By Tom Fox
MaxPreps.com
Getting to the bracket is just one side of the story. Extending the season once you get there is proving to be difficult for some of the top seeds in District 6.
The two top seeds in AAA found out the hard way.
The Central (Martinsburg) boys and the Bellefonte girls saw their season come to an end.
Central, which had success in the Mountain League, was upset by No. 5 seed Somerset.
Somerset trailed by 17 early in the third quarter before making a run to close off the deficit. A go-ahead bucket by Andrew Barron put the Golden Eagles up for good, 60-59.
“We've never been to a District 6 championship game in basketball,'' Somerset coach Scott Close said to the Altoona Mirror. "And our phrase is: 'We want to make history, not be history.' The kids did a nice job. Our style is to get the other team to play a little haphazard with us. We like to win ugly and run up and down the floor and get them running with us. Fortunately, it happened in the third and fourth quarters.''
Shane Cafferty had a game-high 22 to pace Central, while Anthony Papini had 18 to pace Somerset.
“Our kids played real hard and did a lot of good things,'' Central coach Dave Forshey said. "We did what we wanted to (on offense early). We wanted to pressure their guards, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that, too.''
The Bellefonte Lady Raiders, who advanced to the state semifinals last season, were clipped by local rival Lewistown, 54-44, at State College High School.
While the two teams split in the regular season, it was Division I guard Hannah Geedey that was the difference in this game.
Geedey and Kayla Espigh combined for 39 points, and scored almost every Panther basket in the second half.
“That’s what leaders do in big games,” Lewistown head coach Kevin Kodish told the Centre Daily Times. “You have a big semifinal where the winner goes to the final and the loser goes home, they did the job and made sure we got to the finals.”
Lewistown and cross-town rival Indian Valley will meet for the AAA championship. Regardless of the outcome, both teams advance into the state bracket.
The smaller classifications of the district are in the semifinal round.
In boys’ AA, Cambria Heights will meet United, while No. 10 seed Central Cambria will try for its third straight upset against No. 3 seed Penns Valley.
In girls’ Class A, the talk of the bracket is No. 11 seed Bishop Carroll, which eliminated state-ranked Conemaugh Valley 53-48 in OT. Senior Mara Weinzierl scored five of her 24 points in the extra session.
“We knew if we played physical, we could beat them,'' Weinzierl told the Altoona Mirror. “Since I'm a senior, I didn't want to see my last game. So I had all the excitement in the world to get in there and make every shot that I took.”
The top two seeds in girls’ Class A, Bishop Guilfoyle and Northern Cambria, are also the top two teams in the state, according to the latest rankings by the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
District 2
While the seeds held true to form in District 2, there were a few exceptions.
The Carbondale girls are the perfect example.
Entering the postseason with a 7-14 record and a No. 14 seed, the Chargers scored the biggest upset of the weekend, knocking off No. 3 Mountain View, 65-58, Saturday afternoon.
Colleen Walsh scored 20 points, and teammate Cassie Catanzara added 16 for Carbondale. Brittany Mang was the third player in double digits with 14 points.
Mountain View, which finishes the season at 16-9, was led by Kayla Kazmeriski’s double-double of 15 points and 11 boards.
The top seed in girls’ AA took care of business.
Dunmore and star Lauren Carra cruised to a 74-31 win over Blue Ridge. Carra, who is closing in on 2,000 points for her scholastic career, had 22 points in the victory. She is 12 away from the milestone.
“My milestone is a district championship right now,” Carra told the Scranton Times-Tribune. “If (2,000) comes, it comes. I’m not worried about that. I’m happy with where we are and how we’re playing right now.”
In boys’ AAA, there will be a new district champ crowned as the reigning titlist, Scranton Prep, was ousted by No. 10 seed, Pittston Area, 50-49.
Pittston’s Bernie Moska was too much for the Cavaliers to handle, scoring 16 points and pulling down almost 20 rebounds.
“I’m thrilled for these kids,” Pittston head coach Jim Blaskiewicz told the Scranton newspaper. “It was a great win for us. We had to fight through our own problems offensively and tremendous pressure from them. They are the defending champions. We had to be focused. We knew it would take a tremendous effort from our guys.”
Prep was playing without key guard Adam Schroth. In his absence, teammate Pat Mineo had 22 points.
District 4
If you are looking for a district with shake-ups and upsets, look no further than the District 4 girls’ brackets.
If you were a No. 2 or No. 3 seed, it didn’t pan out too well.
The biggest surprise is No. 10 Lewisburg, which advanced in the AA semifinals with a 15-point upset of No. 2 Sayre.
Emily Lesher had a game-high 18 points, while the Dragons’ defense almost held Sayre without a field goal in the second and third quarters.
“They were really aggressive and that just left the back-door cuts open,” Emily Lesher said to the Sunbury Daily-Item. “I kind of felt that with Jenny (Meslener) out I had to fill some of the scoring load, since she’s our best scorer.”
Lewisburg, which started off the season at 4-9, has won 10 of its last 11. Sayre finishes the season at 19-4.
The Dragons advance to meet No. 6 seed Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, which stunned No. 3 seed Wyalusing by 10.
It was more of the same in AAA.
The biggest shocker was pulled by Midd-West, which stunned Shikellamy, 42-40, as Christina DiBartolomeo hit the go-ahead free throws with12 seconds left.
“This makes the season a lot more worthwhile,” Midd-West coach Lisa Wagner told the Sunbury newspaper. “The move we made (from the Tri-Valley League to the Heartland Athletic Conference) was tougher than I thought it would be. We had a very disappointing (regular) season, but I told the girls last night that we weren’t 11-11, we were 0-0 and that anything could happen.”
Midd-West trailed by five with less than one minute left to go, but turnovers led to the Braves’ downfall.
“My hat’s off to Midd-West. Their kids didn’t quit,” Braves coach Lew Dellegrotti told the newspaper. “The turnovers killed us, and (most) were unforced. We had a problem with turning the ball over earlier in the season, but we haven’t turned it over like that in a while.”
Midd-West will face No. 6 Milton in the semifinals.
The only bracket to hold true-to-form was Class A where No. 1 Benton will face No. 4 Lourdes, and No. 2 East Juniata and No. 3 Bucktail square off.
On the boys’ side of the bracket, all classifications are in the semifinals.
In Class A, Millville and Sullivan County will meet in one semi, while Mansfield and St. John Neumann will tangle in the other.
In AA, Loyalsock and Southern Columbia will square off with the winner taking on either Troy or Hughesville.
In AAA, state-ranked Shamokin Area is the top seed and faces off with Milton in the semifinals. Shikellamy and Danville, a one-point winner of Jersey Shore in the quarters, tangle in the other semifinal.
Williamsport, the district’s biggest school, qualifies through District 2. The state-ranked Millionaires are the top seed and will face Wyoming Valley West in the semifinals. The other semi is No. 2 seed Hazleton Area and No. 3 seed Scranton High.
Tom Fox is Sports Editor at The Lock Haven (Pa.) Express and covers Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania for MaxPreps. He can be reached at tfox@lockhaven.com.
