A date that the Hazleton Area girls’ basketball team and its fans have pointed since to last season’s magical run ended has finally arrived: the start of the PIAA tournament.
With the best record of any of the 32 teams in the girls’ Class 6A bracket, the Lady Cougars (24-2) will play host to District 1, eighth-place finisher Garnet Valley in a first-round game, Friday, at 7 p.m. at Hughie McGeehan Gymnasium. The winner will move on to the second round against either Philadelphia Central or Parkland. The loser can stow its uniforms until next season.
In other PIAA opening-round action on Friday, the Marian girls will travel to Philadelphia to meet that city’s Vaux Big Picture team in a Class AA matchup; while the Weatherly boys will entertain Plumstead Christian in a Class A contest and the Crestwood boys will hit the road to take on Holy Ghost Prep in a Class 5A game. Please continue reading for a breakdown on all three of those games.
Saturday, the Weatherly girls will meet Philadelphia’s Motivation High in a Class A first-round game at Philly’s Lincoln High School and the Crestwood girls will host Cocalico in a Class 5A opener. Preview capsules of those games will appear ion standardspeaker.com and in Saturday’s print edition of the Standard-Speaker.
For information on how to purchase tickets for any of the six state playoff games involving local teams, please visit piaa.org and follow the prompts.
JAGUARS VS. LADY COUGARS
Hazleton Area’s past two seasons have ended at the hands of the eventual state Class 6A champions, Cardinal O’Hara in 2024 and Perkiomen Valley in 2025. With nearly their whole team back from last season, the Lady Cougars are hoping to be the ones hoisting that gold ball trophy in Hershey on March 20. But they also realize that taking one game at a time is always the best approach in the playoffs.
“As a team, we are very confident (in) what we are capable of doing. We know we can play at a high level,” senior Kayla Lagowy said. “Last year, one bad quarter (against Perkiomen Valley) set us back and ultimately lost to the state champ. This is something we learned from as a team.”
Hazleton Area’s only two losses this season have been to nationally ranked Redbank Catholic, N.J. and Wyoming Valley Conference rival Crestwood, which went to the PIAA Class 5A semifinals last season and has only two losses this season, two to the Lady Cougars.
Coach Joe Gavio’s team avenged its loss to the Lady Comets with a 60-55 victory over them in the WVC championship game, then blitzed Wyoming Valley West and Scranton to capture its third straight District 2 crown.
The usual suspects have had their fingerprints all over the Lady Cougars’ latest postseason run: career 1,000-point scorers Kaitlyn Bindas (19.8 points per game) and Alexis Reimold; (10.9) junior Sophia Benyo, who recently has taken her game to a higher level and bumped her season scoring average to 7.9 ppg; and Mariah Marolo (8.3) and Lagowy (4.6) as the starters. Their deep bench includes senior Addy Fritz, another career 1,000-point scorer, freshman Molly Temchatin, juniors Juliana Silva and Sofia Rodgers and senior Miranda Chupela. Both Fritz and Temchatin pitch in better than 6.0 ppg.
“I’m feeling pretty confident, but we’ve got to keep on them … and keep them working,” Gavio said. “We can’t get let them get lax because we have big aspirations. … We’d like to take another step.”
While the Lady Cougars were 2-0 before running into Perkiomen Valley in the last year’s state tournament, Garnet Valley was making the deepest postseason run in program history. It didn’t end until the Jaguars’ close loss to Upper St. Clair in the PIAA semifinals.
This season, coach Joseph Woods’ team started 9-0 and again was regarded as a District 1 power, but has gone only one game above .500 since. Included in the Jaguars’ 18-8 overall record are consecutive losses to Upper Dublin, Perkiomen Valley and Spring Ford in the District 1 tournament following their 54-22 rout of William Tennent rout in the second round. The Jaguars averaged only 27.7 ppg as a team in those losses
Junior twin sisters Addison Adamski and Kylie Adamski lead Garnet Valley’s offense at 11.6 and 9.7 ppg, but Jaguars also get contributions from Amanda Bilson (5.2), Regan Leydig (4.5), Reese Hunter (4.5), Katie Dwyer (2.7), Cassidy Zipperlen (2.2), Heaven Dada (2.0) and Viviana Lavarone (1.6).
Obviously, the Jaguars would like to slow down a Hazleton Area attack that averages 74.3 ppg. Garnet Valley also will need to handle the Lady Cougars’ full-court press, which often serves as the catalyst for their offense.
FILLIES VS. COUGARS
Who: 11-2 Marian (14-11) vs. 12-2 Vaux Big Picture (12-7)
What: PIAA Class AA first-round game
When: Friday, 6 p.m.
Where: Girls’ High School of Philadelphia
Up next: Winner advances to play either Muncy or Wyoming Seminary on Tuesday, March 10, at a time and site to be announced. The loser’s season is over.
How they got here: Marian defeated Lincoln Leadership Academy, 59-30, in the District 11 semifinals, before losing to Williams Valley in the district title game for the second straight season; Vaux defeated Science Leadership Academy at Beeber in the District 12 semifinals, 46-43, to earn its way into the state tournament, but then lost to MAST Charter II, 53-40, in the district final.
Players to watch: MARIAN – Addy Marek, 16.1; DeAnna Pugh, 11.3; Haley Minzola, 5.7; Brooke Hannis-Miskar, 4.9; Katie Knock, 4.2; Drew Mandia, 12.0; Noah Kephart, 10.0. VAUX BIG PICTURE – Princess Downs, 10.2; Valerie Sams, 9.2; A’Niyiah Reed, 8.7; Zaniyah Warren, 7.5, Talona Cato, 4.5; Juliana Un 2.9; Juliana Cruz-Felix, 2.2.
