Mixed in with holiday tournaments in boys basketball, girls basketball and wrestling, the first league basketball game of the season in District 2 will be played Tuesday.
Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference boys and girls basketball seasons are scheduled to begin next week.
One game, however, from later in January was rescheduled for today.
That game put the WVC Division 1 boys favorite on the floor in the opener when Dallas hosts Berwick.
Dallas, ranked fourth among Big Schools in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, is 1-1. Berwick has already surpassed last season’s win total with a 2-1 start after going 1-17.
The boys basketball schedule also includes non-league play and gets underway early with Susquehanna hosting Canton in a noon, varsity-only, non-league game that was added after the Sabers had games called off with Carbondale and in the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament that would have concluded Tuesday.
The Tuesday schedule became busier when the start of the Taylor Lions Tournament for boys as well as the Honesdale Jaycees Tournament and the James Akens Memorial Tournament at North Pocono – a pair of girls-boys events – were pushed back from Monday because of weather.
Those games are all on the Tuesday schedule along with the championship game of the McGrane Tournament where Small School boys No. 1 Holy Redeemer (4-0) takes on last season’s final Big School No. 1 Crestwood (3-2). The Comets are defending WVC Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A champions.
Delaware Valley also hosts an event while Hazleton Area begins play in the Allentown Allen Holiday Tournament.
In addition to the girls-boys events at Honesdale and North Pocono, the girls tournament schedule also features the conclusion of the Taylor Lions Tournament with a high-profile matchup to decide the championship.
Abington Heights is at Riverside in a game between defending District 2 champions and currently ranked teams.
The visiting Lady Comets, the defending Class 5A champions, are 5-2 and on a five-game winning streak. They are ranked as the No. 4 Big School in the Super Six.
Riverside, the No. 1 Small School in every week of last season and the first three rankings of this season, has won three straight by a total of 115 points to improve to 5-1. The Lady Vikes are defending Class 3A champions.
The schools were tentatively working on a late-season, non-league matchup in the abbreviated 2021 season, but COVID concerns shortly before the playoffs kept the game from ever happening.
Tunkhannock will once again host a two-day wrestling tournament that begins Tuesday.
Dallas, Montrose, Nanticoke, Scranton Prep and Wyoming Area are among the teams scheduled to compete.
There are also two-day events scheduled at Bethlehem Liberty where Delaware Valley, Hazleton Area and Wilkes-Barre Area are entered in the Hurricane Classic and at Jim Thorpe where Abington Heights, Berwick, Valley View, Wallenpaupack and West Scranton are entered in the Christmas Tournament.
Honesdale had also been scheduled to participate in the Hurricane Classic, but has canceled.
Crestwood is in the Tuesday-only Bob Rohm Duals at Bloomsburg University.
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The full Tuesday District 2 basketball schedule can be found at: https://nepabasketball.com/composite?d=2021-12-28.
