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Former Tunkhannock mayor Ball dies at 84

It was supposed to be a big day for Misericordia women&rsquo;s basketball.
				The biggest game of the season, they called it.
				You could tell that by the arch built out of pink and white balloons that the team&rsquo;s only senior, Jordan Barth, walked through to receive her pregame honors on Senior Appreciation Day.
				But it was more about taking it to the top for the Cougars than relishing a girl who led them there.
				And the way the game began, it seemed as if Barth was about to lead Misericordia over the top.
				She reached up with her long arm&rsquo;s and snagged the game&rsquo;s first rebound. Then the second. Then the third.
				She whistled an overhand pass to Tessa Zamolyi for an easy layup inside, and in the first few minutes, Misericordia had a 5-0 lead over DeSales in a late-season battle for first place in the MAC Freedom Conference.
				&ldquo;You feel unstoppable,&rdquo; Barth said.
				Just over five minutes and 18 straight points later, it was 18-5 DeSales.
				And this dream day quickly turned into a nightmare for the Cougars from there.
				They trailed by 16 points at halftime. They fell behind by 20 when Rylie Rittenhouse made a basket midway through the third quarter. By the time Rittenhouse drilled a 3-point shot with 3:43 to play, her Bulldogs had a 30-point lead and there was no chance to Misericordia marching back.
				DeSales dominated Saturday&rsquo;s 74-46 victory over Misericordia, breaking a tie between the two at the top of the MAC Freedom and now needing to win one of two remaining games to secure homecourt advantage as the top seed for the league tournament.
				And DeSales had dashed Misericordia&rsquo;s high hopes again.
				This happened before, of course.
				Misericordia was the team DeSales beat for the conference crown last season, before taking off on a run that left them one point from reaching the NCAA Division III Elite Eight. Misericordia was the team DeSales trounced earlier this year, 75-46, to remain in the hunt for a Freedom title.
				It&rsquo;s getting to be an obstacle the Cougars just can&rsquo;t seem to overcome.
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that it&rsquo;s dominance,&rdquo; said DeSales coach Fred Richter, whose team will make its 24th straight trip to the league playoff tournament. &ldquo;Right now, we have the kids who play hard defensively. Everybody&rsquo;s having problems with our press. There aren&rsquo;t that many teams that play it.&rdquo;
				He made it clear this isn&rsquo;t a team loaded with veterans from last year&rsquo;s MAC championship and Sweet 16 NCAA squad.
				&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t the same team as last year,&rdquo; Richter said.
				Somehow, the Bulldogs are causing Misericordia the same problems, though.
				The faces change on both sides, the styles switch, the gameplans evolve. But the result pretty much remains similar.
				For most of the last decade, the Cougars have rarely found a way to beat DeSales.
				They&rsquo;ve beaten just about everyone else.
				Misericordia, also headed to the MAC Freedom playoffs, carries a sparkling 20-3 overall record and, barring a total collapse by the Bulldogs this week, will head to the conference postseason as the Freedom runner-up.
				But both league losses, and two of those three overall, came at the hands of the Bulldogs.
				&ldquo;Every time we seem to play them,&rdquo; Misericordia coach Jason Rhine said, &ldquo;we seem to not do anything we prepared for. We&rsquo;ve got to be able to meet halfway and follow our gameplan.&rdquo;
				Maybe it&rsquo;s simply a matter of Misericordia getting psyched out.
				&ldquo;I would definitely agree with that,&rdquo; Barth said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mindset when we&rsquo;re playing DeSales.&rdquo;
				The Cougars had some big things in mind Saturday.
				But after an initial surge, Misericordia was tormented into 18 turnovers by halftime. Barth, a 1,000-point scorer who averages 12.1 points, never did score from the floor and finished with five points from the foul line &mdash; although she did miss stretches of the game after rolling her ankle late in the first half.
				But aside from Zamolyi, who led the Cougars with 18 points, Misericordia never did develop any consistent offense.
				&ldquo;We threw the first punch,&rdquo; Rhine said. &ldquo;They threw the next two through seven.&rdquo;
				By then, it was a knockout. Again.
				&ldquo;Every single time we played DeSales, we tried to do different things,&rdquo; Rhine said. &ldquo;This doesn&rsquo;t make or break our season. We still have an opportunity. There&rsquo;s no guarantee we are going to see them again.&rdquo;
				Chances are, though, they will meet again in the championship game of the conference tournament.
				&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t take any credit away from them, they&rsquo;re very talented,&rdquo; Barth said. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t see them again until conference playoffs. It&rsquo;s really hard to beat a team three times. Great teams come back from adversity.&rdquo;
				The mindset is already starting to come around for the Cougars. If that attitude doesn&rsquo;t translate into more poised and polished play, they&rsquo;ll keep coming back into a hornet&rsquo;s nest.

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