CLASS AAA BOYS

QUARTERFINAL ROUNDNo. 4 Tamaqua (19-5, 11-3 SL)vs. No. 5 No. Schuylkill (17-5, 10-4 SL)TIPOFF: Friday, February 20 at 8 p.m. at Martz HallCOACHES: Tamaqua - Caszy Kosciolek, North Schuylkill - Curt ZiegmontLEADING SCORERS: Tamaqua - Bo Rottet (Sr., 17.00 ppg), Bret Kosciolek (Sr., 16.83 ppg), Russell Blaker (Jr., 8.29 ppg), Nate MacDonald (Sr., 5.54 ppg); North Schuylkill - Tevin Murray (Jr., 14.3 ppg), John Mercado (Sr., 8.8 ppg), Major Jordan (So., 8.7 ppg), Justin Heaton (Sr., 7.7 ppg).GAME NOTES ... Tamaqua qualified for the Schuylkill League playoffs as the Division I wild card, defeating Minersville in the semifinals, 59-53. In the final, they slowed the game down against undefeated Pottsville, and had the Crimson Tide on the ropes, before dropping a 33-28 overtime decision. The two teams met twice in the regular season, with each side winning the match-up at their home gyms. Tamaqua won 60-46 on January 10, while the Spartans took a 50-43 decision on February 3 ... North Schuylkill finished their regular season on a three-game win streak, including the win over the Raiders ... Kosciolek has averaged a double-double, as he collects 12.0 rebounds per game ... Tamaqua has qualified for the district tournament for the third straight season. It is the longest streak of consecutive district appearances since they qualified four straight years between 1992-95. Prior to this recent streak, the Blue Raiders had gone eight straight years without playing in the tournament ... Last year, the Blue Raiders lost to Lehighton, 85-59 in the first round ... North Schuylkill has been a staple in the District 11 basketball tournament, moving between the AA and AAA brackets in the 2000. This season marks the fifth straight season that the Spartans have participated in the post-season tournament ... The last time Tamaqua made it to the PIAA State Tournament was in 1995.QUOTABLE: "North Schuylkill is always known for playing great defense and they took us out of our offensive sets at times and were very aggressive in our last meeting. In that game, we shot poorly from the floor and that could very well be attributed to their good defense that they play. North Schuylkill playing some of its better basketball right now."We're excited about this season and the way it has gone up to this point, but we're also aware that it is a 'win and move on, lose and go home' type of situation." - Tamaqua head basketball coach, Caszy Kosciolek.CLASS AA GIRLSQUARTERFINAL ROUNDNo. 5 Salisbury (16-7, 11-6 CL)vs. No. 4 Palmerton (20-4, 14-3 CL)TIPOFF: Friday, February 20th at. 6 p.m. at Catasauqua HSCOACHES: Salisbury - Joe Mladosich, Palmerton - Rod StrohlLEADING SCORERS: Salisbury - Meagan Eripret (Sr., 18.5 ppg), Lindsay Bauer (Jr., 13.2 ppg), Kelly Gonoude (Sr., 8.1 ppg); Palmerton - Jade Farquhar (Sr, 17.92 ppg), Madison Mummey (Sr, 11.71 ppg), Abby Reimer (Sr., 10.17 ppg), Linnaea Leister (Fr., 7.46 ppg)GAME NOTES: Palmerton handed Salisbury a 63-50 setback in the quarterfinal round of the Colonial League playoffs on Feb. 7. Three days later, the Bombers bowed out in the semis after suffering a 60-44 setback to Notre Dame of Green Pond ... Friday night's game is the fourth meeting between the two teams this season. In addition to the CL playoff game, the Bombers and Falcons split the regular season series. Salisbury handed Palmerton its first loss of the season, 63-58, on Dec. 22. The Bombers turned the tables the second time around with a 47-40 win on Jan. 27th ... This is the seventh straight year that Palmerton has qualified for the district playoffs and the 11th time in the last 12 years they have qualified ... The Bombers have spent the last four years in the AAA bracket prior to returning to the AA bracket this season for the first time since 2010 ... The last three years Palmerton ended its season with losses in the district quarterfinals ... Palmerton last lifted the district championship trophy back in 1997, which was also the last time that the Bombers qualified for the PIAA playoffs ... Eripret, who missed the Colonial League playoff game between the teams, is questionable for Friday's game with an ankle injury.QUOTABLE: "They have three decent guards in Bauer, Keet and Gonoude, who play really well. So, we just can't focus on Eripret. When's she's not in the game, or if she's not playing, those other three really step up their games. So, we have to do the little things correctly. We have to play tough defense, we have to rebound, and we have to take care of the basketball on the offensive end and get good shots."We're going to focus on what we do well and hopefully Jade (Farquhar), Maddy (Mummey) and Abby (Reimer) will have nice games and will compliment each other, and Lindsay (Nemeth) and Erika (Beers) will follow along." - Palmerton head coach Rod Strohl.CLASS AA GIRLSQUARTERFINAL ROUNDNo. 6 Marian (16-6, 6-6 SL)vs. No. 3 Minersville (21-1, 12-1 SL)TIP OFF: Friday, February 20th at 5p.m. at Martz HallCOACHES: Marian - Paul Brutto, Minersville - Jared HomaLEADING SCORERS: Marian - Abbey Whildin (Sr, 12.3 ppg), Brenna Karnish (So, 9.4 ppg), Vanessa Whitecavage (Jr, 8.7 ppg), Madsion Stoyer (So, 5.6 ppg), Tina Capparell (Fr, 4.5 ppg); Minersville - Abby Schoffstall (So, 18.4 ppg), Emily Mealy (So, 12.7 ppg), Adreinne Kroznusskie (So, 12.0 ppg), Maggie Wigoda (Jr, 5.4 ppg), Sarah Nawrocki (So, 4.3 ppg)GAME NOTES: Marian is looking for its second straight District 11 title. Last year, the Fillies defeated Shenandoah Valley to earn the class A title ... This year, Marian is in class AA for the first time since 1991 … The Fillies have qualified for districts every year since 1974 (42nd consecutive season) and have qualified for states 17 of the last 20 seasons … The Fillies have won nine district titles since 1978 … Marian has outscored its opponents by 5.6 points per game this season while Minersville has outscored its opponents by an impressive 17.5 points per game ... These two schools met earlier this season in Minersville with the Battlin' Miners pulling out a 54-46 victory … Minersville has defeated the Fillies four straight times. In addition to the win earlier this season, the Miners beat the Fillies in the regular season in both 2012-13 and 2013-14 and also beat them in last season's Schuylkill League championshp game. The Miners' average margin of victory in those four games was 11.8 points .... The Fillies and Miners both qualified for the Schuylkill League playoffs this season. The Fillies were the Division III champs while the Miners captured the Division II title. Both teams lost to North Schuylkill in the league playoffs. Marian suffered a 47-42 loss to the Spartans in the semifinals while Minersville dropped a 49-41 decision in the finals ...QUOTABLE: "I think all of our kids are confident. We always want to get to that championship level. Although we were disappointed about the Schuylkill League championship, we are still excited about what's still in front of us," - Marian head coach Paul Brutto