By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
FORMAT: The eight-team, three-round tournament uses home courts of higher seeds in the quarterfinals, semifinals and third-place game before moving to Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for the final. The top three teams advance to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament.
SCHEDULE CHANGE: The first round was moved back from Wednesday to Thursday because of weather.
2022 RECAP: Second-seeded Abington Heights defeated top-seeded Pittston Area, 38-31, in the championship game. Fifth-seeded Wyoming Valley West topped fourth-seeded Wallenpaupack, 52-47, in the quarterfinals for the other win by a lower seed.
HIGHEST SEEDS: 1. Pittston Area; 2. Wallenpaupack; 3. Abington Heights; 4. Scranton.
REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPIONS: Pittston Area won the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title while Wallenpaupack won Lackawanna League Division 2.
RANKED TEAMS: The field appears to be deep and fairly evenly matched with Pittston Area ranked second, Wallenpaupack third, Abington Heights fourth and tournament sixth-seed Dallas fifth among Big School girls teams in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
WINNING RECORDS: Holy Cross 17-5, Blue Ridge 19-3.
BEST OPENER: First-year Dallas coach Vince Bucciarelli won 592 games along with 26 district or division championships in 32 years coaching at Abington Heights where he brings his Dallas team for Thursday’s quarterfinal. Eighth-year Abington Heights head coach Deanna Klingman assisted Bucciarelli for six seasons. It is not just an interesting story on the sidelines. The late-season play of the Lady Mountaineers, who beat Class 6A top-seed Hazleton Area twice, make them a threat to Abington Heights’ status of playing in every season of championship games at the arena. The Lady Comets are tied with the Scranton Prep boys and Susquehanna girls for most titles at the arena with six and tied with the Hazleton Area girls with seven appearances in seven previous seasons of arena finals. Dallas started the season 3-6 with five losses by one or two points and was still 6-9 before winning six of its last seven.
KEY GAME: With three PIAA tournament spots available, all quarterfinal winners get two shots, if needed, to make the state event. The winner of the 5-vs.-4 game between North Pocono and Scranton will be on that list and should be capable of threatening the teams it is seeded behind. North Pocono had won eight out of nine, including a 45-38 victory over Scranton, before having a Lackawanna Division 2 title shot get away with losses in the regular-season finale and a division playoff. Immediately after that loss to North Pocono, Scranton started a stretch in which it won five out of the last seven games.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Daniella Ranieli, Kallie Booth and Ava Callahan from Pittston Area; Ella Smith and Grace Steffen from Wallenpaupack; Madison Zalewski, Caroline Murray and Maggie Coleman from Abington Heights; Finley Bittenbender, Maggie O’Shea and Lanee Olson from Scranton; Abby Lenchitsky, Sam Polishan and Kylee Mastillo from North Pocono; Elizabeth Viglone, Molly Walsh and Victoria Spaciano from Dallas; Natalie Goldstein from Honesdale; Keira Dougherty from Crestwood.
