OPENING NIGHT
Three division games are on the opening night schedule Thursday.
Holy Cross is at Old Forge, Lakeland is at Dunmore and Carbondale is at Mid Valley.
Riverside is at Division 4 member Elk Lake in a crossover game that is not part of the league standings.
RANKINGS
Five of the division’s seven teams are part of the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Those ranking include Dunmore as the No. 2 Big School team and the top three teams in the Small School Rankings, Riverside, followed by Holy Cross and Old Forge. Lakeland is sixth among Small Schools.
THE RACE
Seven-time defending champion Dunmore returns the seven players who received the bulk of last season’s playing time. Dunmore has gone 12-0 in the division in four of those seasons and 11-1 in the other three to make it 11 division titles in Ben O’Brien’s 12 seasons as head coach.
Riverside returns all but one starter along with its key reserves from a team that lost only to Dunmore during the 2019-20 regular season, again putting the Lady Vikes in the role of top challenger.
Holy Cross and Old Forge are quality, experienced teams that should be big factors in the Class 2A postseason, but challenging the top two may prove difficult.
2019-20 STANDINGS
The final standings were: Dunmore 12-0, Riverside 10-2, Old Forge 8-4, Holy Cross 6-6, Lakeland 4-8, Carbondale 1-11, Mid Valley 1-11.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Dunmore has controversially been forced up from Class 3A to 4A as part of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s new competition formula, which measures the combination of postseason success with the existence of transfer students in the program. The Lady Bucks lost on appeals within the PIAA and in the court system.
Riverside, Lakeland, Carbondale and Mid Valley compete in Class 3A.
Old Forge and Holy Cross are the Class 2A teams.
HEAD START
Six of the division teams waited until the league opener to begin their seasons.
The other, Riverside, is tied for the most games played and the best record in all of District 2 at 5-0.
The Lady Vikes have beaten two strong District 11 teams, two Wyoming Valley Conference opponents and Lackawanna Division 2 favorite North Pocono, winning by an average margin of 36.6 points.
ON THE BENCH
Tom Gatto, who guided Old Forge to a state championship game appearance, comes out of retirement to lead the Lady Devils on an interim basis with Ron Stacchiotti sidelined by health issues.
Denise Larson moves up from assistant to replace Vince Bucciarelli at Mid Valley.
RETURNING STARS
Four all-state players, including two first-teamers, return in the division.
Dunmore’s Moriah Murray and Riverside’s Kylie Lavelle were first-team, all-state selections by Pennsylvania Sports Writers in Class 3A last season. Both juniors have already verbally committed to play together at Drexel University.
Ciera Toomey, a Dunmore sophomore who already has nine National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I offers, was a third-team choice in Class 3A. Old Forge’s Olivia Ciullo, who is headed to Division III Susquehanna University, was a third-teamer in Class 2A.
That’s just the start in terms of decorated players within the division.
Murray, Lavelle and Toomey were all first-team selections by NEPABasketball.com for the all-District 2 team, which recognizes the best players regardless of classification. Ciullo was joined on the second team by Kaci Kranson from Holy Cross.
O’Brien was Coach of the Year and Murray was Player of the Year on the website’s Lackawanna League Division 3 all-star team. Lavelle, Toomey, Ciullo and Kranson were all first-team choices.
Emily Ferguson and Abbey Lentowski from Holy Cross, Mia Blume from Dunmore and Kayla Rose from Riverside return from the second team, giving the division 9 of its 11 all-stars from last season back for this season.
SPECTATORS
Dunmore, Mid Valley and Old Forge are not allowing any fans as of the start of the season.
Holy Cross is allowing its senior parents only.
Lakeland and Riverside are allowing for some home fans only.
Carbondale’s bigger gym makes it the only one that can allow for limited visiting fans.
LIVESTREAMS
Carbondale, Dunmore, Holy Cross, Old Forge and Riverside are using YouTube channels to make their games available to the public for free.
Mid Valley and Lakeland will be using the subscription service NFHS Network.
Lakeland’s NFHS system is not expected to be ready until Feb. 1. Until then, the Lady Chiefs games will be free on YouTube on the Lakeland School District page.
TEAM PREVIEWS
Carbondale: https://nepabasketball.com/2020-21/previews/CarbondaleGirls.
Dunmore: https://nepabasketball.com/2020-21/previews/DunmoreGirls
Holy Cross: https://nepabasketball.com/2019-20/Articles/HolyCrossGirlsPre21.
Lakeland: https://nepabasketball.com/2020-21/articles/LakeandGirlsPre.
Mid Valley: https://nepabasketball.com/2020-21/previews/MidValleyGirls.
Old Forge: https://nepabasketball.com/2020-21/previews/OldForgeGirls.
Riverside: https://nepabasketball.prestosports.com/2020-21/previews/RiversideGirls.
