D6-AAAA girls championship
Teams: State College Lady Little Lions (11-10); Altoona Lady Lions (18-4)
Site, time: Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School, 6 p.m., tonight.
The coaches: State College - Bethany Irwin (328-156 in 20 years at State College; 362-183 in 22 years overall). Altoona - Jill Helsel (38-9 in two years).
Path to the finals: State College - defeated Mifflin County, 60-53, in the semifinals. Altoona - first playoff game.
Starting lineups: State College - G Jenna Altomare (23, 5-5, jr. 11.5), G Carrie Mahon (4, 5-6 so., 7.3), G Allie Baney (21, 5-7 jr., 2.8), F Taylor Allison (33, 5-7 jr., 8.8), F Bridget King (32, 5-9 so., 10.6). Altoona - G Alexia Servello (12, 5-4 jr., 4.5), G Kaycie Reffner (15, 5-5 jr., 6.2), G Kayla DeCriscio (22, 5-7 sr., 12.3), F Lauren Hippo (13, 5-10 sr., 9.1), F Kayla Grimme (35, 6-1 jr., 10.6).
Key reserves: State College - F Franki Treglia (13, 5-9 jr., 6.8), G Anna Stevenson (1, 5-4 jr., 3.4), F Meghan Karstetter (15, 5-10 jr., 2.1). Altoona - F Darby Lee (32, 6-0 so., 9.4), G Leah Chesney (10, 5-5 jr., 2.5), G McKenzie Hatch (11, 5-5 so., 0.8)
Who they get: The winner plays the District 7 runner-up on March 9 at a District 6 site. The loser plays at the District 7 fifth-place team in a play-in game on Tuesday.
Notable: This is a rematch of last season's 6-AAAA girls final, won by Altoona. This will be the 22nd year in a row one of these schools has won this tournament. ... Altoona is 20-4 in 6-AAAA finals and 22-6 in District 6 championship games overall. ... Only three 6-AAAA girls champions haven't successfully repeated for at least one year; the last time that happened was 1991. This will be the third meeting of the season between the teams. Altoona won both previous encounters - 50-47 on Jan. 5 at State College and 54-48 on Jan. 25 at home. ... Altoona holds a 64-23 lead in the all-time series. ... Allison is the only State College player back who got in last year's championship game; four Lady Little Lion starters graduated and Gina Torretti, the team's top scorer in the 2011 final, didn't come out for the team this year. ... Treglia played the last two years for Hollidaysburg, where she was in two district finals.
- Compiled by Philip Cmor
