Hazleton Area sophomore Kaitlyn Bindas is one of the top perimeter shooters in the WVC. The Cougars play Holy Redeemer in a WVC Tournament semifinal game at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Nanticoke Area High School.
Tony Callaio file photo | For Times Leader
Hazleton Area ended Lake-Lehman’s long reign as the Wyoming Valley Conference Girls Basketball Tournament champions last season.
It might take a Herculean effort to knocked Hazleton Area from its perch. The WVC Division 1 champion Cougars are the only unbeaten team in either girls or boys basketball in District 2.
WVC Division 2 runner-up Holy Redeemer, the only other team to win a tournament title, gets first crack at Hazleton Area in a 6 p.m. semifinal game Wednesday at Nanticoke Area High School. Division 2 champion Lake-Lehman plays Division 1 runner-up Crestwood in the other semifinal approximately 20 minutes after the first game.
While the teams are playing for a championship, none of the games will affect the District 2 power rankings to decide seedings for the district tournaments next week. Power rankings are determined by regular-season games only.
Here is a look at the four tournament participants.
CRESTWOOD
Crestwood (10-2 Div. 1, 18-3) entered the season with a huge piece missing. Junior guard Keira Dougherty, a two-time Times Leader All-WVC selection, suffered a season-ending injury playing in the summer.
The Comets, though, endured and will be in the tournament for the first time. Their losses have been 73-46 and 77-45 to Hazleton Area and 65-60 in the season opener against Scranton.
Guard Jackie Gallagher (16.2 ppg) finished third in Division 1 in scoring and was second with 52 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Charlie Hiller (12.9) and senior guard Kendall Petrosky (9.0) are next in scoring. Petrosky also connected on 28 3-pointers. The rest of the lineup does most of its scoring inside the arc.
Jackie Gallagher, Hiller and senior center Kate Gallagher give Crestwood the tallest team in the tournament.
Junior guard Jordan Andrews and sophomore guard Cameron Vieney have helped ease the loss of Dougherty.
Crestwood scores 55.8 points per game while surrendering 38.2.
HAZLETON AREA
Hazleton Area (12-0 Div. 1, 22-0) returned every starters from last season’s WVC tournament championship squad and is eyeing a few prizes beyond this week.
The Cougars are looking to repeat as the District 2/4 Class 6A champions as well as making a deeper run in the state tournament. They lost 55-46 to eventual state champion Cardinal O’Hara in the second round last season.
Aside from a 81-74 overtime win against St. Joseph’s By the Sea, a private school in Staten Island, N.Y., Hazleton Area has steamrolled its other 21 opponents. The Cougars average 71.4 points per game and allow 37.6.
Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Bindas, a Times Leader All-WVC selection as a freshman, finished second in Division 1 in scoring with a 17.1 average. Her 46 3-pointers were third most. Senior Sophia Shults, a two-time All-WVC pick, is next in line with a 13.1 scoring average followed by juniors Alexis Reimold (11.0) and Sophia Benyo (10.6).
Reimold and sophomore Mariah Marolo provided extra shooting behind the arc. Hazleton Area is also deep with several other players stepping up throughout the season.
HOLY REDEEMER
Holy Redeemer (12-2 Div. 2, 18-4) will be the only team to participate in all six WVC tournaments. The Royals lost 67-61 to Hazleton Area in last season’s semifinals.
Redeemer has lost twice to Lake-Lehman, 65-35 and 65-60. The first loss was more of an aberration as the Royals shot very poorly and especially from 3-point land where they were 4-of-36. The other losses were 44-41 in overtime to Delone Catholic and 56-53 to Shaker, a New York school with two losses.
Redeemer has excellent balance in seniors Megan Albrecht (10.9 ppg) and Brooke Kroptavich (8.9) and juniors Bella Boylan (10.3) and McKenzie Chimock (10.1). Boylan was a Times Leader All-WVC selection last season.
The balance makes Redeemer a difficult team to defend, but semifinal opponent Hazleton Area has the talent and depth to counter it. The Royals average 58.8 points and surrender 33.8.
LAKE-LEHMAN
Lake-Lehman (12-0 Div. 2, 17-5) opened the season with losses of 42-18 to Wyomissing and 37-29 to Nazareth. A common factor in those losses was the absence of senior Ella Wilson.
Wilson, a two-time Times Leader All-WVC selection, missed those games while recovering from an injury. The 6-footer is one of the most versatile players in the conference and is a force anywhere on both ends of the court.
Wilson, who scored her 1,000th point last season, was second in Division 2 in scoring with a 15.3 average. She also had a team-high 25 3-pointers. Freshman Kinley Purdy (12.0 ppg) has added some much-needed balance to an offense that graduated two scorers. Kathryn Morgan, a 5-11 junior, added some size and scoring as well.
The Black Knights average 52 points per game and do most of their scoring inside the 3-point line. They surrender 32.2 points.
Besides the early-season losses, Lehman’s other setbacks have been 52-40 to Dunmore, 51-49 to Allentown Central Catholic and 42-41 to Notre Dame Green Pond. The Black Knights bring a 13-game winning streak into the tournament. They won the tournament in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
