (9.9 ppg) also works inside. He’s a fearless rebounder and an incredible jumper. However, he suffered a back injury in the loss to Redeemer when he fell hard to the court trying to make a block. He was at practice the following day but not a participant.
Liam Mullery has 39 3-pointers, but Nanticoke Area does most of its scoring inside the arc.
