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Wilkes-Barre preps for St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday

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24-year-old announces run for Wilkes-Barre council District B seat

Some girls basketball teams just can&#8217;t lose immediately upon entering states.Others, at least lately, just can&#8217;t win.More than anything when it comes to the PIAA playoffs, success depends on the luck of the draw.&#8220;Some teams are tougher, some districts are tougher,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio said. &#8220;A lot of times, if you get a good bracket, you can do things.&#8221;So when the PIAA girls basketball playoffs open this weekend, Holy Redeemer and Nanticoke Area will be trying to continue their first-round state success.Redeemer has reeled off quite a streak in opening-round state games, winning its first PIAA game in each of the past six seasons and seven straight first-round PIAA games it has played in.&#8220;The girls put the time and effort in, they really work together and come together at this time of year,&#8221; Holy Redeemer&#8217;s third-year head coach John Jezorwski said. &#8220;They&#8217;re really striving to play their best basketball.&#8221;There&#8217;s another reason for Redeemer&#8217;s state roll. Sometimes, success really does breed success.&#8220;I think it&#8217;s the confidence,&#8221; Jezorwski said. &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t matter who we&#8217;re playing against, we feel we can win. Everybody&#8217;s good at this point. They all had to win something to get here. The team that executes best to their gameplan wins.&#8221;Nanticoke Area has been executing pretty well in state play lately.The Trojanettes opened the PIAA playoffs with victories in each of the past two seasons and carry a three-game opening-round state winning streak going back to 2012 into Saturday&#8217;s tipoff against Mifflinburg in a first-round Class 4A state game.Meanwhile, Hazleton Area will be trying to snap a streak that&#8217;s stretched for a decade.Since beating Central Dauphin in a 2009 PIAA Class 4A opener, the Cougars lost three straight first-round state games, including twice to Neshaminy &#8212; as a Class 4A team in 2016 and as a Class 6A team last year. Hazleton Area is still searching for its first PIAA win as a Class 6A team and hopes to find it against a Central Bucks West and Division I recruit Maddie Burke that is the No. 9 team from District 1.&#8220;You get a week to prepare for that first game,&#8221; Gavio said. &#8220;You get on the phone, make a phone call. You watch film. A few other Northeastern Pennsylvania teams will be trying to break some. That District 1 is very tough. Everybody&#8217;s in the same boat now, because you lose and you go home.&#8220;And everybody has that dream.&#8221;Lake-Lehman is dreaming of its first state win in at least a couple decades when it goes up against Jersey Shore on Saturday. The Black Knights lost their last state opener, to Springfield Montco in 2011, and dropped another first-round state game against Shamokin in 2002.Then again, such droughts didn&#8217;t seem to bother Valley West two years ago. The Spartans won their first-ever state playoff game in 2017 and are back for a crack to make it two in a row when they play Bangor in a first-round Class 5A game on Saturday.Here&#8217;s a look at WVC teams ready to tangle in first-round PIAA openers.FRIDAYCLASS 3AHoly Redeemer (23-4)vs. Loyalsock Township (23-3)6:30 p.m., Williamsport HSThe District 2 runner-up Royals go on the road to meet the District 4 champion, but that may not be a bad thing. Of Loyalsock Township&#8217;s three losses, two were to District 2 teams &#8212; a 56-51 defeat against Lake-Lehman in late December and a 53-40 defeat against Dunmore in early February. The other loss was against District 4 Class 4A champ Mifflinburg, 57-54.Loyalsock is led by main scorers Summer McNulty and Sam Stopper, who led the Lancers to the Heartland III Conference championship with an 11-0 record.While Loyalsock whipped Warrior Run 58-31 to win the District 4 title, Holy Redeemer went wire-to-wire with unbeaten and No. 2 state ranked Dunmore before falling, 33-27 in the District 2 championship game.Sam Yencha and Julia Andrejko are both 1,000-point career scorers for the Royals and average 17 and 16.5 points, respectively. But don&#8217;t sleep on Cameron Marcinkowski, who put up two huge 3-pointers and scored eight second-half points in that district title loss. Point guard Karissa Spade has sparked an aggressive defense that hasn&#8217;t allowed more than 40 points in any of its five postseason games.District 2 champion Dunmore, 25-0, will play District 12 No. 4 team Constitution, 14-6, at 6 p.m. at Lackawanna College in another Class 3A state opener.CLASS 6ACentral Bucks West (18-9)vs. Hazleton Area (19-5)7 p.m., Berwick MSCentral Bucks West earned the date with the Cougars by exploding for the game&#8217;s first 14 points and scoring 25 of the first 30 to end all suspense early in the second half of a 42-26 whipping of Plymouth Whitemarsh in the District 1 ninth-place game.So the Bucks, even as a No. 9 team, can&#8217;t be taken for granted.With Izzy Treon wreaking havoc with steals and 6-foot-1 junior Division 1 recruit Maddie Burke popping 3-pointers with regularity, Central Bucks West wears teams down quickly &#8212; both mentally and physically.But that may be playing