Breakdown: Even after two coaching changes since the end of last season, Marian played well enough to reach the Schuylkill League and District 11 playoffs and return to the state tournament for the fifth consecutive season, the longest of any local girls’ team. … The Fillies never won more than three in a row this season, but they never lost more than two straight either. … Marek and Pugh, their two main holdovers from last run to the PIAA quarterfinals, repeatedly have stepped up for interim head coach Jeff Onushco . … Marian has lost to an eventual state finalist in each of the past two seasons, to Marion Center in 2025 and Berlin Brothersvalley last season. …After starting the season 7-5, Vaux has won five of its last seven games, including the close victory over Science Leadership Academy at Beeber in the District 12 semifinals. The loss to MAST Charter II in on Feb. 20 stalled the Cougars’ momentum. … Vaux competes in the Philadelphia Public League’s Freelance Conference. The Cougars beat Roxborough, 53-44, in a play-in game for the league playoffs, before losing to Philadelphia Academy Charter, 48-36, in a second-round game. Vaux had two different four-game winning streaks during the season. All but two of those wins were double digits.
BOYS
PANTHERS VS. WRECKERS
Who: 1-3 Plumstead Christian (10-14) at 11-2 Weatherly (16-8)
What: PIAA Class A first-round game
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Weatherly Middle School
Up next: Winner advances to play either Sullivan County or Coventry Christian on Tuesday, March 10, at a time and site to be announced. The loser’s season is over.
How they got here: Plumstead Christian defeated Upper Bucks Christian , 67-36, in the District 1 third-place game after losing to Chester Charter,51-45, in the district semifinals; Weatherly lost to top-seeded Bethlehem Christian, 86-56, in the District 11 championship game after beating Nativity, 69-66, in overtime, in the district semifinals.
Players to watch: PLUMSTEAD CHRISTIAN – Mason McCuen, 14.0 points per game; Drew Mandia, 12.0; Noah Kephart, 10.0. WEATHERLY – Ian McKeegan, 20.2; Corbin Wagner, 14.0; Niko Saldukas, 12.4; Dominick Kokinda, 11.1; Matt Adler 7.7; Brandon Davis, 4.1.
Breakdown: Plumstead Christian is playing in the PIAA tournament for the first time since 2022. … McCuen, the team’s freshman point guard and the son of head coach Justin McCuen, led the Panthers with 18 points and Mandia, a senior guard, and sophomore Julian Desiato added 16 apiece in their huge win over Upper Bucks Christian. … McCuen popped in 20 points and Kephart had 10 against Chester Charter . … Weatherly counters with its own balanced attack led by longtime backcourt mates McKeegan and Wagner, both career 1,000-point scorers. … The core of the Wreckers team has played together since its freshman year. They went from two wins and an early playoff exit as sophomores, to 14 wins, reaching the Schuylkill League playoffs and nearly advancing to the state tournament as juniors to 16 wins, District 11 runner-up finish and Weatherly’s first PIAA appearance since 2006. The Wreckers lost to now defunct Bishop O’Reilly in the first round that season.
COMETS VS. FIREBIRDS
Who: 2-2 Crestwood (17-9) vs. 1-3 Holy Ghost Prep (19-3)
What: PIAA Class 5A first-round game
When: Friday, 7:15 p.m.
Where: Bensalem High School
Up next: Winner advances to play either Neumann Goretti or Pottstown on Tuesday, March 10, at a time and site to be announced. The loser’s season is over.
How they got here: Crestwood defeated Pittston Area, 41-33, in the District 2 semifinals, before losing to Abington Heights, 57-37, in the district title game; Holy Ghost Prep lost to Upper Dublin 66-45,in the District 1 semifinals, before bouncing back to beat Springfield-Delco, 59-46, in the third-place game.
Players to watch: CRESTWOOD – Ayden Agapito, 15.4; Miles Metz, 10.3; Gio Barna, 8.2; Connor Wagaman, 6.1; Zach Sechleer; Brady Johnson HOLY GHOST PREP – Liam Duffy, Jack Polek, Adam McDonald, Chris Albright, Max Milici, Jack Farrell.
Breakdown: Crestwood recovered from a midseason slump to finish second behind Dallas in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 standings and earn a WVC playoff berth. The Comets defeated Wyoming Area in the conference semifinals, 55-41, before losing to Dallas in the championship game, 43-38, their third loss to the Mountaineers this season. … Coach Mark Atherton’s team began the season, 4-0, and later had a five-game winning streak, which included the first of two wins over rival Hazleton Area. … The Comets started strong against Abington Heights in the District 2 final, but found points harder to come by as the game went on. … As usual, the Comets’ calling card is their tough, man-to-man defense, which has allowed 50 or more points in only five games all season. … Holy Ghost Prep opened the District 1 tournament as the No. 1 seed, before having its 11-game winning streak against Upper Dublin in the semifinals in a rematch of last year’s district title game, also won by the Cardinals. Polek and Duffy, the keys to their team’s interior play, led the Firebirds against Upper Dublin with 12 points apiece. Albright finished with eight. No other Firebird had more than five. UD’s 13-1 second-quarter run doomed Holy Ghost Prep in that game. … Coach Tom Heston’s Firebirds normally like to get out in the open court. … HGP, an all-boys school in Bensalem, Bucks County, will join the Philadelphia Catholic League next season.
Compiled by Dave Seamon