OPENING DAY
The Lackawanna League Division 4 season gets underway with Susquehanna at Forest City late Monday afternoon and Elk Lake at Mountain View Monday night.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT
Blue Ridge is at Lackawanna Trail Tuesday is another opener.
Montrose has the bye and plays its first division game Thursday at Susquehanna.
Only games within the division count in the standings. Teams play 12 games, home-and-home with each of the other 6 teams in the division.
The full division schedule can be found at: Girls basketball schedules – Lackawanna League Division 4 – NEPA Sports Nation.
2021-22 STANDINGS
Montrose 12-0, Elk Lake 9-3, Lackawanna Trail 7-5, Blue Ridge 6-6, Susquehanna 5-7, Mountain View 2-10, Forest City 1-11.
RANKED TEAM
Montrose is the third-ranked Small School girls team in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
SNEAK PREVIEW
The Jill Hoffman-Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament brings together four of the division teams – all in the top five in the standings last season – for two games the week before the season starts.
Montrose defeated Blue Ridge, 55-19, and Elk Lake, 50-24.
Elk Lake topped Susquehanna, 53-23, and Blue Ridge beat Susquehanna, 43-29.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Elk Lake is a Class 3A team.
Blue Ridge, Lackawanna Trail and Montrose are in Class 2A.
Forest City, Mountain View and Susquehanna are Class A teams.
Montrose moves down from Class 3A to 2A while Elk Lake goes from 2A to 3A.
Mountain View drops from 2A to A.
RETURNING STARS
All three returning all-stars are from Montrose.
Hayley Pompey is a three-time, first-team, division all-star, according to selections made by NEPABasketball.com, which is now part of NEPASportsNation.com.
Mia Snyder is already a two-time, first-teamer and Aspen Smith also made the first team for Montrose last season.
GETTING STARTED
Montrose is one of three division teams that had winning records during non-league play in December.
Current non-league records for division members: Montrose 5-2, Blue Ridge 4-2, Mountain View 4-3, Elk Lake 3-4, Lackawanna Trail 3-4, Forest City 1-5, Susquehanna 1-6.
ANALYZING THE RACE
NEPASportsNation.com editor Tom Robinson breaks down the race as follows:
The division as a whole could be a up a bit. The combined 21-26 record in a non-league play improves upon last season’s 27-50 record outside the division.
That improvement should make for some excellent games between the second- through fifth-place teams. It may not, however, do anything to bring the rest of the teams closer to Montrose, which won by more than 36 points per game last season in its second straight 12-0 season in the division.
Projected order of finish: 1, Montrose; 2, Mountain View; 3, Elk Lake; 4, Lackawanna Trail; 5, Blue Ridge; 6, Susquehanna; 7, Forest City.
Projections in each division are separating every place in the standings. It should be noted, however, that a two-, three- or four-way tie in the second through fifth teams, in some combination, would not be surprising.
LOOKING AHEAD
Mountain View is trying to climb from sixth place a year ago into the top half of the standings.
The Lady Eagles get a shot at Montrose at home Jan. 12.
MORE LACKAWANNA DIVISION 4 COVERAGE
Blue Ridge overview: Lady Raiders building momentum – NEPA Sports Nation.
Hoffman-Reddon Classic recap: Lady Meteors’ defense dominates – NEPA Sports Nation.
COMING SOON
Overviews of the other teams in the division are on the way. Check back at: Basketball – NEPA Sports Nation in the days ahead.
