Mirror photo by Michael Boytim Bellwood-Antis coach Jim Swaney talks to his team at BG on Friday night.

In 2020, it looked like a Kristi Kaack-led Bishop Guilfoyle girls basketball team was on track to meet a Jim Swaney-led Bellwood-Antis team in the PIAA Class 2A championship game before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the rest of the postseason.

Kaack and Swaney’s coaching meetings appeared to be over after Swaney retired following the 2022-2023 season, but Friday he officially came out of retirement to lead the Lady Blue Devils against the Lady Marauders and Kaack at Pleasant Valley gymnasium.

The first couple minutes showed Swaney still has something to give — he called an early timeout with B-A down by two and his speech got a rousing applause from the Bellwood fans, and his reflexes are still good — he caught a wayward pass coming straight toward his head.

But as far as the team he’s coaching — the Lady Blue Devils still have room to improve and the growing pains showed in a 66-35 loss.

“With the circumstances that went on this week, it was a tough time to play the best team in the state,” Swaney said. “Make no mistake about it, I’m not sure in any classification that they aren’t the best team in the state. They have eight or nine kids that can score. They have size. They have quickness. It’s going to take one heck of a team to beat them. They are just really good and well coached.”

Bishop Guilfoyle Academy forced 13 turnovers in the first quarter and led 27-7 after eight minutes.

“They are athletic and they are long,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Kristi Kaack said. “Passing lanes don’t look very inviting. I think we did a nice job of shutting down the ball early and getting out in those passing lanes to create some turnovers.”

Anberlyn Petrecca led all scorers with 14 points, Morgan Ruggery scored 13 points and Stella Yeskey finished with 12 points in a balanced effort.

“We were a little more patient on the offensive end tonight,” Kaack said. “We got more post touches today than we have in a long time, so I like the way we shared the ball inside and out and moved the ball around the perimeter.”

Bellwood-Antis finished the game with 28 turnovers.

“This is why you practice,” Swaney said. “You don’t practice to play teams you’re going to beat 80-11. That’s no fun. This is why you practice to play in games like this. We made some mistakes turning it over too much. We don’t deny enough cutters in the lane, but we’re going to get better at that. We’re going to work every day to get better at it with the aim being by the time the district playoffs roll around, we want to be part of that and see what can happen.”

Swaney has won 569 games, second all time in Blair County to Mark Moschella’s 603 wins. He had a smile on his face before and after the game.

“I had fun,” Swaney said. “I had fun at practice last night. I have told anybody that would listen — don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy with the circumstances that put myself and coach (Lindsey) Conlon here — but in practice last night it hit me that I do miss it. I miss teaching the game. I don’t miss bus rides. I miss the interactions with the kids trying to get them better each day — and we will get better each day.”

Bishop Guilfoyle had nine players score, and the Lady Marauders’ depth is something they take advantage of during competitive practices throughout the week.

“We keep talking about showing up to practice and being engaged,” Kaack said. “What we have in practice is really special. We want to compete at a high level so that when we get to games it seems easier than it does in practice. We tell the kids to keep staying engaged, even if it’s a lighter week, because we have to play to our standard and compete.”

Bellwood-Antis, which competes in Class 2A, would be in a position to host a playoff game if the postseason started today. When Swaney last coached, District 6 Class 2A was a murder’s row of great teams, but he’s not really familiar with the current landscape of the district.

“I’ll be brutally honest — I don’t know anything about anyone right now,” Swaney said. “I guess I have to do a crash course on learning some things this weekend. But I think we can be competitive. We have some talent. A lot of it is young talent, and I think we have some real nice senior leadership. I believe in these kids.

“I don’t mean this in a bad way against any of the great teams we had. I have sat in a lot of locker rooms with people with gold medals hanging around their necks. Those were great times, and I loved them. But I was as proud of that group of kids in the locker room tonight as I have been of any team I have been around. They have gone through a week that no 16-, 17-year-old kids should have to go through. They stuck together, and they fought as hard as they could tonight.”

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (35): Cacciotti 1 0-0 2, L. Gerwert 3 3-4 11, Sloey 1 2-2 4, Sweigert 4 0-0 10, Worthing 0 1-2 1, Hammond 2 0-0 6, Plummer 0 1-2 1, Conlon 0 0-0 0. Totals — 11 7-10 35.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (66): Adams 3 0-0 8, Ruggery 6 0-1 13, Petrecca 5 4-6 14, Haigh 2 0-0 5, Williams 1 0-0 2, Homan 2 0-0 5, Geishauser 1 0-0 2, Steward 2 0-0 5, Bianconi 0 0-0 0, Hite 0 0-0 0, Seidel 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals — 27 6-9 66.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bellwood-Antis 7 4 8 16 — 35

Bishop Guilfoyle 27 15 16 8 — 66

3-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 6 (Gerwert 2, Sweigert 2, Hammond 2); Bishop Guilfoyle 6 (Adams 2, Ruggery, Haigh, Homan, Steward).

Records: Bellwood-Antis (7-4); Bishop Guilfoyle (10-0).

Officials: Craig Andros, Bill Pfeffer, Joe Bilka.

JV: Bishop Guilfoyle, 46-24. High scorers–Avery Conlon, BA, 5; Morgan Geishauser, BG, 13.