Four area girls teams in quarterfinals action
Four area girls basketball teams will be action this weekend in the quarterfinal round of the District 11 basketball tournament.
Pleasant Valley will play tonight while Tamaqua, Jim Thorpe and Palmerton all take the court Saturday afternoon.
GIRLS
Class 4A
No. 8 Liberty (12-11) vs.
No. 1 Pleasant Valley (18-6)
TIPOFF: Friday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. at East Stroudsburg South
COACHES: Liberty - Amy Yencho; Pleasant Valley - Nadia Gauronsky
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP: Liberty - Jahara Hilliard (Jr., 5-7, 9.8 ppg), Jody Chickey (Jr., 5-6, 11.5), Ciarha Hilliard (Jr., 5-7, 7.2), Hawaou Doukoure (Sr., 6-0, 3.0), Shate Lewis (Jr., 3.1); Pleasant Valley - Kasey Meckes (Sr., 11.9 ppg), Megan Hardy (Sr., 5.8), Kelecia Harris (Jr., 11.1), Dalian Salmon (Sr., 4.5), Christina McGill (Sr., 2.0).
OFF THE BENCH: Liberty - Kali Shumock (Fr., 4.2 ppg), Maggie Zerbe (So., 2.0); Pleasant Valley - Amber Chieffo (Jr., 4.1 ppg), Nicole Kregeloh (Jr., 1.5), Rachel Sisco (Jr., 2.1).
GAME NOTES: After failing to qualify for the District 11 playoffs a year ago, Pleasant Valley is back in the post-season .... The Lady Bears are this year's No. 1 seed after defeating Pocono Mountain West in the Mountain Valley Conference championship. Allentown Central Catholic, the Lehigh Valley's winner, is AAA .... It is the first time since 2004-05 that Pleasant Valley has been the district's No. 1 seed .... These two teams met recently, with Liberty defeating Pleasant Valley in Brodheadsville on Feb. 9, 51-43. The Bears' two bigs, Harris and Salmon, each fouled out in the fourth quarter and allowed the Hurricanes to out-score the locals 20-10 in the final frame. Meckes, the Bears' leading scorer, was in foul trouble as well. Chickey led the Canes with 22 points that night .... Chickley leads the team in scoring on the season at 11.5 ppg and shoots over 80 percent from the free-throw line .... The Hilliard sisters, Jahara and Ciarha, also start in the backcourt and possess good speed .... Ciarha led the team with 29 three-pointers .... Liberty's ability to attack the seams of Pleasant Valley's zone was the death of the Bears last time and Gauronsky is hoping that her girls can do a better job of stopping their penetration this time around .... Liberty defeated East Stroudsburg South easily in its first-round contest, 53-38 .... The Canes won the District 11 championship in 2008-09 before being bounced in the semi-finals last season.
QUOTABLE: "We are very excited to be in the position we are in. We have had to re-focus as a team, since it is one-and-done at this point. Winning the MVC was great, but now we have shifted our sights to loftier goals. We want to win the district championship and our road starts Friday night with Liberty." - Pleasant Valley's Nadia Gauronsky.
GIRLS
CLASS 3A
No. 2 Tamaqua (24-0 I) vs. No. 7 Jim Thorpe (16-6 )
TIPOFF: Saturday, February 26 at 2:30 p.m. at Martz Hall, Pottsville High School
COACHES: Tamaqua - Joe Berezwick; Jim Thorpe - Rob Kovac
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS: Tamaqua - Amy Zehner (Sr., 5-10, 23.1 ppg), Cassie Eroh (Sr., 5-8, 13.3), Allison Updike (Sr., 5-7, 6.5), Maria Streisel (So., 5-5, 5.4), Kayla Hope (Jr., 5-4, 4.3); Jim Thorpe - Celeste Robinson (Jr., 5-8, 23.5 ppg), Chelsea Smelas (Jr., 5-7, 12.4), Kristin Lawrence (Jr., 5-3, 7.7), Brittany Holland (Sr., 5-8, 4.9), Nina Batts (Jr., 5-2, 1.1).
OFF THE BENCH: Tamaqua - Christine Streisel (So., 5-6, 2.3 ppg), Stacey Wallace (Sr., 6-0, 1.3); Jim Thorpe - Jeanna McElmoyle (Jr., 5-2, 2.6 ppg), Chasity Mosteller (Jr., 5-4, 1.8).
