{"id":125858,"date":"2026-02-28T06:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125858\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T06:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:43:11","slug":"hazleton-area-repeats-as-class-6a-champs-hazleton-standard-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125858\/","title":{"rendered":"Hazleton Area repeats as Class 6A champs \u2013 Hazleton Standard Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hazleton<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area\u2019s Alexis Reimold scores a basket against Scranton during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Hazleton<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area\u2019s Sofia Rodgers (12) passes through the defense of Scranton\u2019s Johanelys Paulino Baez during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Hazleton<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area\u2019s Kaitlyn Bindas scores over Scranton\u2019s Bianca Perez during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Scranton\u2019s<\/p>\n

Scranton\u2019s Chrissy Jacklinski (2) shoots over the Hazleton Area defense during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Scranton\u2019s<\/p>\n

Scranton\u2019s Chrissy Jacklinski (2) drives the ball past the defense of Hazleton Area\u2019s Sophia Benyo during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Scranton\u2019s<\/p>\n

Scranton\u2019s Johanelys Paulino Baez shoots a three-pointer during the PIAA District 2 Class 6A championship game against Hazleton Area at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Hazleton<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area\u2019s Sofia Rodgers (12) shoots a three-pointer during the District 2 Class 6A championship game against Scranton at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Scranton<\/p>\n

Scranton Head Coach PJ Hughes hugs player Abigail Stalica while giving out medals after being defeated by Hazleton Area for the PIAA District 2 Class 6A championship at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Hazleton<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area\u2019s Anna Shafer (33) and Scranton\u2019s Jahiya Parker battle for the rebound during the PIAA District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Hazleton<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area players celebrate after defeating Scranton for the PIAA District 2 Class 6A championship at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area\u2019s Alexis Reimold scores a basket against Scranton during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Friday, February 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

WILKES-BARRE TWP. \u2014 These Hazleton Area singers can play a little basketball. Their friends are pretty good at the game, too.<\/p>\n

One night after wowing a packed house at their home gym with their rendition of the national anthem, Kaitlyn Bindas, Sophia Benyo and Addy Fritz returned to their regular gigs on Friday night: helping the Lady Cougars maintain their stranglehold on the District 2 Class 6A girls championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bindas poured in a game-high 24 points, Benyo stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists and Fritz came off the bench to add seven points as Hazleton Area overwhelmed Scranton, 67-30, at Mohegan Arena for their third straight district title. Alexis Reimold and Molly Temchatin contributed seven points apiece and Mariah Marolo and Kayla Lagowy delivered their usual solid play on both ends of the floor to spark the state-ranked Lady Cougars to their 24th win in 26 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty good feeling knowing that we\u2019ve been here before,\u201d Bindas said. \u201cWe were waiting for this (game) all week and then we came out hot, hit our shots and that kind of relaxed us a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Hazleton Area needed little time to assert its dominance, using its relentless full-court press to fluster the Lady Knights into nine first-quarter turnovers and its aggressive halfcourt matchup to force Scranton into 1-of-9 shooting in the quarter\u00a0 The Lady Cougars cashed many of those turnovers into baskets on the other end, enough to race to a 23-2 lead before many fans were even seated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like were going to try to hold the ball a little bit there in the beginning,\u201d Hazleton Area head coach Joe Gavio said. \u201cBut then we turned them over a couple of times and they started to unravel. \u2026 Once we got the ball, we ran our (fast) break and we mloved the ball pretty well. I thought we played pretty well, to be honest. \u2026 You come up (to the arena) and you never know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bindas scored 12 points, including six of two deep 3-pointers, and Benyo tossed in six points during the early run. Scranton coach PJ Hughes called two timeouts in an attempt to slow the Lady Cougars\u2019 momentum, but to no avail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really got the behind the 8-ball, didn\u2019t we?\u201d Hughes asked rhetorically. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to fall behind a team that can score 80 points that big that early because we can\u2019t score 80 points right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Fritz\u2019s hoop off a Bindas feed and Reimold\u2019s personal five-point run left the Lady Knights in an deeper hole, 36-8, late in the second quarter, Scranton showed some life on triples by Johanes Baez and Chrissy Jacklinski to close within 41-15 by halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of my girls. \u2026 They fought and fought and fought against a great team,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cWe just have to realize that we have to get better. If these girls buy in \u2014and we bring everybody back \u2014 we have a bright future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gavio stuck with his main rotation players into the third quarter, or at least until Benyo\u2019s rebound basket kicked in the PIAA\u2019s mercy rule at the 5:30 mark. The game was played with a running clock and plenty of reserves on the floor from that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess our competitiveness comes from basketball, not singing,\u201d Benyo said. \u201cNow, we need to keep our momentum, stay calm and I think we\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re confident in anything we do,\u201d said Bindas, who joined Benyo and Fritz in singing the Star-Spangled Banner before the Anthracite Junior Basketball League championship games Thursday. \u201cWe wanted to sing it like 20 games ago, but they were like, \u2018Do you think you could do it. We\u2019re like, \u2018Of course, we could do it.\u2019 We\u2019re a confident team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lady Cougars will stick hoops for now. They will play host to Spring-Ford, District 1\u2019s eighth-place finisher, in the opening round of the PIAA tournament on Friday, March 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s call it what is: you win and you advance. \u2026 It doesn\u2019t matter how you win from this point,\u201d Gavio said. \u201cWe\u2019ll take a day or two off, relax, watch some tape and get ready for a strong Spring-Ford team.. I feel pretty confident, but we\u2019ve gotta keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scranton will entertain Red Lion, the fourth-place finisher from District 3, also March 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a home game, so that\u2019ll be nice,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cWe\u2019ll play a high-quality opponent, but win or lose, it will only make us better.<\/p>\n

SCRANTON (30) \u2014\u00a0Jacklinski 6 2-3 15, M. Sweeney 0 0-0 0, Perez 0 1-2 1, E. Sweeney 0 0-0 0, Parker 0 0-0 0, Baez 2 1-2 6, Alers 0 1-2 1, Yearing 0 0-0 0, Stalica 1 0-0 2, Almonte 0 0-0 0, Pettus 0 0-0 0, Bell 2 0-0 5. Totals 11 5-9 30.<\/p>\n

HAZLETON (67) \u2013Marolo 1 1-2 4, Benyo 5 1-2 11, Silva 0 0-0 0, Matyas 0 0-0 0, Santiago 0 0-0 0, Rodgers 1 1-2 3, Bindas 10 1-1 24, Fritz 2 2-2 7, Lagowy 0 0-0 0, Reimold 4 3-3 11, Chupela 0 0-0 0, Pavlick 0 0-0 0, Veliz 0 0-0 0, Shafer 0 0-0 0, Blanyar 0 0-0 0, Betances 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 9-12 67.<\/p>\n

Scranton (12-12)\u2026\u2026.2 13 12 3 \u2014 30<\/p>\n

Haz. Area (24-2)\u2026\u202623 18 19 7 \u2014 67<\/p>\n

3-FG: Jacklinski, Baez, Bell, Bindas 3, Marolo, Fritz, Temchatin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hazleton Area\u2019s Alexis Reimold scores a basket against Scranton during the District 2 Class 6A championship game at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5523,305,201,803,28,231,178,180,179,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-125858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-carbon-county","9":"tag-high-school-sports","10":"tag-lackawanna-county","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-schuylkill-county","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}