Bears win; Marian, NL girls in tournament finals

The Pleasant Valley boys opened the season with a win over Northampton.

In other action, the Marian and Northern Lehigh advanced to the finals of their respective tournaments.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Pleasant Valley-

Northampton

Nick Stanovick and Mike Sharpe combined to lead Pleasant Valley to a 49-45 non-league victory over Northampton.

Stanovick led the Bears (1-0) with 17 points while Sharp added 15, including six in the final period.

Northampton won the JV game, 60-48.

PLEASANT VALLEY

Franklin 1-0-0-2, Conklin 1-0-0-3, Wright 2-1-3-6, Sharpe 5-3-3-15, Brandyn 0-0-0-0, Irving 0-0-0-0, Stanovick 6-2-3-17, Wild 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 18-6-10-49.

NORTHAMPTON

Morris 1-0-0-3, Dally 1-2-2-5, Hudock 1-0-0-3, Haines 2-0-0-4, Rosenbauer 3-0-0-8, Huber 1-0-0-3, Holubowski 2-3-3-8, Wittererich 1-0-0-2, Kulp 2-3-3-9. TOTALS: 14-8-8-45.

Pleasant Vy. 11 8 18 12 - 49

Northampton 10 10 16 9 - 45

Three-pointers: PV - Stanovick 3, Sharpe 2, Conklin 1, Wright 1. N - Kulp 2, Rosenbauer 2, Dally 1, Morris 1, Hudock 1, Huber 1, Holubowski 1.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Marian-Reading CC

Gillian Ferko banked in a shot just before the final buzzer sounded to give Marian a dramatic 37-36 victory over Reading Central Catholic in the semifinals of the Lourdes Regional Tournament.

Reading Central Catholic scored with less than 10 second remaining to grab a one-point lead, but the Fillies (1-0) pushed the ball upcourt and found Ferko underneath for the winning bucket.

Ferko finished with 14 points to lead Marian, which will face host Lourdes Regional in tonight's championship game.

MARIAN

Green 1-0-0-3, Faust 1-0-0-2, McLaughlin 1-0-2-3, Gutsie 1-0-0-3, Markiewicz 2-1-2-5, Shober 0-0-0-0, Ferko 7-0-0-14, Tristani 3-1-1-7. TOTALS: 16-2-5-37

READING CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Janiszewski 0-0-0-0, Vallely 5-1-1-12, DiCercaro 0-0-0-0, Wendt 1-0-2-2, Reinhart 1-0-0-2, Serafin 3-1-1-7, Henneman 3-0-0-7, Rossignoli 2-2-2-6, TOTALS: 15-4-6-36.

Marian 16 4 7 10 - 37

Reading CC 10 10 5 11 - 36

Three-pointers: M - Green 1, McLaughlin 1, Gutsie 1. RCC - Vallely 1, Henneman 1.

No. Lehigh-

Reading Holy Name

Northern Lehigh advanced to the finals of the Fleetwood Tip-Off TournaHoly Name, 65-27.

Aimee Oertner scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Bulldogs, while Sonya Josephson poured in 21. Tina Bastardi also netted 10 for the winners, who jumped out to a 14-1 first-quarter lead.

In the JV tournament, Northern Lehigh dropped a 39-15 decision to Holy Name.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Follweiler 0-0-0-0, Bastardi 5-0-0-10, Werley 0-0-0-0, L. Oertner 3-0-0-6, Josephson 8-4-4-21, A. Oertner 13-0-0-26, Seiler 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 30-4-4-65.

READING HOLY NAME

Mastromorino 0-0-0-0, Balatgek 0-0-0-0, Tulley 0-0-0-0, Noga 1-0-0-2, Wooten 0-0-0-0, Moult 3-2-3-9, Casciano 4-1-2-9, Dennis 0-0-0-0, Bosshard 0-0-0-0, Johnson 2-1-2-5, Pollard 0-2-4-2, Chiabattoni 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-6-11-27.

No. Lehigh 14 16 19 16 - 65

Holy Name 1 10 10 6 - 27

Three-pointers: NL - Josephson 1; Holy Name - Moult 1.

Northampton-

Pleasant Valley

Northampton went 14-of-21 at the foul line to help gain a 33-23 victory over host Pleasant Valley in both team's season opener.

Kara Bonenberger finished with a game-high 13 points, going 7-of-10 at the charity stripe. Chelsea Hall chipped in with 11 points for the winners.

For PV, which was only 2-of-2 at the free throw line, Amber Chieffo hit three three-pointers to finish with a team-high nine points. Kasey Meckes added eight.

NORTHAMPTON

Schroetner 0-0-0-0, Bragg 1-0-1-3, O'Connell 0-2-2-2, Sterner 0-0-0-0, Bonenberger 3-7-10-13, Bradford 0-0-0-0, Braithwaite 1-2-2-4, Szerenasits 0-0-0-0, Hall 4-3-6-11, Marcks 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 9-14-21-33.

PLEASANT VALLEY

Meckes 3-0-0-8, Cisluycis 0-0-0-0, Chieffo 3-0-0-9, Sisco 0-0-0-0, Harris 0-0-0-0, McGill 0-0-0-0, Hardy 1-0-0-2, Kregeloh 0-2-2-2, Salmon 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 8-2-2-23.

Northampton 9 6 5 13 - 33

Pleasant Vy. 3 5 5 10 - 23

Three-pointers: Northampton - Bragg 1; Pleasant Vy. - Chieffo 3, Meckes 2.

SWIMMING

Schuylkill Sprint Meet

Tamaqua's Joann Butkus gained two individual firsts, setting new meet records in both events, to help the Lady Raiders gain the team title in the Schuylkill Sprint Meet.

Butkus won the 50 Butterfly in 28.24, breaking the old mark of 28.62 held by Mahanoy Area's Rachel Burke in 2007. She then swam a 32.46 in the 50 Breaststroke, bettering the time of Panther Valley's Sami Vavra (32.93) from 2008.

Butkus also was part of the 400 freestyle relay that turned in a time of 3:54.04, good enough for another record. Her teammates in the race were Carolina Kanaskie, Miranda Amey and Schuyler Schmidt.

The Tamaqua girls registered 324 points to earn the championship. Panther Valley finished second with 189 points.

The Panthers' relay team of Lauren Cormier, Brittany Erbe, Alexia Follweiler and Karoline Vavra won two events, the 200 Freestyle and 200 Medley races. Their time in the 200 Free set a new mark, as their time of 1:45.79 broke the record of 1:48.66 PV set a year ago.

In boys action, Tamaqua's Dane DeWire was the only local swimmer to gain a first place finish.

DeWire copped the 100 Individual Medley in a time of 1:00.76. That mark broke the record he set a year ago when he touched in 1:01.87.

The Raider boys finished second in the team standings with 236.5 points, ending 11 points behind host Pottsville.

Individual girls from the TN area who earned second-place finishes at the meet included Erbe (100 free), Follweiler (50 fly and 100 IM), Vavra (50 free and 50 breast) and Kanaskie (50 back).

Area boys who were runner-up included Weatherly's Matthew Cullen (100 free) and Tamaqua's Jordan Frank (100 IM).