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Leadership Wilkes-Barre creating mini-libraries with old newspaper boxes

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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; There was a time when Cameron Marcinkowski thought she&#8217;d be playing varsity basketball for the Northwest Rangers.It didn&#8217;t quite work out that way, as Marcinkowski split half of her school years in the Catholic school system.From across the way, though, she showed the Rangers what they ultimately missed.Marcinkowski scored 11 points Saturday and was a big part of a Holy Redeemer defensive effort that held Northwest without a basket for the entire first half as the Royals romped to a 61-21 victory.&#8220;For me, I used to go to Northwest,&#8221; said Marcinkowski, a Redeemer senior who spent her first six school years in the Northwest grade school system, transferred to Wyoming Area Catholic for 7th and 8th grade, then spent her high school years with the Royals. &#8220;It was a big game for me.&#8220;That lit a fire in me.&#8221;It turned into an inferno early.Marcinkowski drilled a 3-pointer and Sam Yencha scored five points as Redeemer ripped off a 10-0 lead in the game&#8217;s first 90 seconds.Yencha, who scored all of her game-high 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the first half, hit a layup for a 20-0 Royals lead with a minute remaining in the first quarter.And by the time Kendra Saxton scored Northwest&#8217;s first point on a free throw with 25 seconds remaining in the quarter, the Royals already had a 22-point lead.&#8220;I think the effort we brought forth in the first half was really, really good,&#8221; Holy Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said. &#8220;Defensive effort was great.&#8221;Was it ever.With Yencha and Marcinkowski cutting off the inside and combining for 12 rebounds over the first two quarters and Redeemer guard Sarah Kuderka hounding the perimeter, Redeemer surrendered a single free throw in each of the first two quarters while taking a 39-2 lead into halftime.Northwest didn&#8217;t score a basket until returning Class 2A All-Stater Brenna Babcock hit an inside shot 38 seconds into the second half. They were her last points, as she finished with three.&#8220;That&#8217;s quite and accomplishment,&#8221; said Jezorwski, who couldn&#8217;t remember holding an opponent without a first-half field goal since he took over the Redeemer reigns three years ago.That performance came on the heels of a 59-39 victory over Berwick, where the Royals didn&#8217;t surrender a field goal until 15 seconds into the second quarter.&#8220;Our defense is, basically, really great,&#8221; Marcinkowski said. &#8220;We&#8217;re all fast, really intense. That helps out on defense. We love playing together, too. We&#8217;re like a big family.&#8221;They shared the spotlight Saturday, pretty much equally.While Yencha led the way with 15 points and eight boards, Marcinkowski tossed in 11 on three 3-pointers &#8212; including two in a row in the third quarter &#8212; and Julia Andrejko hit for 11 as well.Meanwhile, Kuderka popped a pair of treys to stretch Redeemer&#8217;s lead to 36-2 midway through the second quarter. And speedy point guard Krissa Spade finished with nine points. All of them saw limited action as Redeemer fielded 12 players.&#8220;You can&#8217;t just stop one of our players,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;Sarah Kuderka did a great job cutting Brenna Babcock off, and she made some big shots. Cameron made big shots. They all did really well.