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Abington Heights boys basketball defeats Dallas for D2-5A title

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WH: No exemptions from tariffs

<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; The sight of three 6-footers standing in the lane was more than a little imposing.</p><p>&#8220;I was like, &#8216;I&#8217;m not going to drive on them,&#8217; especially when I tried and my first shot got blocked,&#8221; Hazleton Area guard Maddie Mrochko said. &#8220;It was a little intimidating.&#8221;</p><p>But so was Hazleton Area&#8217;s strength-sapping press.</p><p>And it played a bigger part than Scranton&#8217;s height in deciding the district championship.</p><p>Virginia Yurchak and Mrochko combined for 24 points Sunday and Hazleton Area countered Scranton&#8217;s size with speed in a 52-37 District 2 Class 6A girls championship victory that avenged last year&#8217;s district title loss to the Knights and sent the Cougars to their first Class 6A state tournament.</p><p>&#8220;It feels great to win this year,&#8221; said Yurchak, who was part of a Cougars team that suffered a 56-25 beating by Scranton in the 2017 Class 6A district title game. &#8220;Last year was crazy. We lost by 30 points. We all wanted it <em>so </em>bad.&#8221;</p><p>It showed.</p><p>Yurchak buried a pair of 3-pointers and scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the opening half as Hazleton Area stormed to leads of 11-5 after the opening quarter and 25-16 at halftime.</p><p>And after the game&#8217;s opening two minutes, the Knights never held the lead. That was surprising, since Scranton featured 6-3 sophomore Colette Mulderig and 6-foot Shelby Funchess in its starting lineup and brought 6-1 Kristen Hart off the bench. For various stretches, all three of them were on the court at the same time.</p><p>&#8220;They killed us last year,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio said of the superior height of Scranton, the tournament&#8217;s top-seeded team which finished its season at 16-8. &#8220;You watch them on film, size-wise, they were killing people this year. That&#8217;s their strength.</p><p>&#8220;Our strength is pressing.&#8221;</p><p>Essentially, the Cougars cut down size with quickness as they emerged as the only Wyoming Valley Conference team among five in title games to win a District 2 championship while battling a team from the Lackawanna League.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah, I think our press kicked in for this game,&#8221; Mrochko said. &#8220;We just worked so hard at practice, trying to play fast defense.&#8221;</p><p>And while Hazleton Area had five steals in the game, the effects of its full-court, trapping defense that extended into the paint kept Scranton from owning the inside.</p><p>With 5-11 starters Faith Grula and Marissa Trivelpiece and 5-10 Diamond Trulock playing deny defense and Hazleton Area&#8217;s guards closing off passing lanes in the paint, the Cougars seemed to confuse Scranton&#8217;s half-court offense. Mulderig and Funchess were limited to 11 points and six baskets between them, while Hart led the Knights with 12 points. And nearly a dozen of their shots from inside bounced out through the second half.</p><p>&#8220;See, everybody thinks the press is just to get a lot of steals,&#8221; Gavio said. &#8220;No. It&#8217;s to control people. They (the Knights) were still getting shots. But you have to work and work against the press all game, then in the fourth quarter your legs are a little tired. And that has an effect on people.&#8221;</p><p>Meanwhile, Mrochko found her legs late.</p><p>She scored all of her 11 points in the final 16:01, starting with a fast-break layup a second before the halftime buzzer that sent the Cougars into the locker room with a 25-16 lead.</p><p>Then she kept beating Scranton down the floor.</p><p>Taking long outlet passes, Mrochko converted two more fast-break layups in a 70-second span late in the third quarter to give Hazleton Area a 13-point lead and finished up with five points in the final quarter to help the Cougars ice victory.</p><p>&#8220;I knew they were going to be playing me tough,&#8221; Mrochko said. &#8220;We just played our game. It just so happened to work for us.&#8221;</p><p>The Cougars didn&#8217;t shy away from working their inside game, either. Trulock knifed through the trees to score five points, Yurchak finished up with a couple of inside buckets in the final quarter and Kyra Antolick added nine points on four inside shots.