web1_Court.jpg

Lindsey Barletta pleads guilty to charges stemming from September incident

web1_NWSLogo_400x400.jpg

Warmer temperatures, chance of rain expected as the week rolls along

That voice she hears all the time at home, the one that&#8217;s guided her through life and groomed her to become such a success on the basketball court, keeps calling out wise instructions that are suddenly not meant for her.And Sara Lojewski has never gotten used to that.Four times, she has led her Dallas girls basketball team up against the one coached by her dad Chad, who became the head coach of Wyoming Area three seasons ago.And every time, it just seems to get more awkward.&#8220;It&#8217;s definitely interesting,&#8221; Sara said. &#8220;I&#8217;m really used to him coaching us on our AAU (summer) team. So when I hear him start yelling, I automatically look over.&#8220;It&#8217;s really different to have him yelling at a bunch of other kids, and not me.&#8221;There&#8217;s sure to be plenty of shouting Tuesday, when the District 2 Girls Basketball Tournament kicks off with four quarterfinal games in Class 2A and four more in Class 4A.As fate would have it, one of them will feature what promises to be a family fight to the finish between a father and daughter, with their teams&#8217; seasons on the line.For Sara, a senior, it&#8217;ll be a chance to extend her career at least one more game in one final battle against her father when Dallas plays Wyoming Area in a Class 4A quarterfinal at 6 p.m. at Pittston Area High School.&#8220;I tend to really show up for his games,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I get so, so excited to play him. I&#8217;m not sure it&#8217;s like that at the other end.&#8221;It&#8217;s not.Maybe the last thing on Chad Lojewski&#8217;s list of things that bring him joy is getting a team ready to crush his daughter&#8217;s hopes and playoff dreams.&#8220;Obviously, I played my daughter four separate times before. This one&#8217;s going to be a little different,&#8221; said Chad, a former basketball star at the old Bishop O&#8217;Reilly High School who helped turn Wyoming Area into a playoff threat. &#8220;This particular time, with her being a senior, this will be a difficult one.&#8221;And the decisive one.Wyoming Area and Dallas have split their four meetings over the last three years, with Sara&#8217;s Dallas squad winning the first two before Chad&#8217;s Warriors won in last season&#8217;s District 2 Class 3A playoffs and then defeated Dallas earlier this season.&#8220;So this one decides the real winner,&#8221; said Sara, whose Dallas team finished 11-11 and has the District 2 fifth seed. &#8220;This happened last year, too, and we lost to them in districts. I&#8217;m hoping (Tuesday) has a better outcome.&#8221;She may even raise the stakes.A night before the showdown, Sara said there&#8217;s no wager with her dad on the outcome of the game, but may propose a challenge that forces the loser to do some extra house chores &#8212; like maybe take out the garbage for a week.&#8220;We haven&#8217;t made any yet, but that&#8217;s a good idea,&#8221; she said.Sara may want to hold off on such a wager.Her father&#8217;s feelings about trying to disrupt his daughter&#8217;s last high school playoff performance may be torn before and after the game, but Chad&#8217;s allegiance will be totally with his team every second the clock is running.&#8220;I have a job to do,&#8221; he said. &#8220;My daughter understands that. She wouldn&#8217;t accept it if I didn&#8217;t give 100 percent competitiveness.&#8221;Under Chad, the Warriors have turned into a legitimate district title threat.Both teams enter districts on a down note, as Wyoming Area lost four of its last five games and Dallas dropped five of seven.But the Warriors made a surprise run through the Class 3A playoffs last season, when Sarah Holweg twice scored more than 40 points. Only a double-overtime loss against Nanticoke in the 2016 third-place game kept Wyoming Area from making the school&#8217;s first state tournament appearance.And while the Warriors didn&#8217;t have a dazzling regular season, they did overcome struggles at the start and finish to end up 13-9 as the district&#8217;s No. 4 seed &#8212; with 5-foot-11 Addison Orzel regularly putting up performances of 20 or more rebounds and Holweg averaging nearly 19 points.&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s a team at the tournament that wants to play Wyoming Area,&#8221; Chad said.Well, at least there&#8217;s a player who does.&#8220;This goes both ways,&#8221; Sara said about her dad. &#8220;He knows every single thing I&#8217;ve ever done. But I know every single coaching move he ever makes. It might give me a little step up. I love playing him, because he&#8217;s there to see everything I do.&#8220;And he&#8217;s not always there to see my other games, because he&#8217;s coaching.&#8221;Here&#8217;s a look at the rest of the District 2 field where teams are fighting for their seasons:CLASS 6ADefending Champ: noneOutlook: With a 17-5 overall record, Scranton is the top seed and the favorite while returning a bunch that nearly took down Wyoming Valley West in last year&#8217;s Class 4A opener.But don&#8217;t discount Hazleton Area.The Mountaineers have plenty of pride and scoring punch, and if Kendra Pfeil and Maddie Mrochko can get going from the outside, last year&#8217;s District 2 Class 4A champ Hazleton Area has a shot to collect the district&#8217;s first 6A title.Prediction: Hazleton Area to defeat Scranton for the title and the lone spot in states.CLASS 5ADefending Champ: noneOutlook: Wyoming Valley West is by far and away the team to beat, entering as the top seed and tied for fourth in overall records in the district at 18-4.But a Spartans team comprised of seniors who won the District 2 freshman championship four years ago could be in for some fierce battles.Second seed Crestwood (14-7) had the Spartans scrambling through the first half when the two played two weeks ago. And although Valley West won both league meetings with the Comets, it&#8217;s difficult to beat a team three times in one season. Then there&#8217;s West Scranton, which had a solid season at 16-6 and seems to be playing its best ball down the homestretch.Pittston Area&#8217;s in the