into the hands of a Hazleton Area team that won the District 2/4 title by making Williamsport wide-eyed while causing 28 turnovers in a 48-41 championship victory.The unflappable Marissa Trivelpiece averages 13.1 points, but her value to the team is immeasureable simply by numbers, although they&#8217;re very good. She pulls down a team-high nine rebounds per game and has blocked 15 shots over the past four postseason games.Six-foot forward Faith Grula missed the subregional title game with a jammed finger, but should be ready to go Friday for the Cougars. They get spunky guard play from starter Brooke Boretski and from Olivia Wolk off the bench, and Kyra Antolick had a key scoring game against Williamsport while tying Trivelpiece for the team lead with 13 points.SATURDAYCLASS 4AJersey Shore (13-12)vs. Lake-Lehman (19-4)4:30 p.m., Pittston Area HSJersey Shore reached the tournament by edging Shamokin 57-55 in the District 4 third-place game to continue an up-and-down season while assuring the Bulldogs no worse than a .500 season record, as well as a matchup with Lehman.The Bulldogs revolve around Hannah Kaufman, who averages 18.5 points, 2.6 assists and 4.1 steals. Fellow senior Reba Lorson has 24 3-pointers, while Sadie Griswold turns in 5.5 rebounds and 6.5 points per game. Aubrey Stetts is the team&#8217;s second-leading scorer at 8.3 points and shot-blocking Aubrey Schilling passes the defense.Lehman boasts 6-foot-2 center Madison Borum, who scores 13.1 points and shuts down drives to the hoop with her post play. Everyone around her is a threat from the perimeter, starting with streaky Savannah Purdy and steady Corinna Scoblick. Even 6-foot freshman forward Claire Dougherty can step out and pop from the 3-point line. Meanwhile, a destructive zone defense drives opponents to the outside, where guard Sarah Salus pesters even the coolest play-makers.Nanticoke Area (19-6)vs. Mifflinburg (24-3)7 p.m., Shikellamy HSMifflinburg is fresh off a 47-40 win over Danville in the District 4 championship game, so the Wildcats will be riding high.Riley Griffith is the big scorer for Mifflinburg with her 18.2-point average, but she also has 26 3-pointers and 12 steals. The rest of the attack is pretty balanced, with both Angela Reamer and Reagan Griffith averaging 7.9 points and Libby Whitaker at 7.2 points per game. Reagan Griffith has also popped 21 3-pointers. Whitaker also makes a difference by averaging almost 2.2 rebounds.The difference for Nanticoke Area is size and defense.Six-footers Lauren Casey and Jil Baron pack the paint and a pressure defense has the ability to drive opponents dizzy. Speedy Amiah Lukowski and the rest of the defense held Berwick to just four points in each of the first two quarters in a 31-20 victory during the District 2 third-place game that gave the Trojanettes their fourth consecutive trip to states. Casey leads the team with a scoring average of 9.4 points, while Lukowski and Baron each average slightly over seven points. Lukowski has drilled 37 3-pointers on the season.Also in Class 4A, District 2 champion Scranton Prep will put its 24-1 record up against District 3 No. 4 team ELCO, 21-7, at 4:30 p.m. at Marywood University.CLASS 5AWyoming Valley West (16-10)vs. Bangor (17-8)6 p.m. at Pittston Area HSBangor enters its first PIAA tournament since 2012 off a 53-28 loss to Southern Lehigh in the District 11 championship game.Now the Slaters will go against a second straight team nicknamed the Spartans.The Slaters are small and quick, relying on a speedy, aggressive defense led by ball-hawking Jenna Learn and Casey Welch to make up for lack of height. Bangor, which finished runner-up in the Colonial League East at 13-5, set a school record with 137 3-point field goals this season. Honorable mention Colonial League All-Stars Emily LaBar, Madeline Minner and Casey Walsh spark an offensive attack that received 12 points from Morgan Karasek in the District 11 title game.Valley West is on the opposite side of the ledger.They have 6-foot-1 freshman Trinity Johnson and 6-foot senior Andi Blaski to control the inside with bullish 5-10 senior Karaline Stelma bringing strong rebounding skills off the bench. They depend on some smaller players to score, though, as 5-5 guard Toni Amato averages a team-high 15.5 points with 54 3-pointers, while fellow guard Nicole Boutanos scores 12.5 points per game.Meanwhile, District 2 champion Abington Heights, 21-5, will open state play against District 3 No. 6 team Mechanicsburg, 20-6, at 6 p.m. at Marywood University.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Samantha Yencha, hugging fellow 1,000-point career scorer Julia Andrejko (10), will try to help the Royals extend their first-round state winning streak to seven straight seasons and eight consecutive victories for the school in PIAA girls basketball openers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_hr_dun5_faa-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Samantha Yencha, hugging fellow 1,000-point career scorer Julia Andrejko (10), will try to help the Royals extend their first-round state winning streak to seven straight seasons and eight consecutive victories for the school in PIAA girls basketball openers. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Some WVC teams carry trend of success in state openers, others just looking for a win</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>

Holy Redeemer, Nanticoke Area try to continue opening-round state streaks