Daniella Ranieli and Maya Jenkins added to their games and added to their list of honors.
Ranieli became more of a threat from the 3-point arc while Jenkins improved on the defensive end of the floor.
As a result, both juniors repeated selections on the all-state girls basketball team selected by Pennsylvania Sports Writers. The team was announced Friday afternoon.
Pittston Area’s Ranieli made the third team in Class 5A for the second straight season. Scranton Prep’s Jenkins, an Old Forge resident, made the third team in Class 2A after being named to the second team as a sophomore.
This is the second straight season that Ranieli was the only Wyoming Valley Conference player to receive all-state recognition.
Pittston Area graduated three of five starters from its District 2 championship team of 2022-23, but Ranieli added more than two points per game to her scoring average and helped the Lady Patriots to a winning season at 12-11. After scoring about one-third of her points from beyond the arc as a sophomore, nearly half of Ranieli’s scoring was on 3-pointers this season as she overcame additional attention from opposing defenses.
“I knew people would be face-guarding and making it more difficult for me to score,” said Ranieli, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career during the season. “With most of our offenses, we run a lot of ball screens, so I worked on coming off of the ball screens and stepping back for the threes if they go underneath the screens.”
The 5-foot-3 point guard averaged 18.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 2.8 baskets from 3-point range per game. She shot 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, 37.9 percent total from the field and 82.3 percent from the foul line to earn recognition from WVC Division 1 coaches as the Player of the Year, one year after being selected as their Most Valuable Player.
Ranieli said she hopes to continue to evolve next season.
“I’m hoping to get more assists and get everyone else involved and not just focus on scoring and my offense,” said Ranieli, who had her assist total drop by more than one per game this season. “We were a lot younger this year, but I think everyone is going to be more experienced going into next year.
“ … I think we did a lot better than everyone thought we would after losing the three seniors from last year and I think we have a lot of potential for next year.”
Jenkins helped Scranton Prep reach the state final for the first time in program history. She was the team’s second-leading scorer behind second-team, all-state pick Jenna Hillebrand and led the Classics in 3-pointers, including making 19 during the postseason.
“Getting there was a lot of hard work and it took a lot of time,” Jenkins said of reaching the state final in Hershey with an all-junior starting lineup. “After that game, it just gave us a lot of motivation to keep moving forward next year and finally win the big game.”
The Classics were known for their defense, as well as balanced scoring on offense, as they repeated Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 4A titles.
“This year, I really tried to improve, especially on the defensive end and also tried to facilitate for my teammates more,” said Jenkins, who averaged more than 11 points per game and, for the second straight season, increased that production during the playoffs. “I just tried to do whatever I could to help my team.”
Two Lackawanna League players received first-team honors.
Addison Kilmer, the sophomore center at Mountain View, another state finalist, was named Player of the Year in Class A. She was a first-team choice as a freshman.
Scranton freshman Zya Small made the first team in Class 5A.