Area teams ready for state basketball playoffs

While most basketball players in the area have already wrapped up their seasons and begun preparation for the Spring sports season, six area teams are still getting ready for another game this weekend.

Five NTL teams will begin their quest for a state title as the PIAA Championships begin, and the Tioga girls will play in a New York state quarterfinal game on Saturday.

Three of those games come tonight as the Towanda girls take on Dunmore in a Class AA game and the Sayre boys take on Old Forge in Class A play, while the Mansfield boys take on Pius X in another Class A game.

On Saturday the Tioga girls take on Utica Notre Dame in New York in a Class C game, while the Mansfield girls meet Old Forge in a Class A game and Cowanesque Valley takes on Tri-Valley in another Class A game.

"I think they are excited," Towanda coach Shawna Wygrala said of her team. "This is something we haven't done before. I think they are real excited to be going down. But, we don't just want to go down there. They are hoping to play well and come away with a win."

Wygrala knows the Black Knights will face a tough test.

"They are a well-coached program," she said. "They have been really successful. They are used to the playoff type of thing. We are probably going in as the underdog, but we are used to that."

And Wygrala knows that this season has been a good one for her team.

"I think this is a huge step in our program," she said. "For years our only expectation was to make districts. This year we upped that. We went into the championship game and are going to states. Now we are focused on longer seasons. We just have to stay focused. We know now that we can look toward trying to win district titles and go to states, rather than just trying to win the NTL and make districts."

In the boys' games today the Tigers will head just down the road to Troy to take on Pius X.

"It's great, the district championship game being down in Danville. With district chorus and wrestling and district swimming, we didn't have as many fans as usual. And being in Millville's backyard they had a lot of fans. It's a good opportunity to have a nice crowd from the town of Mansfield. We have played a number of games in the Troy building and we like playing there.

"The kids have played well there. They are comfortable there. Last year we played Sullivan County in the consolation game of the district tournament and we won that and were comfortable there."

Burleigh believes his team is ready for the state playoffs.

"They are real excited. It's something they have worked for all year," he said. "It's our third trip to states in four years. We are looking forward to it."

While Pius has some big players inside, including 6-foot, 7-inch David Hills, that's not something Mansfield is unfamiliar with.

"They are big. They are going to be an opportunity to test and see how good we are," Burleigh said. "I think if we play well and give our best effort we have a great opportunity to get the W.

"We have a couple of big guys too. They have guys that are big and they play big. It is hard to dominate inside against a team like that."

The Sayre boys are ready to see what they can do in the state playoffs this year.

"They are really excited," Sayre coach Tony Lindsey said. "It's a chance to take all the hard work they have put in all season and put it on the court and show people that all the hard work is coming to fruition for them."

Old Forge is a smaller team that will rely on their guard play, which is something Sayre feels like they match up well with.

"They probably are even more guard oriented than us," Lindsey said. "We have seen it on film; we think we can handle it."

And while they are going on the road to Marywood University to play down near Old Forge, Lindsey doesn't think that will bother his team.

"The good thing is we have already played at Marywood this year (against Pittston Area), so I think that helps us," Lindsey said. "We played Mansfield at MU, so I don't think it will get any worse than that for the crowd. I think we will be ready for what we see."

The Mansfield girls are excited for their chance to be in the state playoffs on Saturday.

"They are pumped, there is no doubt about it," Mansfield coach Jason Dominick said. "It was one of our goals last summer when we started getting ready, just to get back to the state games. This was a group when they were sophomores had a chance to make states and lost in the consolation game. We wanted to prove we were one of the best 32 teams in the state."

Now that they are in states the Tigers feel like they can compete with Old Forge.

"I like the matchup, I think it's a good matchup for us," Dominick said. "At this point everyone is good, but it's a matchup we are confident that if we play well and take care of the basketball, we have a good chance of moving on to the top 16."

And having played on the road all postseason long, the trip to Marywood doesn't bother Mansfield.

"So far for the playoff we have had to travel for every game," Dominick said. "We won two of three playoff games playing closer to our opponents home than to ours, so this is nothing new for us. We just have to come out and play well."

In New York the Tigers know they face a tough test in Utica Notre Dame.

"They kind of remind me of (Elmira) Notre Dame of a few years ago, but maybe without all the offensive firepower," Tioga coach Joe Robinson said. "They have a lot of athletes that press you full length of the court at times. They have athletes, but not a lot of great scorers.

"It's nice to be able to go up there and try and prove ourselves. We want to try and prove to everyone we really do belong there. The girls appear to be on a mission right now."

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