&#8221;That moved defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 champion Redeemer a step closer to defending its crown, as the Royals improved to 12-0 in league play and maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over 11-2 Berwick and Lake-Lehman with five league games to play.Meanwhile, the road to a third straight Division 2 title got a lot tougher for Northwest, which fell to 4-6 in the WVC and two games behind 7-4 Wyoming Sem in the loss column.&#8220;That&#8217;s a good team,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;Brenna Babcock was all-state last year. Great practice for our girls against good players. Just because we played very well doesn&#8217;t mean we didn&#8217;t get anything out of it.&#8221;If nothing else, the Royals gained another shot of confidence going into the homestretch of the season.&#8220;Today was a really good defensive game for us,&#8221; Marcinkowski said. &#8220;That comes from really working on defense. We&#8217;re going to need it for districts and states. We&#8217;re ready for districts, to win districts and hopefully make it to the state finals.&#8221;Wyoming Valley West 44, Hazleton Area 41Toni Amato scored a game-high 19 points as the Spartans knocked off Division 1 leader Hazleton Area, preventing the 11-2 Cougars from clinching the division crown.Amato had 17 of her points in the first half, but Karoline Stelma and Lindsey Gruver combined for 11 points in the second half to keep the Valley West offense going.Marissa Trivelpiece scored 17 for Hazleton Area, which had its 11-game winning streak snapped.Pittston Area 35, Coughlin 20Lily Savoy tossed in 10 points and the Patriots pulled out victory in the final quarter.Abby Cicon scored all six of her team-high points as Coughlin forged a 20-20 tie by the end of the third quarter.But Pittston Area&#8217;s Jada Sharp scored eight of her 10 points in the decisive fourth quarter as the Patriots wound up out-scoring the Crusaders 15-0 over the final eight minutes. Nicole Zambetti added five points in the fourth quarter for Pittston Area, after Emma Coles and Savoy each scored seven points in the first half to spark the Patriots to a 16-10 halftime lead.Nanticoke Area 45, Meyers 34Lauren Casey scored 12 points as the only player to hit double digits and the Trojanettes used a big third quarter to pull away from the Mohawks.Bella Czeck scored five points and Casey hit for four in a 13-5 third quarter that built Nanticoke Area&#8217;s lead from five points at halftime to 29-16 heading in the fourth.Czeck and Alyssa Lewis each scored nine points in the win, while Ashley Bruno led Meyers with nine points.Lake-Lehman 63, MMI Prep 25Madison Borum scored a team-high eight points and 13 different players made the scoresheet as the Black Knights remained percentage points ahead of Berwick for the WVC wild card playoff slot.Borum scored all of her points in the first quarter and Corinna Scoblick scored all of her six as Lehman raced to a 25-3 lead, then substituted freely.Lehman also stayed alive for the WVC Division 2 championship at two games behind Holy Redeemer entering the season&#8217;s final week.Irene Altmiller had a game-high 11 points for the Preppers.Holy Redeemer 61, Northwest 21NORTHWEST (21) &#8212; Trista Babcock 1 1-2 3, Brenna Babcock 1 1-2 3, Reagan Harrison 2 0-0 6, Maddie Mclendon 3 2-3 8, Tess Edwards 0 0-0 0, Kendra Saxton 0 1-2 1, Cassidy Crawford 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Yaple 