Riverside overpowered a young and short-handed Hanover Area squad from the start Saturday afternoon on the way to a 60-2 rout by the host Lady Vikes in a non-league girls basketball opener.
The Lady Vikes, who are ranked first among District 2 Small School girls teams in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings, were the first Lackawanna League basketball team to take the court in this coronavirus-delayed season.
Kayla Rose, Kylie Lavelle and the rest of their Riverside teammates showed they were ready to go.
Rose scored 7 straight points early and had 9 of Riverside’s first 13. She helped Riverside to a 28-0 lead after one quarter, then worked inside to score the first two baskets of the second quarter on the way to finishing with team-highs of 21 points and 8 rebounds.
“Kayla has been pretty consistent in practice since we returned and I was happy to see that continue,” Riverside coach Jack Mekilo said. “Her teammates did a great job getting her some easy looks that she finished.”
Lavelle, a returning, first-team, all-state player who is already committed to National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I school Drexel as a junior, took care of much of that distributing the ball early. She wound up with 16 points and 6 assists.
When Riverside was not converting one of Hanover Area’s 13 first-quarter turnovers into easy baskets, they were getting other close-range chances off rebounds.
The Lady Vikes led 40-0 at halftime by which point they were already deep into their bench against Hanover Area, which brought just seven players, all of them freshmen and sophomores.
“Today was all about the kids getting an opportunity to play high school basketball again,” Mekilo said. “It was certainly different with the masks and fan restrictions, but they were happy to play a game and I’m happy for them.”
Holy Redeemer 53, Williamsport 37
Holy Redeemer opened the season missing five players, including three potential starters, but that did not slow down the defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 champion Lady Royals.
Faith Sekol scored 13 points for Holy Redeemer, which opened was ranked fourth in the preseason among District 2 Big Schools following a move up from Class 3A to 4A.
The Lady Royals showed off balance while steadily pulling away.
Aleia Atherton scored 10 points, Mia Ashton 9 and Bella Granteed 8.
Holy Redeemer led 28-20 at halftime and made it 41-29 going into the fourth quarter.
Nativity 55, Northwest 42
Northwest lost its opener on the road at Pottsville Nativity BVM.
Charleigh Miner led the Lady Rangers with 14 points and Kennedy Yaple added 13.
