Strength of schedule is vital in run to 2A title
HERSHEY — Mount Carmel’s girls basketball team didn’t win the PHAC-I title this season, but it will sleep soundly without it.
Instead, they traded that accolade in for two others that any team would love to add to its trophy case — a District 4 and PIAA Class 2A girls basketball title.
Coach Lisa Varano made it her goal to give the Red Tornadoes tougher competition in preparation for the type of teams they’d run into in the playoffs.
The PHAC has proven it can provide valuable competition, but Varano wanted to include great and proven teams like Northumberland Christian, Mahanoy Area, Montoursville, Hazleton and Central Mountain this year.
“The PHAC is tough,” Varano said. “Every game is usually a battle. We tried to get some non-league games on the schedule... we had some bigger schools just to get them ready. You see different things in those types of games.”
Varano knew that there would be bumps along the way, but was willing to take them if it meant helping a state championship run.
“Sometimes a loss is as good as a win,” Varano said. “You learn a lot. I know people don’t like to lose, coaches and players included, but you know if you a loss to a really good team, you’re learning like ‘OK, what do I need to do to get better? What did we do wrong?’ It’s hard sometimes for them to understand that.
“Winning the division’s nice. Winning the district is obviously nicer, but you got to get here. That’s always the goal.”
Her players even took notice of it working in their favor.
“It definitely helped to play in a lot of close games this year — Central Mountain, Bloomsburg, even the district championship against Southern,” Mount Carmel’s Dani Rae Renno said. “The strength of our schedule, and playing all those hard teams really helped us prepare for games like this.”
It also helped keep their mindset sharp despite each game carrying more weight.
“We were definitely prepared for this. We played some great games where had to come back and just keep fighting,” Reisinger said. “Today, we showed up and played strong. They had to call timeouts to slow us down.”
Varano was getting worried there would even be a season with COVID cases rising in the state and Gov. Tom Wolf suspending all athletics over the holiday season. She still made the most of it despite having some misses with schools like Linden Hall and Lake-Lehman.
“It was actually a lot of fun just trying to find teams that would play,” Varano said. “We were willing to travel and go almost anywhere.”
The only place they have to go now is home with a state title.
A closer look
• The Red Tornadoes played nine schools and 13 games with opponents classified 3A or higher. They went 10-3 in those games, splitting with Bloomsburg (3A) and falling to Loyalsock (3A) and Hazleton (6A).
• Of those nine programs, five — Central Columbia, Bloomsburg, Selinsgrove, Loyalsock and Hazleton — played in their respective district championships. Central and Loyalsock (over Bloomsburg) won those title bouts.
• In 2A action, the Red Tornadoes swept Mahanoy — including in the state semifinals — and split with Southern. The Red Tornadoes fell to the Tigers in the regular season but had the last say in the District 4 final.
• Mount Carmel only played one team ranked 1A, Northumberland Christian, which advanced to the state semifinals.
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