As the 2022 basketball season enters the final week of the regular season, conference/divisional titles and conference playoff berths are still at stake.
Here is a look at how things stand in girls’ basketball after games Saturday, Feb. 12.
AML North
Elk County Catholic (18-3, 7-0 AML North) has won the division and will host an opening-round AML playoff game.
Kane (6-13 overall, 1-6) clinches second place via a tiebreaker over Johnsonburg (5-16, 1-6).
It actually took until the third tiebreaker to give Kane the spot as the teams split their regular-season contests and both lost twice to ECC leaving them with identical 1-3 divisional records. The next tiebreaker is overall winning percentage. The worst Kane can be is .300 and the best Johnsonburg can be is .273.
ECC and Kane advance to the AML semifinals.
AML South
DuBois Central Catholic (13-7, 5-2) has won the division and will host an AML playoff semifinal, while Brockway (14-6, 4-3) finished second. Both teams will play in the AML semifinals.
D9 League
Punxsutawney (13-4, 7-1 D9 League) sits in first place followed by Elk County Catholic (18-3, 7-2) – the Lady Crusaders play in both the AML and D9 League – and St. Marys (14-5, 4-3).
The Lady Chucks have conference games Thursday (vs. Brookville) and Friday (vs. Bradford). If they win both of them they clinch the league crown by themself. One win for Punxsutawney secures at least a tie for the division title with ECC if ECC beats Bradford Tuesday.
An ECC loss to Bradford Tuesday secures at least a tie of the league crown for Punxsutawney without the Lady Chucks having to win a game.
While St. Marys has games with DuBois, Brookville, and Bradford left, it is not believed the Lady Dutch could sneak a share of the league title because they would be 1-3 overall against ECC and Punxsutawney losing the head-to-head tiebreaker in the unlikely event ECC and Punxsutawney lose their remaining league games.
KSAC Small School
The league title comes down to Tuesday’s game in Rimersburg between current first-place team Union (13-5 overall, 7-0 KSAC Small) and second-place North Clarion (17-3, 6-1).
A win by Union gives the Golden Damsels their first KSAC divisional crown since 2011.
If North Clarion wins, then the She-Wolves are the champions via the tiebreaker. The teams would have split the season series so it goes to the record vs. the KSAC Large School Division. North Clarion went 4-2 vs the KSAC Large while Union went 3-3 (the Golden Damsels Jan. 28 game vs. Karns City was the league-mandated crossover). It would be North Clarion’s seventh straight KSAC divisional crown (including last year’s abbreviated division season).
Both teams have already qualified for the KSAC playoffs taking place Thursday at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
KSAC Large School
Redbank Valley (16-4 overall, 8-0 KSAC Large School) has already clinched the divisional title despite having two games left to play in the division. It is the third straight divisional title for the Lady Bulldogs, including last year’s abbreviated league season.
Second place and the final KSAC playoff berth awarded to the Large School division is completely up in the air with Moniteau (11-9, 6-3), Clarion-Limestone (11-8, 5-3), and Karns City (12-8, 5-4) all in the running.
Moniteau hosts Karns City Tuesday with C-L hosting Redbank Valley Monday and hosting Cranberry Tuesday.
Here is how the different scenarios play out
Moniteau beats Karns City, C-L loses one of its remaining two games
Moniteau finishes second
Moniteau beats Karns City, C-L wins its final two divisional games
This tiebreaker goes all the way to the third tiebreaker in the KSAC formula, which C-L wins.
The first tiebreaker is head-to-head but the teams split their league games.
The second tiebreaker is record vs. the KSAC Small School with both teams having gone 3-2.
The third tiebreaker is how each team did vs. the first-place team in the KSAC Large School. In this case Redbank Valley. In order for C-L to win its final two league games it would have to beat Redbank Valley while Moniteau lost to Redbank Valley twice giving second place to the Lady Lions.
Karns City beats Moniteau; C-L wins its final two league games
C-L finishes in second place
Karns City beats Moniteau; C-L splits its final two league games
Karns City finishes in second place based on the second tiebreaker.
The first tiebreaker is head-to-head but the teams would have split with each other.
The next tiebreaker is record vs. the KSAC Small School Division. Karns City finished 4-1 (the Lady Gremlins league-mandated crossover with Union was the Jan. 28 win for KC) with Moniteau and C-L both going 3-2.
Karns City beats Moniteau; C-L loses its final two league games
Karns City finishes in second place based on the second tiebreaker.
The Lady Gremlins and Moniteau would be tied for second having split their regular-season games so it goes to record vs. the KSAC Small School Division. Karns City was 4-1 and Moniteau was 3-2.
NTL
Otto-Eldred (18-2, 15-0) has clinched its first NTL title since the 1978-79 school year (Fall of 1978).
CURWENSVILLE AND CLEARFIELD
Curwensville is in its first year in the ICC North, and the Lady Tide are out of the divisional title race with a 6-13 overall and 3-10 league mark,
Clearfield is also out of the Mountain League title chase sitting at 9-11 overall and 6-7 in league play.
