{"id":85272,"date":"2026-01-13T05:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/85272\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T05:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:56:10","slug":"riverside-outlasts-rival-old-forge-scranton-times-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/85272\/","title":{"rendered":"Riverside outlasts rival Old Forge \u2013 Scranton Times-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Old<\/p>\n

Old Forge\u2019s Mikaela Lohman defends Riverside\u2019s Caitie Beecham during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

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

Riverside\u2019s Kiley Williams and Caitie Beecham close in on Old Forge\u2019s Mikaela Lohman during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

Old Forge\u2019s Ava Arnold takes a shot during the basketball game against Riverside at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

Old Forge\u2019s Mikaela Lohman shoots against Riverside during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

Old Forge\u2019s head coach Dante Lucarelli calls out to his players during the basketball game against Riverside at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

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

Riverside\u2019s Faith Pavalonis lines up with the hoop during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

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

Riverside\u2019s Faith Pavalonis attempts to evade Old Forge\u2019s defense during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

Old Forge\u2019s Lana Clements is double-teamed by Riverside\u2019s Mikayla Smith, left, and Kylie Williams during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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Old Forge\u2019s Mikaela Lohman defends Riverside\u2019s Caitie Beecham during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

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

OLD FORGE \u2014 Rivals Riverside and Old Forge battled hard throughout their Lackawanna League Division II girls basketball matchup Monday night.<\/p>\n

The Lady Vikes did just enough in the fourth quarter, holding the Lady Devils scoreless for the final five minutes, to earn a 25-20 victory at Old Forge\u2019s Elio Ghigiarelli Gymnasium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s a rivalry game like this, records, statistics, abilities, everything goes out the window and sometimes these low-scoring events happen,\u201d Riverside coach Jaime Armillay said. \u201cI thought we played really well defensively and down the stretch I thought we were able to get to the free throw line and make them. At points in time that\u2019s cost us basketball games early in the year. But anytime you can go on the road and beat your rival in their house, it\u2019s a great win and you take it how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman Faith Pavalonis finished with nine points for Riverside (3-2 league, 7-6 overall), which is ranked No. 10 this week in the Times-Tribune girls basketball Top 10 poll. Senior Kylie Williams added eight points, six of which came in the second half. She also had two key steals in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey definitely pushed us and we had to work together as a team defensively, communicate and pick each other up when we were down or things weren\u2019t going our way,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThey (defensively) took out Faith, who is one of our leading scorers. We all had to kind of step up, come together and help each other out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to pull it out and we\u2019re pretty happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offense definitely was at a premium in this one. Riverside shot 8 for 44 (18.2 percent) from the field, including just 1 of 19 from 3-point range, and committed nine turnovers. But the Lady Vikes defense limited Old Forge to 8-for-34 shooting (23.5 percent) and forced 16 turnovers. Also, Riverside outrebounded the Lady Devils, 37-28, with 13 offensive boards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key for us today was we thought we could be physical with them,\u201d Armillay said. \u201cBetween the offensive glass and our pressure defensively, we were kind of hoping those two areas could flip the script a little bit. I think at key points it did and gave us a little breathing room when we needed it the most because it was a cold night shooting. Sometimes it\u2019s those little things that make the difference. Fortunately, tonight, we were able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riverside led after three quarters, 16-15, but Mikaela Lohman opened the fourth quarter with a basket to put Old Forge (1-4, 5-7) in front by one. A steal-and-layup by Williams and a shot from the baseline by Caitie Beecham reclaimed the lead for the Lady Vikes, 20-17.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been Kylie\u2019s MO, even before I got hired here,\u201d Armillay said. \u201cDefensively, she just gives you everything she has. She defends 94 feet for 32 minutes. Not only big steals tonight, but big deflections. The one I\u2019m thinking of in the fourth quarter was they were going in transition and she runs it down from behind. Even though we don\u2019t get the possession because the ball goes out of bounds, it allows our defense to set up. It\u2019s those plays that don\u2019t show up on the stat sheet that Kylie\u2019s been able to do for us all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Lohman hit her third 3-pointer of the game to tie it at 20 with 5:06 remaining. The freshman led all scorers with 11 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe got her confidence back up and tonight she showed she belongs,\u201d Old Forge coach Dante Lucarelli said. \u201cShe\u2019s been in and out of the lineup, doing whatever she could to stay in it. We\u2019re not in this game without her.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, though, would be the Lady Devils\u2019 final points. They missed their final four shots and committed two turnovers, one of which was a steal by Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping for a low-scoring, defensive battle and that\u2019s what we got,\u201d Lucarelli said. \u201cDown the stretch, we have to execute our sets. Couple shots didn\u2019t go our way, couple bad fouls. But overall, I\u2019m proud of the girls tonight. They came in and battled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pavalonis hit the second of two free throws with 4:24 left to break the tie and put Riverside ahead, 21-20. With their defense keeping Old Forge off the scoreboard, the Lady Vikes milked the clock. The Lady Devils were forced to foul and Pavalonis sank two free throws with 56 seconds left to extend the lead to 23-20. Following an Old Forge miss, Pavalonis was fouled again with 24.2 seconds to go and she buried two more free throws to seal the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still found ways to score in the end,\u201d Pavalonis said. \u201cFree throws were a big thing for me tonight, they closed the game out. My teammates picked me up when I was down in the first half not being able to knock down shots. Old Forge is a good team. They fought to the end, but we still came out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a meaningful win for Williams. This was the final time she and fellow seniors Cassidy Merrifield and Gabriella Blasi played on their rival\u2019s court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was big,\u201d she said. \u201cIt fired us up and we just had to keep pushing and pull it off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Old Forge\u2019s Mikaela Lohman defends Riverside\u2019s Caitie Beecham during the basketball game at Old Forge High School on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-85272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-high-school-sports","9":"tag-scranton","10":"tag-scranton-headlines","11":"tag-scranton-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85272","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=85272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}