Carly Gregas practiced under North Schuylkill’s girls’ basketball championship banners for four years, longing to add one of her own to the gymnasium wall.
That desire was fulfilled in Friday night’s Schuylkill League final at Martz Hall when the Spartans came from behind to beat Minersville 49-41.
Gregas even has a spot picked out.
“We always know there’s a spot in the gym where that’s where we want to hang our banner,” the senior forward said. “We’ve wanted to hang it up for four years and we finally got it.”
Friday’s Schuylkill League championship is the 14th for North Schuylkill (22-2), the most in the league since the first title was given out in 1968-69.
It’s also the first league crown the Spartans have won since 2007. North Schuylkill won seven straight Schuylkill League championships from 1990 to 1996 and 10-of-11 extending from 1986.
“There’s a lot of pressure coaching basketball at North Schuylkill,” Spartans coach John Rizzo said
with a smile. “I’m just glad we were able to go out and put the program back to where it belongs. And it belongs there because of the history before all of us. These kids buy into that history. Our kids live for that history.”
Friday night, they added to that history despite trailing Minersville (22-2) most of the second half.
“Coach Rizzo always says about putting a banner on the wall, putting gold around our neck,” North Schuylkill junior guard Tiff Lapotsky said. “Every year, we want to be compared to these great players. We want our names up on that wall. And every year, we just fell short.”
Last season was heartbreaking for the Spartans, who, despite having one of the best offenses in the league, fell to Marian 31-28 in the league semifinals.
This year, it was North Schuylkill that starred on defense, holding Minersville to its lowest point total of the season.
In fact, to Rizzo, Friday night’s performance resembled the Spartans who reeled in so many titles in the 1990s.
“There’s been some good teams at North Schuylkill and I’ve been fortunate enough to see a lot of them play,” Rizzo said. “I feel like we have a little bit of everything and that’s what those teams always had. They had good guards, they had good bigs, they defended the ball really well and they faced adversity very well.
“Growing up, as a North Schuylkill kid, I got to see the Amy Wetzels, Gina Tophoneys, Beth McDonalds, Hallie Roulins ... you can go on and on and on,” Rizzo added. “I envied that. I remember playing basketball against those girls and they would take it to us guys. We have those types of kids. We have kids that buy into that. When they put that Lady Spartans jersey on, they know what they’re representing.”
The only real difference between this season’s championship team and the teams from the 1990s is the way high school basketball is played today.
“We ran a different style of basketball, the style that we played,” former North Schuylkill coach Lafay Hope said. “They’re satisfied with scoring 30 points, 40 points a game and we were a run-and-gun team. Get it out and go.”
Hope guided the Spartans for 25 years and won 10 Schuylkill League championships. Seeing today’s team add to that dynasty was a satisfying moment.
“I want to see us maintain that lead. I want to stay up front there, at least for as long as I’m living anyway,” Hope said with a laugh.
But Rizzo didn’t want too much attention put on North Schuylkill’s history going into Friday night’s championship. Facing the league defending champion Battlin’ Miners, he knew they couldn’t afford any extra distractions.
Besides, when you play girls’ basketball for North Schuylkill, the history is understood.
“Almost every day at practice, we look at those banners and we reflect on those banners — and there’s a lot of them on the wall,” Rizzo said. “We didn’t want to stress too much about the pressure of a championship environment, just to go out and play Lady Spartans basketball. Keep it simple, play good defense and, luckily, we were fortunate tonight and got a good win.”
And they get to hoist a 14th Schuylkill League girls’ basketball banner in their gymnasium, where names like Lapotsky, Gregas, Nina Marone, Waverly Snyder, Chase Stokes, Averi Jordan and Sam Shinkus will hang beside Wetzel, Tophoney, McDonald and Roulin.
“The next time (fans) walk in the gym, they’re going to be like, ‘How does Lapotsky compare to Wetzel and how does (2007 guard Rachael) Hughes compare to Lapotsky? Which one’s better?’ ” Lapotsky said. “Coach always talks about that to me and it finally feels good to have that and hear people talk about that.”