Prepped and ready

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The Prep Charter Lady Huskies girls’ basketball team is making the trek to Penn State Harrisburg Saturday morning to face West York. The game will have no impact on the District 12 standings, but will give the squad with championship aspirations a good idea of what areas still need work.

"I think it’s real important for us," coach Paul Reiser said of the game with the AAAA school. "We need that game to get us playing at a high level and competing for 32 minutes."

That hasn’t been the case in Prep Charter’s six league games, where they’ve blown away the competition early, with a Jan. 5, 56-28 win over Frankford being their smallest margin of victory. Then there is the Jan. 16 71-13 win over Mastery Charter. Prep Charter has pulled away so early — typically in the first quarter — allowing its rookies to get valuable minutes. The coach is using a nine-player rotation, which features two juniors, two sophomores and a senior in the starting lineup. Raven Jones, the team’s lone senior with five Division II scholarship offers on the table, recently returned to action after missing the majority of the first month with a knee injury. Juniors Leshay Banks and Courtney Edmonds, who are both getting early Division I looks, are each averaging more than 13 points per game.

But these Huskies are chasing the ultimate team goal of winning their first District 12 championship. The top four school’s in the Public League’s AAA classification qualify, with the Lady Huskies expected to draw the No. 1 seed. The winner of their tournament will square off against a Catholic League foe from the same classification in a February District 12 championship tilt, with both schools qualifying for states.

The coaching staff is using the tough, 11-game non-league schedule as preparation for those more meaningful matches down the road. The playoffs begin following the team’s Feb. 2 home game against Nueva Esperanza. A potential showdown with 12-1 Archbishop Carroll or 9-5 Archbishop Wood is expected in the not-too-distant future. Overall, the Lady Huskies have managed a .500 mark against squads outside the city limits, including Monday’s 65-61 victory over South Jersey’s Camden High. Two days earlier, they dropped a 78-61 decision to Chester. There also was a December trip to Walt Disney World, where the team finished with a 2-1 record.

But the answer as to how good these Lady Huskies are will be determined by next month’s playoff performance.

"I am real confident against the AAA bracket in the Public League," Reiser said. "I am looking forward to playing one of those AAA schools in the Catholic League."

Contact Managing Editor Bill Gelman at bgelman@southphillyreview.com or ext. 123. Comment at www.southphillyreview.com/sports.


Boys’ basketball standings through Jan. 19

Public League

Division A, W-L

Bartram 9-0
Frankford 7-1
Olney 7-1
University City 7-2
Southern 6-2
Kensington 6-3
Washington 5-3
Fels 4-4
Edison 4-5
Germantown 4-5
Northeast 2-6
King 1-7
Central 1-8
Lincoln 0-8
Overbrook 0-8

Division C, W-L

Imhotep 9-0
Communications Tech 7-1
Prep Charter 7-1
Strawberry Mansion 7-1
Del-Val 7-2
Franklin 5-3
Sayre 5-3
Freire 4-5
Hope 3-5
Bracetti 2-6
Vaux 2-6
Lamberton 2-7
Parkway 2-7
Esperanza 1-7
Douglas 0-9

Division D, W-L

MC&S 9-0
Robeson 9-1
Saul 8-1
Bodine 7-1
Boys’ Latin 7-2
Masterman 6-4
New Media 5-4
Future 4-5
Philadelphia Academy 4-5
World Communications 4-5
Palumbo 4-6
GAMP 2-7
Randolph 2-7
Mastery North 1-9
CAPA 0-8
Science Leadership 0-9

Catholic League Blue, W-L

Neumann-Goretti 9-0
Carroll 9-1
Wood 7-3
West 6-4
Conwell-Egan 5-5
Dougherty 3-7
Lansdale 3-7
Kennedy-Kenrick 1-8
McDevitt 1-9


Final winners

The final week of our Eagles trivia contest is marked by two winners. Pasquale Cusati of Sewell, N.J., and Nick Barna, of the 2600 block of South Sartain Street, each won a $50 gift certificate to McFadden’s for answering last week’s questions correctly. The answers in order were: 48-20; St. Louis; and five.

With the Eagles 2008 season officially finished, it also is the end of our Web-exclusive contest.

Thank you to all who participated and congratulations to all of our winners.