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 5-9 21.HOLY REDEEMER (61) &#8212; Karissa Spade 4 1-3 9, Sam Yencha 6 3-5 15, Cameron Marcinkowski 3 2-2 11, Sarah Kuderka 2 0-0 6, Julia Andrejko 4 2-2 11, Jordan Cicon 1 0-0 3, Alyssa Gushka 2 0-1 4, Alesha Pekarovsky 0 0-0 0, Aubrey Curley 0 0-0 0, Aleia Atherton 0 0-0 0, Lynzie Skoronski 0 0-0 0, Faith Sekol 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 8-13 61.Northwest`1`1`11`8 &#8212; 21Holy Redeemer`24`15`14`8 &#8212; 61Three-point goals &#8212; NW 2 (Harrison 2); HR 7 (Marcinkowski 3, Kuderka 2, Andrejko, Cicon).Wyoming Valley West 44, Hazleton Area 41WVW (44) &#8212; Andi Blaski 0 1-2 1, Aubrey Boyd 0 0-0 0, Nicole Boutanos 3 3-4 9, Trinity Johnson 1 0-2 2, Karoline Stelma 3 0-0 6, Toni Amato 7 2-2 19, Jessica Shaver 1 0-0 2. Totals 6 8-13 44.HAZLETON AREA (41) &#8212; Marissa Trivelpiece 6 3-3 17, Kyra Antolick 0 2-2 2, Olivia Wolk 1 1-1 3, Brooke Boretski 3 1-2 7, Katie Lipinski 0 0-0 0, Diane Garnett 0 0-0 0, Virginia Yurchak 1 2-2 4, Faith Grula 3 2-2 8, Carley Krizansky 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 11-12 41.Wyo. Valley West`15`10`13`6 &#8212; 44Hazleton Area`15`6`12`8 &#8212; 41Three-point goals &#8212; WVW 4 (Amato 3, Gruver). HA 2 (Trivelpiece).Pittston Area 35, Coughlin 20PITTSTON AREA (35) &#8212; Kayleigh Walker 0 0-0 0, Hannah Getz 0 0-0 0, Nicole Zambetti 1 2-2 5, Emily O&#8217;Brien 0 0-2 0, Jada Sharp 3 2-4 10, Krista Maurizi 0 0-0 0, Lily Savoy 4 4-4 13, Megan Mihalka 0 0-0 0, Emma Coles 3 0-0 7, Brooklyn Pedana 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 8-12 35.COUGHLIN (20) &#8212; Arianna Brittingham 1 1-1 3, Ajalaya Butts 0 1-6 1, Le&#8217;June Berry 2 0-0 4, Abigail Kush 1 0-0 2, Abby Cicon 2 2-6 6, Yansel Perez 1 0-0 2, Courtney Wartella 0 2-2 2. Totals 7 6-15 20.Pittston Area`8`8`4`15 &#8212; 35Coughlin`4`6`10`0 &#8212; 20Three-point goals &#8212; PA 5 (Sharp 2, Savoy, Coles, Zambetti).Nanticoke Area 45, Meyers 34NANTICOKE AREA (45) &#8212; Alyssa Lewis 2 4-6 9, Amiah Lukowski 0 1-2 1, Jen Kurkoski 0 0-0 0, Riley Baird 0 3-6 3, Emily Hauer 0 1-2 1, Lauren Casey 6 0-2 12, Jil Baron 1 2-2 4, Myla Vnuk 2 2-2 6, Bella Czeck 3 2-2 9. Totals 14 15-24 45.MEYERS (34) &#8212; Bella Gray 2 0-0 5, Allycia Harris 3 2-3 8, Alana Germano 2 1-2 5, Ashley Bruno 4 0-0 9, Bella Skaff 2 1-2 5, DaNayia Ballard 0 2-2 2. Totals 13 6-9 34.Nanticoke Area`10`6`13`16 &#8212; 45Meyers`3`8`5`18 &#8212; 34Three-point goals &#8212; NAN 2 (Lewis, Czeck); MEY 2 (Gray, Bruno).Lake-Lehman 63, MMI Prep 25LAKE-LEHMAN (63) &#8212; Halle Jones 2 1-2 5, Jess Salus 1 0-0 3, Madison Brdaric 2 0-0 5, Maddison Park 2 0-0 4, Krista Scoblick 1 0-0 2, Hunter Kline 0 0-0 0, Claire Dougherty 2 2-2 7, Sarah Salus 1 1-2 4, Corinna Scoblick 3 0-0 6, Jodie Salansky 1 2-2 4, Jessica Spencer 2 2-6 6, Savannah Purdy 2 0-0 5, Autumn Savitski 0 0-0 0, Cahse Purdy 2 0-0 4, Madison Borum 4 0-0 8. Totals 25 8-14 63.MMI PREP (25) &#8212; Lindsay Braunstein 0 0-0 0, Violet O&#8217;Connell 0 0-0 0, Dominique Kline 0 0-0 0, Kim Amentler 4 0-3 8, Julie Amentler 3 0-2 6, Irene Altmiller 4 3-4 11, Alexis Dalesandro 0 0-0 0, Hannah Falatko 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 3-9 25.Lake-Lehman`25`20`10`8 &#8212; 63MMI Prep`3`6`8`8 &#8212; 25Three-point goals &#8212; LL 5 (S. Salus, Purdy, Brdaric, Dougherty, J. Salus).<style>
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<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>

WVC girls basketball: Marcinkowski, dominant Redeemer defense bottle up Northwest