</p><p>&#8220;We weren&#8217;t afraid of their height,&#8221; Yurchak said. &#8220;The big girls, their height didn&#8217;t matter to us. We just went in with the mindset we&#8217;re going to win this, no matter their height, no matter what, no matter anything. We drove to the basket, made sure we leaned in to draw some fouls, took some outside shots and they just happened to fall in.&#8221;</p><p>Now, everything&#8217;s falling into place for a 15-9 Hazleton Area team that lost three starters to injury during the homestretch while losing four straight games to finish the Wyoming Valley Conference season before winning two district playoff games by a combined 37 points.</p><p>That surge earned the Cougars a date with Neshaminy, the District 1 No. 8 team, in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A girls tournament at a time and site to be determined.</p><p>&#8220;To limp in after losing four games, it really didn&#8217;t look good,&#8221; Gavio said. &#8220;But I knew from the beginning this team had something. It took longer than I thought it would to get where we want to be, but I&#8217;m glad it happened right now. We had a week of good practices, started getting people healthy, had two good scrimmages.</p><p>&#8220;We started finding ourselves.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class 6A Championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Hazleton Area 52, Scranton 37</strong></p><p><strong>HAZLETON AREA (52) &#8212;</strong> Diane Garnett 1 0-0 2, Faith Grula 2 2-2 6, Virginia Yurchak 5 1-2 13, Maddie Mrochko 4 3-6 11, Marissa Trivelpiece 0 0-1 0, Kyra Antolick 4 1-1 9, Olivia Wolk 1 0-0 2, Diamond Trulock 1 3-4 5, Brooke Boretski 1 0-0 2, Erin Potoskie 1 0-0 2, Abby Valente 0 0-0 0, Mia Cundro 0 0-0 0, Carley Krizansky 0 0-0 0, Megan Fay 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 20 10-16 52.</strong></p><p><strong>SCRANTON (37) &#8212;</strong> Shelby Funchess 4 3-6 11, Colette Mulderig 2 7-9 11, Erin Barrett 0 0-0 0, Ciera Chandler 0 0-0 0, Sophia Glogowski 1 0-0 2, Kristen Hart 5 2-6 12, Ky&#8217;Ahni Harbin 0 1-3 1, Trinity Gammaitoni 0 0-0 0, Isabelle Jarrow 0 0-0 0, Alyvia Svetovich 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 12 13-24 37.</strong></p><p><strong>Hazleton Area`11`14`11`16 &#8212; 52</strong></p><p><strong>Scranton`5`11`11`10 &#8212; 37</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals</strong> &#8212; HAZ 2 (Yurchak 2)</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Faith Grula, left, drives past Scranton&#8217;s Erin Barrett in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Faith Grula, left, drives past Scranton&#8217;s Erin Barrett in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Virginia Yurchak, left, moves past Scranton&#8217;s 6-foot Shelby Funchess in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Virginia Yurchak, left, moves past Scranton&#8217;s 6-foot Shelby Funchess in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Diamond Trulock, left, goes in for two points past Scranton&#8217;s 6-foot-3 defender Colette Mulderig in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Diamond Trulock, left, goes in for two points past Scranton&#8217;s 6-foot-3 defender Colette Mulderig in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Marissa Trivelpiece, left, brings the ball down the court as Scranton&#8217;s Erin Barrett defends in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Marissa Trivelpiece, left, brings the ball down the court as Scranton&#8217;s Erin Barrett defends in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Kyra Antolick (11) and Olivia Wolk battle Scranton&#8217;s 6-foot-3 center Colette Mulderig for a rebound in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_5.jpg</photo4><caption4>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Kyra Antolick (11) and Olivia Wolk battle Scranton&#8217;s 6-foot-3 center Colette Mulderig for a rebound in the District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Hazleton Area Cougars storm the court at Mohegan Sun Arena after defeating Scranton 52-37 to win their second District 2 title in four years and first District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030518GBB-Hazleton-Scranton_6.jpg</photo5><caption5>The Hazleton Area Cougars storm the court at Mohegan Sun Arena after defeating Scranton 52-37 to win their second District 2 title in four years and first District 2 Class 6A girls basketball championship on Sunday. </caption5><photoCredit5>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hazleton Area battles size with speed to claim 6A girls title</subheadMeta></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>

Yurchak & Mrochko lead Hazleton Area to District 2 girls basketball crown