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<p>Along with the chance to become the first team to wear the inaugural league crown comes an added bonus for a couple of teams in the initial Wyoming Valley Conference Girls Basketball Playoffs.</p><p>An opportunity for revenge.</p><p>OK, maybe revenge is a little strong, but both Berwick and Wyoming Seminary sense some amped-up anticipation entering rematches with heavily-favored opponents they both played tough the first time around.</p><p>&#8220;The kids are excited,&#8221; Berwick coach Bill Phillips said. &#8220;We&#8217;re looking forward to playing in the first league playoffs.&#8221;</p><p>They open Thursday at Holy Redeemer High School, with two intriguing semifinal match-ups.</p><p>WVC Division 3 champ Wyoming Seminary will face Division 2 winner Holy Redeemer for the second time in six days at 6 p.m., before Division 1 title holder Hazleton Area faces wild card team Berwick at 7:30 p.m. in a rematch of an electric Jan. 4 battle.</p><p>The overall league championship game will be played at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hazleton Area High School.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s a favorite,&#8221; said Holy Redeemer coach John Jezorwski, whose team probably is.</p><p>The Royals were the WVC&#8217;s only unbeaten team in league play at 16-0 and carry the best overall mark of the tournament&#8217;s four playoff teams at 18-3.</p><p>&#8220;Hazleton&#8217;s playing very well,&#8221; Jezorwski continued. &#8220;Sem played us back-and-forth. Berwick has a great team. And they&#8217;re all great coaches.&#8221;</p><p>They all see a great opportunity.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re excited,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio said. &#8220;All the teams in it are exceptionally good. I think we&#8217;re playing good. I&#8217;m excited to be in it. First year we&#8217;re having it. Looking forward to it.&#8221;</p><p>The pairings may add an extra boost.</p><p>Back at the start of the year, Marissa Trivelpiece scored 15 points and hit for seven down the stretch as Hazleton Area pulled away from Berwick, 51-41.</p><p>Hazleton Area had a 12-1 lead after the opening quarter and held a 16-point lead before the Bulldogs scored a basket. But Berwick rallied within four points by halftime and tied the game early in the second half behind 17 points from Katie Starr and 12 by Renny Murphy before the Cougars pulled away late.</p><p>&#8220;We talk to our kids about how we can never look back at other games, but we watch the film,&#8221; Phillips said. &#8220;On video, it looks like we can hang with them. It&#8217;s a big rivalry. We always play them tough.&#8221;</p><p>That victory started an 11-game winning streak for the Cougars, who captured the Division 1 crown with a 14-2 record, are 17-5 overall and have won 11 of their last 12 games.</p><p>Meanwhile, Berwick won 13 of 14 after that defeat, captured four of its last five games and finished 18-4 overall and 14-3 in Division 2 while earning the league&#8217;s wild card berth over Lake-Lehman by a mere fraction of a percentage point in the District 2 power ratings.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great tuneup for districts,&#8221; Phillips said. &#8220;It&#8217;s an excellent opponent. It&#8217;s an exciting time.&#8221;</p><p>Redeemer and Sem don&#8217;t have to wait long to recreate some excitement from Saturday.</p><p>The Royals rolled their winning streak to nine consecutive games and won for the 15th time in 16 games when Julia Andrejko poured in 20 points and Sam Yencha popped in 17 during a 60-42 victory at Wyoming Seminary.</p><p>That should make Redeemer a shoe-in for the finals, right?</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s an advantage or disadvantage,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;Sem is a really good team with really great guards. It&#8217;s a good thing having just played them, because we&#8217;ve seen them and know what they do. It&#8217;s a bad thing because they&#8217;ve seen us and know what we do.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s 50-50.&#8221;</p><p>It was also a pretty even game for the longest time.</p><p>Sem steamed to a six-game win streak to win Division 3, carries a 14-8 overall record and that loss to Redeemer was the only one in the Blue Knight&#8217;s last eight games.</p><p>And it was much closer than the final score indicated.</p><p>Behind 14 points from Ally Vezendy and 10 apiece from Alex Wesneski and Margaret Mihalick, Sem stomped to a 13-6 lead after a quarter, was within a point and halftime and trailed by six points after three quarters before the play-making Wesneski fouled out.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re very excited, especially after our first game against Holy Redeemer,&#8221; Sem coach Abby Rodway said. &#8220;Being able to hang with them was eye-opening for me. We&#8217;re definitely hoping to play Redeemer close again.</p><p>&#8220;But we do have hopes of winning the overall title.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;ll give four teams a shot at wearing the league&#8217;s first overall crown, and a chance to prepare for even bigger things to come.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a great opportunity for the girls,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a kind of win or go home-type of thing in the Wyoming Valley Conference Championships. It&#8217;s a good start preparation for (district and state) playoffs.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Marissa Trivelpiece starred in an earlier victory over Berwick and will try to lead Division 1 Hazleton Area past the Bulldogs again in a WVC Girls Basketball Playoff semifinal Thursday at Holy Redeemer High School. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL012219GBB-Hazleton-PA_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Marissa Trivelpiece starred in an earlier victory over Berwick and will try to lead Division 1 Hazleton Area past the Bulldogs again in a WVC Girls Basketball Playoff semifinal Thursday at Holy Redeemer High School. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL122417GBBRedeemer-Prep_3-CMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Julia Andrejko helped Holy Redeemer to the Division 2 championship and into the league championship playoffs. Her latest effort included a 20-point performance that kept the Royals unbeaten in league play with a win over Wyoming Seminary, their opponent Thursday in the WVC semifinals. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL122417GBBRedeemer-Prep_3-CMYK.jpg</photo1><caption1>Julia Andrejko helped Holy Redeemer to the Division 2 championship and into the league championship playoffs. Her latest effort included a 20-point performance that kept the Royals unbeaten in league play with a win over Wyoming Seminary, their opponent Thursday in the WVC semifinals. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL011519GBB-Sem-Berwick_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick&#8217;s Renny Murphy became an outside threat that helped the Bulldogs to a wild card berth in the WVC semifinals, where they&#8217;ll renew a rivalry and try to avenge an earlier defeat to Hazleton Area on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL011519GBB-Sem-Berwick_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Berwick&#8217;s Renny Murphy became an outside threat that helped the Bulldogs to a wild card berth in the WVC semifinals, where they&#8217;ll renew a rivalry and try to avenge an earlier defeat to Hazleton Area on Thursday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL011519GBB-Sem-Berwick_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Ally Vezendy, right, battling against Emily Ouimet and fellow WVC playoff team Berwick earlier this season, scored 14 points to help the Division 3 champion Blue Knights give league power Holy Redeemer a scare Saturday. Sem will meet Redeemer again Thursday in the WVC semifinals. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL011519GBB-Sem-Berwick_3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Ally Vezendy, right, battling against Emily Ouimet and fellow WVC playoff team Berwick earlier this season, scored 14 points to help the Division 3 champion Blue Knights give league power Holy Redeemer a scare Saturday. Sem will meet Redeemer again Thursday in the WVC semifinals. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>First-ever WVC girls basketball playoffs promise rematches and riveting suspense</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>

Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball teams eager for league playoffs