Olivia Oliver (33) knocks down a three during Lake-Lehman’s semifinal win over Dallas. The Black Knights are going for their fourth straight WVC tournament title on Saturday against Hazleton Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
The Hazleton Area girls basketball team had added incentive in the Wyoming Valley Conference tournament semifinals Wednesday night against Holy Redeemer.
The championship game was going to be on the Cougars’ home court.
“They wanted to have that home game,” Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio said. “It was one of our goals this year when we found out the game was there. I don’t care how the hell we got there, we wanted to play at home against anybody.”
Hazleton Area (19-4) will as it faces three-time defending champion Lake-Lehman (15-8) for the WVC championship at 5 p.m. Saturday at Hazleton Area High School. The time change was to allow removal of any overnight snow.
Admission for all games is $6 for adults and $4 for students. The only pass that will be accepted is the PIAA Gold Pass.
The WVC tournament for both girls and boys will not impact the District 2 power rankings, which determine seeding for the district playoffs. Only regular-season games count in the power rankings. Hazleton Area will be the top seed in the District 2/4 Class 6A playoffs next week. Lehman will be the fifth seed in the D2-3A playoffs.
Division 1 runner-up Hazleton Area defeated Division 2 champion Holy Redeemer 67-61 in the semifinals in a game that plodded along due to 47 free throws. The Cougars had a 34-22 halftime lead turn into a one-point deficit late in the third quarter.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” Gavio said. “They’re 14-, 15-year-old kids. They saw it slipping away, but to their credit they made a play. We made plays.”
Freshman Kaitlyn Bindas made several of them. The energetic guard scored a game-high 23 points and forced some turnovers. Junior forward Sophia Shults added 18 more.
Hazleton Area loves to press and did that when the teams met in the season opener on Dec. 1. The Cougars won 56-32 with Bindas scoring 16. Kayla Lagowy had 15 and Alexis Reimold scored 13.
“We didn’t handle their pressure, which we will be better at now,” Lehman coach Charlie Lavan said. “But it’s still a challenge, it’s still a big challenge. If we can get them to play our game like we got Dallas to play our game (Wednesday) for most of the game, we’ll be in the hunt.”
Division 2 runner-up Lehman edged Division 1 champ Dallas 48-46 in the semifinals, avenging a five-point loss to the Mountaineers on Dec. 18. Delcia Biscotto hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 10 seconds left. Junior Ella Wilson turned in an outstanding performance. She had game-highs of 20 points and 15 rebounds.
Hazleton Area is making its third appearance in the championship game. The Cougars lost 56-40 to Holy Redeemer in 2019 and 35-30 to Lehman in 2020.
After winning the 2020 title, Lehman defeated Pittston Area 45-19 in the 2022 championship game and Holy Redeemer 45-34 last year. There was no WVC tournament in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
