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Plans debated for forest along the Susquehanna River

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D2 basketball: Northwest boys fall in 2A championship

<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; By the middle of the second quarter, it became quite clear Holy Redeemer faced a pretty tall task trying to deal with the biggest player on the floor.</p><p>Mainly because Victoria Toomey was determined to carry Dunmore back to the top of the mountain.</p><p>Toomey shrugged off some early foul trouble to score 28 points Saturday and Lisa Tallo stole away Holy Redeemer&#8217;s last chance to tie the game in the final two seconds. Dunmore avenged last year&#8217;s district championship loss by turning the tables on the Royals with a 48-44 victory in the District 2 Class 3A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena.</p><p>&#8220;That was everything to us,&#8221; said Toomey, part of last year&#8217;s unbeaten Dunmore team that was upset by Redeemer in the District 2 title game. &#8220;We knew that feeling after last year&#8217;s game. We just didn&#8217;t want to feel that way again.&#8221;</p><p>Now Redeemer knows the feeling of finishing second-best.</p><p>&#8220;Well, the gold feels pretty good. Silver doesn&#8217;t feel so good,&#8221; Redeemer center Sam Yencha said.</p><p>Yencha, a sophomore who&#8217;s listed as 6-foot but may actually measure up short of that mark, got Redeemer off to a strong start.</p><p>She scored six points in the first quarter and sent Toomey to the bench by drawing two quick fouls as Redeemer shot out to a 13-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.</p><p>Things changed when Toomey returned.</p><p>The 6-foot-1 junior center was unstoppable while hitting nine points in the second quarter while rallying the Bucks into a 25-21 halftime lead. Even more impressively, she didn&#8217;t allow Redeemer a single basket in the lane during the second period, forcing the Royals to try shots from the perimeter.</p><p>They proved difficult to make in Mohegan Sun Arena, where the stands are about 10 yards away from the baskets and make the rims appear as if they&#8217;re sitting on an island.</p><p>&#8220;Shooting here, it&#8217;s a hard-shooting floor, with the depth perception,&#8221; Toomey said. &#8220;We wanted to score close to the basket. We knew that&#8217;s where the game was going to be won.&#8221;</p><p>Meanwhile, Redeemer&#8217;s normally superb perimeter game fell off the mark.</p><p>Although the Royals converted five 3-point field goals, they missed 17 other attempts. And for the game, Redeemer hit just 14 of 49 shots from the floor, a field goal percentage of just .282 that astounded their coach.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s not typical of us,&#8221; said Royals second-year leader John Jezorwski,who also complained that an extra college and pro-distance 3-point arc painted on the floor confused some of the Royals. &#8220;We&#8217;re better shots than that. We&#8217;ve been an outstanding shooting team all year long. It didn&#8217;t fall today. We just didn&#8217;t execute. That&#8217;s the fault of the coaching staff.&#8221;</p><p>More likely, Toomey had a ton to do with it.</p><p>She blocked three shots and pretty much locked down the inside, frustrating the Royals from running the lane and altering their attempts when they did attempt to pound the paint.</p><p>&#8220;First of all, she&#8217;s taller than all of our players,&#8221; Yencha said. &#8220;She moves very well. Very good player.&#8221;</p><p>And at the other end, Toomey scored Dunmore&#8217;s first nine points of the second half &#8212; with smooth hook shots and bullish layups &#8212; to give the Bucks a nine-point lead before Gianna Delfino added a basket for Dunmore&#8217;s final points of the period.</p><p>&#8220;Toomey killed us,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;She&#8217;s good. She&#8217;s 6-2 and Sam&#8217;s 5-10. If there&#8217;s a better big girl in the state, I don&#8217;t know it.&#8221;</p><p>Toomey finished up with her final six points in the fourth quarter, helping the Bucks stave off Redeemer&#8217;s frenetic finish.</p><p>&#8220;It was exciting. I knew I was going to have to play hard against Yencha,&#8221; Toomey said, &#8220;making the right cuts in the zone, finding the right timing. I was just able to work to get open. We were able to close it out.&#8221;</p><p>Just barely.</p><p>Facing a nine-point deficit late in the third quarter, the Royals roared back.</p><p>Cameron Marcinkowski made a 3-pointer that got Redeemer within 34-30 just 30 seconds before the start of the fourth quarter and hit two free throws to pull the Royals within 44-41 with 3:37 to go in the game.</p><p>Yencha, who finished with a team-high 13 points, converted a three-point play with 1:49 remaining and Redeemer had the ball and a chance to tie in a 47-44 game with 12 seconds on the clock.</p><p>But the Royals never got off a shot, and a frantic pass under pressure was intercepted by Dunmore guard Tallo with two seconds to play before her foul shot locked up the district title.</p><p>&#8220;I think we weren&#8217;t settled for that last shot,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;We felt good at that point, felt like we were right there. We had something we wanted, we just didn&#8217;t get the ball to where we wanted. We didn&#8217;t execute.&#8221;</p><p>Both teams will try to follow through in the PIAA Class 3A playoffs, as 24-1 Dunmore will face the No. 4 team from District 12 and 22-4 Holy Redeemer will take on the second seed from District 4 in the opening round of state play Friday.</p><p>&#8220;I think this is going to be painful for a little while,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;But I think it will be good momentum going into states.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class 3A Championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Dunmore 48, Holy Redeemer 44</strong></p><p><strong>HOLY REDEEMER (48) &#8212;</strong> Sam Yencha 3 7-7 13, Julia Andrejko 3 0-0 7, Sam Rajza 1 2-2 4, Lauren Wasiakowski 1 0-0 2, Cameron Marcinkowski 3 2-2 10, Sarah Kuderka 2 0-0 5, Alyssa Gushka 0 0-0 0, Jordan Cicon 1 0-0 3. <strong>Totals 14 11-11 44.</strong></p><p><strong>DUNMORE (48) &#8212;</strong> Kelly Quinn 3 1-4 8, Gianna Delfino 3 3-4 9, Victoria Toomey 11 6-8 28, Lisa Tallo 0 1-3 1, Maria Borgia 0 0-0 0, Alexis Chapman 1 0-0 2. <strong>Totals 18 11-19 48.</strong></p><p><strong>Holy Redeemer`13`8`9`14 &#8212; 44</strong></p><p><strong>Dunmore`10`15`11`12 &#8212; 48</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals</strong> &#8212; HR 5 (Marcinkowski 2, Andrejko, Kuderka, Cicon); DUN 1 (Quinn).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Anna Capaci (center) watches intently in the closing seconds of Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 3A girls title game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Anna Capaci (center) watches intently in the closing seconds of Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 3A girls title game. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Sam Yencha tries to fend off Dunmore&#8217;s Gianna Delfino (left) and Victoria Toomey on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Sam Yencha tries to fend off Dunmore&#8217;s Gianna Delfino (left) and Victoria Toomey on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Julia Andrejko drives to the hoop between Dumore&#8217;s Victoria Toomey and Lisa Tallo (20) on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Julia Andrejko drives to the hoop between Dumore&#8217;s Victoria Toomey and Lisa Tallo (20) on Saturday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dunmore&#8217;s Victoria Toomey shoots in front of Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Sam Yencha for two of her game-high 28 points to help the Bucks earn the District 2 Class 3A crown. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418GBBHRDunmore2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Dunmore&#8217;s Victoria Toomey shoots in front of Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Sam Yencha for two of her game-high 28 points to help the Bucks earn the District 2 Class 3A crown. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

D2 basketball: Toomey lead Dunmore past Holy Redeemer to 3A title