Marian's Addy Fritz (Photo by James Gelatko).

The 2024-25 Schuylkill League girls’ basketball schedule gets under way tonight with a full slate of games.

Tonight’s card features Pottsville at Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill at Panther Valley, Minersville at Pine Grove, Schuylkill Haven at Tamaqua, Weatherly at Marian, Nativity at Mahanoy Area, Shenandoah Valley at Lourdes and Tri-Valley at Williams Valley.

CAPSULE PREVIEWS: Get a breakdown of all 16 Schuylkill League girls’ basketball teams here https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2024/12/06/schuylkill-league-girls-basketball-2024-25-season-preview-capsules/

What are some of the hot topics entering the 2024-25 campaign? What is new? Who are the teams to watch?

Let’s break it all down:

League realignment

The first major topic of the new season is the Schuylkill League’s realignment.

The departure of Lehighton and Jim Thorpe for the Colonial League left the Schuylkill League with 16 girls’ basketball teams and forced an even split of two, eight-team divisions based on enrollment.

Minersville and Schuylkill Haven move up to Division I, joining Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Pottsville and Tamaqua.

The remaining small-school teams comprise Division II: Lourdes, Mahanoy Area, Marian, Nativity, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Weatherly, Williams Valley.

Each school will play 14 league games — there are no crossovers — and have eight non-league games to fill their 22-game schedule.

The girls will play their league contests Tuesdays and Fridays through Jan. 10, then switch to a Monday/Thursday format for the second half of the league schedule, beginning Monday, Jan. 13.

The top three finishers in each division will qualify for the six-team league playoffs. The two division champions will earn byes to the semifinals. The Schuylkill League girls’ basketball quarterfinals are slated for Saturday, Feb. 8, at Martz Hall.

Youth Movement

If there’s one major trend in looking through the rosters of the 16 Schuylkill League girls’ teams, it’s the lack of senior players.

While complete rosters weren’t available for every team, the league features only 36 seniors in information provided to T102 Sports Now.

Tamaqua leads the league with five, while North Schuylkill and Schuylkill Haven have four and Blue Mountain, Panther Valley and Pine Grove each have three. None of the teams in Division II have more than two, with four clubs having just one.

A good portion of those seniors won’t start for their respective teams and several won’t see extensive minutes. In a nutshell, there are very few seniors who will be among the dominant players in the league.

The ripple effect is that a large amount of freshmen and sophomores will gain a ton of varsity experience this season. That may degrade the quality of basketball in the short term but enhance the play in the league in the future.

There are several future superstars among this year’s crop of freshmen and sophomores who have bright careers ahead of them. Their names will become fixtures in the Schuylkill County sports scene — if they aren’t already.

Numbers Problem

Another big issue is the lack of players on several teams in Division II.

Nativity and Tri-Valley were on the verge of not fielding teams, each submitting preseason rosters that contained just eight players. Mahanoy Area and Minersville have just 11 girls on their rosters, while Weatherly’s total roster was unavailable.

That leaves several schools without JV contests, altering starting times. It also creates a big void in talent in Division II, which is going to result in some very lopsided scores.

3 New Coaches

There are three teams with new head coaches this year — although one is no stranger to the Schuylkill League sideline.

Tom Scheeler returns to the bench at Mahanoy Area, taking over for Mickey Holland. Scheeler was the Bears’ head coach from 2014-20, guiding Mahanoy Area to four consecutive Division III crowns from 2017-20, three straight District 11 Class AA championships (18, 19, 20), a runner-up District 11 finish in 2017 and four extended PIAA playoff runs.

A long-time boys’ assistant coach with Holland in the 1990s and 2000s, Scheeler was an assistant coach for Holland last year with the girls. This year, he resumes the top spot.

Minersville’s Emily Mealey and Pine Grove’s Allison Rizzo are rookie head coaches for the first time.

Mealey is a 2017 Minersville graduate who was the starting center on the Miners’ 2017 squad that went 31-0 and won Schuylkill League, District 11 and PIAA Class AA championships. After a standout college career at Lebanon Valley College, she was an assistant under former coach Jared Homa the past two seasons.

“It’s awesome. It feels like I just left yesterday,” Mealey said. “Being back in the gym, knowing what I used to do, trying to implement that to the girls, it’s just amazing.

“Ever since I graduated college I was back coaching with Mr. Homa, so I know these girls very well. I know what they like to do, what they don’t like to do.”

Rizzo, whose maiden name is Palubinsky, was a standout player at Shenandoah Valley, graduating in 2004. She played collegiately at Elmira and Lycoming College and has served as an assistant coach at Penn State Schuylkill (2008-11) and North Schuylkill (2011-15). She’s coached the PA Flight travel basketball team the past four years.

