B-A, Portage girls both could make noise in Class 2A

PLAYOFF PARADE: DISTRICT 6 CLASS 2A GIRLS PREVIEW

THE SCOOP: Who is ready for the third round between Penns Manor and Bishop McCort? The teams played for the District 6 Class 2A championship last year and then met again in the PIAA semifinals. Both games were close, but the Lady Crushers won each one -- including a 55-53 triumph to make it to the state final where they lost to Berlin Brothersvalley.

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Bishop McCort

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Penns Manor jr. Clara Henry; Penns Manor fr. Adia Lieb; Bishop McCort sr. Ava Zucco; Bishop McCort jr. Zoey Ferguson; Southern Huntingdon sr. Caleigh Clark; Southern Huntingdon jr. Ella Young; Bellwood-Antis sr. Lilly Gerwert; Bellwood-Antis sr. Marissa Cacciotti; Portage sr. Britton Myher; Portage jr. Kendall Bednarski; United sr. Lilly McGinnis; United fr. Ella Worthington; Claysburg-Kimmel sr. Bailey Tipton; Claysburg-Kimmel jr. Zailee Bush

MOST INTRIGUING POSSIBLE MATCHUP: Bellwood-Antis vs. Penns Manor

SLEEPER: Bellwood-Antis

MIRROR'S TEAM TO BEAT: Bishop McCort

NUMBER OF TEAMS ADVANCING: Up to three

WHO THEY'LL PLAY IN INTERDISTRICTS: 6-1 vs. 10-4; 6-2 vs. 10-3; 6/3-3 vs. 5-1

ANALYSIS: Penns Manor has shown it can play with anyone in the state and has made the PIAA semifinals several times, but this year's Lady Comets team is very young. It will be interesting to see if they can come up with enough offense to get back to the District 6 championship and possibly make a run in states.

Bishop McCort also lost a lot of talent from last year's team and has been inconsistent this season, but the Lady Crushers nearly doubled up United, beat Bellwood-Antis by 36 and lost to defending PIAA 2A champion Berlin Brothersvalley by just four.

Bellwood-Antis, which advanced to states as the third seed last year after winning a subregional game over Keystone (the subregional last year was against District 9, and this year it's against District 3), has a long history of success with coach Jim Swaney against two teams above the Lady Devils in the standings -- Southern Huntingdon and Penns Manor. It certainly isn't out of the question that Swaney gets this team, led by star senior Lilly Gerwert, back to the District 6 final.

Portage faded a little bit down the stretch of the season but is always dangerous with its defensive pressure, and Kendall Bednarski can score with anyone. The Lady Mustangs already own a victory over Southern Huntingdon, 52-45, in December.

Claysburg-Kimmel and Moshannon Valley both face extremely long odds at pulling off an upset and don't own any wins over teams the quality of the top two seeds.