Saturday's District 3 girls' basketball playoff games: Reinhart's picks
2/22/2014

No. 8 West York (17-8) vs. No. 1 Susquehannock (21-4) at Dallastown, 1:30 p.m. — A couple of YAIAA neighbors slugging it out with a trip to the semifinals on the line. West York knocked out Conrad Weiser 51-37 in the first round; Susquehannock beat another YAIAA foe, Northeastern, 60-34. Standouts aplenty on display here, including Bulldogs’ point/floor general Kari Lankford and Warriors’ 1-2 combo of Katie Wagner and Shannon Druck. Have I mentioned lately how great the YAIAA has been this season? Wow. Intriguing, intriguing matchup between a pair of honorable mention state-ranked squads. Buckle up, York fans.

PICK: Susquehannock by 8

 

No. 5 Berks Catholic (18-5) vs. No. 4 Fleetwood (22-3) at Exeter, 6 p.m. — Berks League Section 2 rivals are certainly familiar with one another. Fleetwood edged out Berks Catholic for the division crown, on the way to the Berks League championship game, where the Tigers fell to Wilson. This will be meeting No. 3 this season; Berks Catholic, which topped Eastern York 58-40 in the first round, and Fleetwood, which held off Elco 46-41 in the first round, split the first two: Saints won 54-48 on Dec. 19 and Tigers returned the favor 41-35 on Jan. 24. Round 3 is for a spot in the district semifinals.

PICK: Berks Catholic by 2

 

No. 10 West Perry (18-5) vs. No. 2 Palmyra (20-3) at Milton Hershey, 1:30 p.m. — Top two storylines here: First, Palmyra, the reigning champ, was minus top gun and Bucknell recruit Carly Richardson in its 53-33 first-round win over Hamburg. She has a gimpy ankle, and we’ll see if she’s a go for the quarterfinals. Second, West Perry is scorching; Mustangs, the highest remaining AAA-seed at No. 10, have peeled off 12 wins in a row, including a 47-35 victory over Mid-Penn Capital rival Middletown in the first round. Plenty to like about this matchup, especially if Richardson is on the floor — 100 percent or not — going head-to-head against West Perry’s IUP recruit, Megan Smith, who is averaging 23.2 points in the last six games, including 28 against Middletown.

PICK: Palmyra by 6

 

No. 6 Lancaster Catholic (23-2) vs. No. 3 Greencastle-Antrim (22-1) at Dallastown, 3 p.m. — How’s this for a little drama: Crusaders (8) and Blue Devils (9) are in the top 10 in PennLive’s girls’ basketball Class AAA state rankings. That certainly adds to the intrigue of this matchup. G-A, which jolted Mid-Penn Colonial foe Gettysburg 61-35 in the first round, has had a couple of playoff games on the big stage now, after falling to Cumberland Valley in the Mid-Penn semifinals. Key for G-A will be solving the Crusaders’ mind-boggling array of presses and traps; Lancaster Catholic forced 30 turnovers in a 66-38 romp over Susquenita in the first round.

PICK: Lancaster Catholic by 10