“I’m thrilled to be coaching in the Schuylkill League,” she said. “My excitement over Schuylkill League basketball goes back decades. I remember attending Schuylkill League playoffs with my pap long before I played high school basketball. I experienced the tradition of the league as a player and a coach, and I remember the battles that would take place night in and night out.

“I was fortunate enough to be a part of the coaching staff on the North Schuylkill league championship team in 2015. I remember the feeling of league playoffs and the opportunity to play at Martz Hall. I also recognize that Pine Grove girls’ basketball was a part of that long tradition and I’m eager to get our girls to have that experience.

“It was a long-time goal of mine to head coach high school basketball and Pine Grove was the right place at the right time to finally step into that role. I’m grateful and excited for this opportunity.”

Balanced Division I

Mealey and Rizzo will guide their teams in a balanced and rugged Division I.

Defending league champion Blue Mountain and league runner-up North Schuylkill each have several key players returning but must overcome heavy graduation losses.

Last year’s two wild-card playoff qualifiers, Tamaqua and Schuylkill Haven, return talented, deep lineups and are poised to join the league’s elite.

Among the players to watch are Blue Mountain’s Makayla Keck, North Schuylkill’s Mya Conti, Schuylkill Haven’s Makenna Runkle and Tamaqua’s Lauren Ligenza.

“Last year we hit our stride at the right time and we came out at the end and finished strong,” Blue Mountain coach Rose Carper said. “We lost a lot of players. We lost six seniors at some very obvious key positions. We’re going to be extremely young this year. I think if they stick together and work really hard, we could hit our stride again at the end of the season.

“Schuylkill Haven coming into Division I … they were a young team last year and a very strong team last year. They have a good outlook. They’re going to bring a lot to Division I. Tamaqua is going to be another strong team.

“Division I is going to be a battle and it’s going to be a battle every night.”

Haves, Have-Nots in Division II?

There is a big gap in talent in Division II, with the numbers issue being a big reason why.

Marian, which has a stellar group of underclassmen joining returning starters Deanna Pugh and Addy Fritz, enter the season as the division favorite and one of the league’s title contenders. Williams Valley also returns a talented lineup led by senior center Sage Smeltz and junior guard Mallory Miller and are poised to challenge the Fillies for the top spot.

After that, however, it’s a crapshoot. Lourdes must replace four starters, while the other four teams have limited resources. Mahanoy Area, with Felicia Bro, could be much improved.

“I think Williams Valley, returning all their players, will be a very tough out having to play them twice,” Marian coach Damian Fritz said. “Mahanoy Area, with Coach Scheeler back, that’s going to be a very exciting matchup.

“I think we fit very well within the division. We’re pretty excited about our team this year and where we sit in the league.”

District 11 Shake-up

The start of the new two-year PIAA enrollment cycles always brings change to classifications for the district playoffs.

This year, however, might be off the charts.

An influx of small-school private schools across the state has forced several area teams to bump up a level, including Mahanoy Area and Schuylkill Haven to Class 3A and Pottsville to Class 5A.

Here’s a breakdown of the Schuylkill League teams that compete in District 11, with the total number of schools in parentheses:

Class A (8, subregional with District 2) — Nativity, Weatherly

Class AA (7) — Marian, Minersville, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Williams Valley … (Moravian Academy and Lincoln Leadership are the others)

Class 3A (14, subregional with District 1) — Mahanoy Area, Schuylkill Haven, Pine Grove

Class 4A (11) — Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Tamaqua

Class 5A (7) — Pottsville

We’ll have more on the District 11 playoffs as far as structure, etc., as the season progresses.

Broadcast Schedules

T-102 has established a preliminary broadcast schedule for the 2024-25 season consisting mostly of boys’ games. There are two girls’ games on the schedule:

Tues., Jan. 7 — North Schuylkill at Schuylkill Haven

Mon, Jan. 20 — Tamaqua at Blue Mountain

The schedule is subject to change, with game times varying by location.

You can get links to the live broadcasts in the upper right-hand corner of the T102SportsNow home page, with all of the broadcasts (football and basketball) available in the archive section of the website.

Odds and Ends

** Schuylkill Haven will celebrate the 40^th anniversary of its 1985 PIAA Class A state championship with a special ceremony prior to its Friday, Dec. 13, home game against Pottsville.

** The Williams Valley boys will face Northern Lebanon at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in a non-league game Friday, Jan. 10. The WV-NL girls will square off at 1 p.m., with the boys to follow. The Philadelphia 76ers play the New Orleans Pelicans later that night.

** This season’s WQLV (Love 99) Tournament will be held Dec. 27-28 at Williams Valley and feature Tri-Valley, Upper Dauphin, Millersburg and the host Vikings.

Pine Grove and Marian will also hold holiday tournaments that weekend.

For complete coverage of the Schuylkill League girls’ basketball circuit, follow www.t102sportsnow.com