opposite situation, as the Patriots have dropped three straight games and four of their last five to close the regular season. But they do have Taryn Ashby, a gritty senior who&#8217;s added some scoring pop to her A-plus defense, along with a couple other players who competed in last season&#8217;s Class 4A district championship game.Prediction: Valley West to defeat Crestwood for the title and the state playoff berth.CLASS 4ADefending Champ: Hazleton AreaOutlook: Hazleton Area bumped up to the newly-created Class 6A, but that doesn&#8217;t mean Class 4A is wide open.Not with Nanticoke around. The Trojanettes, led by league MVP Kayla Aufiero and co-Player of the Year Riley Klepadlo, opened the season with 16 consecutive victories. After the Trojanettes lost to Wyoming Valley West, they finished 22-1 by winning their last six &#8212; punctuated by last Saturday&#8217;s nail-biting win over Holy Redeemer for the WVC Division 2 crown.Berwick, a 14-9 team with a very deceiving record, could make the road to a district title rough for anyone. The Bulldogs, who came within three points of Nanticoke during a regular-season meeting, are never an easy out and they&#8217;re starting to win some of those tight games that have ended in heartbreak for them for much of this season.Scranton Prep is 13-9, but has talent and a proud playoff reputation &#8212; and beat Nanticoke Area in last year&#8217;s district semifinals. And with Addison Orzel pulling down just about every rebound, Wyoming Area has the potential to make jaws drop, especially if Sarah Holweg can start dropping 40-point nights like she did twice in last year&#8217;s districts.Prediction: Aufiero, Klepadlo and the rest of the Nanticoke Trojanettes get that elusive district title they&#8217;ve been searching by staving off Scranton Prep in the finals. Wyoming Area will get to go along to the PIAA playoffs too, by beating Berwick in the third-place game.CLASS 3ADefending Champ: Abington HeightsOutlook: Holy Redeemer defeated Holy Cross for last year&#8217;s Class 2A district title, but the results may flip-flop as both move to Class 3A.Dunmore&#8217;s undefeated in 21 games and sits as the team to beat, with 18-5 Redeemer and 17-5 Holy Cross presenting the main threats to the 3A title. Holy Cross handled Redeemer, rather easily and by 20 points, when the two met in December. Afterwards, though, Redeemer ran off 13 consecutive victories and has lost just twice in the 18 games since. Most likely, they&#8217;ll meet again in the district semifinals.Dunmore opens with a first-round game against Meyers, which was in the WVC Division 3 title hunt until the final week of the regular season. Redeemer starts with an 11-11 Lakeland team that should prove a good warmup for the rest of the tournament.Prediction: Dunmore to defeat Holy Cross for the district title. Holy Redeemer will go also and make the school&#8217;s fifth straight PIAA tourney by beating Carbondale in the third-place game. The two programs are on probation due to a clash between coaching staffs after the two squared off in a playoff game last season.CLASS 2ADefending Champ: Holy RedeemerOutlook: It&#8217;s the first District 2 playoff appearance for the Northwest girls, who not only won the program&#8217;s first WVC title, but earned the top seed in Class 2A while doing it.Can the 15-7 Rangers sustain this success?Sure, if Brenna Babcock and Reagan Harrison keep piling up points. Both are capable of scoring 25 or more points on a given night &#8212; if not a regular basis &#8212; and it&#8217;s difficult to shut down both of them at once.At 15-9, second-seeded Blue Ridge will try. But 12-10 Elk Lake is the only other team playing above .500 in the bracket, and the Rangers have pretty much handled all competition from teams at their level all season.Prediction: Northwest to best Blue Ridge for the Rangers&#8217; District 2 girls title and the lone spot in the state tournament.CLASS ADefending Champ: Forest CityOutlook: District 2 joins up with District 11 for a sub-regional, where Notre Dame East Stroudsburg get the top seed and a first-round bye with a 14-9 overall record. Forest City is the second seed at 13-9.The quarterfinal opener presents some interesting matchups, starting with defending district champ Forest City battling 10-6 Salem Christian, along with No. 3 seed Suqehanna (11-11) squaring off with 9-12 Lincoln Leadership.Prediction: Forest City to defend its District 2 crown by downing Notre Dame East Stroudsburg for the championship and the state berth.<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Dallas-LehmanGBB_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas senior Sara Lojewski, left, battles for a loose ball with Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Miranda Parry last season. Lojewski will open her final District 2 Class 4A playoffs with a game against her father Chad Lojewski, the head coach of Wyoming Area. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Dallas-LehmanGBB_4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dallas senior Sara Lojewski, left, battles for a loose ball with Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Miranda Parry last season. Lojewski will open her final District 2 Class 4A playoffs with a game against her father Chad Lojewski, the head coach of Wyoming Area. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_DP_Lojewski_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas senior guard Sara Lojewski will go up against the Wyoming Area team coached by her father Chad Lojewski for the fifth and final time in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game tonight at 6 at Pittston Area High School. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_DP_Lojewski_1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dallas senior guard Sara Lojewski will go up against the Wyoming Area team coached by her father Chad Lojewski for the fifth and final time in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game tonight at 6 at Pittston Area High School. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Father, daughter to square off in the playoffs</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</shirttailMeta></div>

Sara and Chad Lojewski battle one last time in District 2 girls basketball quarterfinal