Pittston Area not only repeated as Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls basketball champion, but did so by a four-game margin over its biggest challengers, leading to sophomore point guard Daniella Ranieli and coach Jeff Gregory landing top honors on the all-star team released by NEPASportsNation.com Thursday night.
Ranieli was named Player of the Year while Gregory repeated as Coach of the Year.
Last season, Ranieli was a first-team, all-star as a freshman on the team selected by NEPABasketball.com. That website has since been merged into NEPASportsNation.com for coverage of all District 2 sports.
Ranieli averaged 16.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 steals. She shot 35.0 percent from 3-point range while hitting nearly two shots per game from beyond the arc. Ranieli also shot 49.2 percent on her two-point attempts and 75.6 percent from the foul line.
Pittston Area’s Kallie Booth was Player of the Year on the NEPABasketball.com team last season and is part of the first team this season. She also had been a second-team selection as a sophomore.
Wyoming Valley West’s Mackenzie Perluke, who moves up from the second team, and Hazleton Area’s Sophia Shults, who was an honorable mention selection last season, are also on the first team with Booth.
Freshmen Molly Walsh from Dallas and Keira Doughery from Crestwood join them on the first team.
Elizabeth Viglone from Dallas, a first-teamer a year ago, leads the second team.
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Shelby Ardo-Boyko and Berwick’s RaeAnna Andreas repeat on the second team.
An honorable mention was also named for the eight-team division. The all-star teams from the WVC Division 1 boys will also include an honorable mention while the other 10 divisional teams around District 2 will each consist of just a first and second team. Those divisions have between five and seven member schools in each.
Ava Callahan from Pittston Area, Cadence Hiller from Crestwood and Brianna Kennedy from Hazleton Area each made the honorable mention list for the second straight year.
Of the 20 total players recognized, 4 are freshman, 5 are sophomores and 5 are juniors.
The full team is:
WYOMING VALLEY CONFERENCE DIVISION 1
Coach of the Year
Jeff Gregory, Pittston Area
Player of the Year
Daniella Ranieli, Pittston Area sophomore
First Team
Kallie Booth, Pittston Area senior
Keira Dougherty, Crestwood freshman
Mackenzie Perluke, Wyoming Valley West junior
Sophia Shults, Hazleton Area sophomore
Molly Walsh, Dallas freshman
Second Team
RaeAnna Andreas, Berwick junior
Shelby Ardo-Boyko, Wilkes-Barre Area senior
Alexis Reimold, Hazleton Area freshmen
Victoria Spaciano, Dallas junior
Elizabeth Viglone, Dallas junior
Honorable Mention
Eternity Aiken, Wilkes-Barre senior
Ava Callahan, Pittston Area senior
Cadence Hiller, Crestwood senior
Brianna Kennedy, Hazleton Area senior
Emma Krawczeniuk, Wilkes-Barre Area junior
Diamond Thornton, Wilkes-Barre Area sophomore
Thalia Irizarry, Wyoming Valley West freshman
Sable Stephens, Tunkhannock senior
Rachel Whitenight, Berwick sophomore