GAME NOTES: Tamaqua is the only undefeated basketball team in District 11 and the two-time Schuylkill League champion .... Tamaqua will be seeking its third consecutive District Championship .... The Lady Raiders have qualified for the District Tournament nine straight seasons .... The last time Tamaqua didn't qualify was in 2002, which ironically marked Jim Thorpe's last appearance in the District playoffs .... During the 2002 Tournament, the Olympians posted a 57-35 quarterfinal win over Northern Lehigh and suffered a 33-32 semifinal loss to Catasauqua .... Tamaqua has won 31 of its last 32 games and 39 of its last 41 .... The Raiders have a 12-game winning streak against Jim Thorpe, dating back to the 2001-2002 season .... Tamaqua swept Jim Thorpe this year by scores of 61-43 and 62-47 .... Jim Thorpe has the leading scorer (Celeste Robinson with 23.5 ppg) and top three-pointer shooter (Kristin Lawrence with 41 three-pointers) in the TIMES NEWS coverage area .... Robinson has 1,034 career points and was the team's leading scorer in both games against Tamaqua this season with 14 and 20 points respectively .... Jim Thorpe has only one senior on its roster (Brittany Holland) .... Amy Zehner, who has tallied a double-double 16 times this season combined for 40 points and 32 rebounds against the Olympians this year .... Cassie Eroh, two of her three highest scoring games this season have come against Jim Thorpe (20 points on 2/11 and a career-high 26 points on 1/22) .... After scoring double-digits just once in her first 19 games, Maria Streisel has scored double-figures in four of her last five contests .... The Lady Raiders have won nine consecutive games at Martz Hall .... The winner of this game will play the winner of the No. 3 Southern Lehigh (20-4) vs. No. 6 Blue Mountain (14-8) game on Wednesday, March 2.
QUOTABLES: "Tamaqua isn't 24-0 by accident. They're a very talented and well-coached team that presents a bevy of challenges to contend with. In both games this year, we've been competitive with them for three out of the four quarters; unfortunately, both times, we had that one bad quarter where we got outscored by about 10 points. We're certainly familiar with them and we have a lot of respect for them, but we're not going to be star-struck by them. Our goal is to play 32 minutes of the best basketball we can and if we're in the game in the fourth quarter, anything can happen," Jim Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac.
"Jim Thorpe is a very good team and we have to be ready. When they're playing at the top of their game, they can beat anybody. When we're on offense, we have to be able to handle their full court pressure. They play a trapping defense and then transition into a 1-3-1 zone, so we have to be smart with the basketball. Defensively, the key is obviously to try to contain Celeste Robinson, which is something teams have had trouble doing all year long," Tamaqua head coach Joe Berezwick.
No. 5 Bethlehem Catholic (13-10) vs.
No. 4 Palmerton (17-5)
TIPOFF: Saturday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. at William Allen High School
COACHES: Becahi Bill Lanscek; Palmerton Don Delich
STARTING LINEUPS: Becahi Briana Morales (Jr., 5-3, 5.9 ppg.), KC Carpenter (Sr., 5-4, 6.8) Rana Plasko (Jr., 5-6, 10.7), Shannon Smith (Sr., 6-2, 8.0), Bridget Smith (So., 6-0, 7.9); Palmerton Kelsey Hay (Jr., 6-1, 14.8 ppg), Casey Rinfret (Sr., 5-6, 12.1), Gina Farquhar (Sr., 5-7, 7.6), Jennifer Snyder (Jr., 5-10, 2.5), Katie Reimer (Sr., 5-8, 7.2)
OFF THE BENCH: Becahi Caitlin Kessler (Sr., 5-8, 5.1 ppg.), Lexi Reightler (So., 5-4, 0.6), Azia Evans (Sr., 5-5, 0.6), Jaime Deisher (Jr., 5-5, 1.6), Cecelia Perez (So., 5-10, 0.9); Palmerton Samantha Smith (Sr., 5-11, 1.2), Emily Meinhardt (So., 5-10, 2.9), Morgan Mummey (So., 5-10, 1.0)
GAME NOTES: Both Palmerton and Bethlehem Catholic are looking to rebound from losses in their respective conference playoffs last week. The Blue Bombers, who earned a spot in the CL playoffs as a wild card, suffered a 43-38 semifinal setback to eventual Colonial League champion Southern Lehigh. The Hawk, who won their first LVC East Division title since 1995, suffered a 46-28 semifinal loss to eventual Lehigh Valley Conference champion Allentown Central Catholic ..... The Bombers now have made the district playoffs in seven of the last eight seasons under Delich's guidance the only miss came back in 2008 .... The Golden Hawks have qualified for their fourth straight district playoff berth under Lanscek ..... The Bombers and Golden Hawks had two common opponents during the regular season. Both teams scored victories against both Stroudsburg and Moravian Academy. The Bombers beat the Mounties 66-37 back in early January while the Golden Hawks scored a 48-25 victory nearly two weeks later. The Bombers closed the regular season with a 66-36 win over Moravian Academy while the Golden Hawks posted a 75-51 win over the Lions ..... Both teams have First Team All-League members in their lineups. Both Hay and Rinfret were recognized by the Colonial League while Rana Plasko was honored by the Lehigh Valley Conference ..... The Golden Hawks rely heavily on a 3-2 zone defense and every so often incorporate a little bit of a man-to-man defense to throw off opponents ..... While Plasko leads the Golden Hawks in scoring with 10.7 points per game average, Delich feels Morales, who he called a "super quick guard," is the one that makes the Golden Hawks "go" ..... Bethehem Catholic's Shannon and Bridget Smith are sisters and are the daughters of former Summit Hill resident Grace Crampsie.
QUOTABLE : "We have had a really good year. We have a bunch of seniors who aren't ready to hang up their sneakers yet. They feel that they can play with any of the teams that are in the district playoffs and we have already proven it by being able to play with Southern Lehigh the other night. A couple of made foul shots or a lay-up here and there and we're playing for the league championship. We know we have our work cut out for us. But, we're going to show up and play hard. That's all I can guarentee," Palmerton head coach Don Delich.
