WILKES-BARRE – Pittston Area players were right in the middle of the action Friday night when the outcomes of the 47th annual Dr. George P. Moses Wyoming Valley Conference Senior All-Star Classic basketball games were being decided.
Jamie Chisdock’s defense, Marley O’Brien’s rebounding and Jordan Black’s high-flying offense helped their teams to wins in the doubleheader at Holy Redeemer High School.
Chisdock was named Defensive Player of the Game and teammates O’Brien and Megan Cummings joined her in the biggest streak of Team Parker’s 60-50 victory over Team Gavio in the girls opener.
Black had 10 of his 12 points in the second half, starting with a pair of dunks while the Division 1 all-stars were taking control of the game right after halftime in a 95-82 victory over the Division 2-3 stars.
Pittston Area coach Kathy Healey was an assistant on Team Parker, coached by Holy Redeemer’s Chris Parker. Wyoming Area’s Nicole Wright, who started, and Rachel Solano were also part of the team.
Dylan Osticco joined Black as the Pittston Area representatives in the boys game. Wyoming Area’s Anthony Shaver started for the Division 2-3 team.
“I knew there were a lot of offensive scorers in the game,” Chisdock said. “I was more of a defensive player so I just tried to do what I did during the season.”
Among the players Chisdock defended was Hazleton Area’s Mackenzie Yori, the WVC Division 1 Most Valuable Player during the regular season, who managed just three points on 1-for-11 shooting while playing for her coach, Joe Gavio.
“We went in thinking the number-one thing was to have fun,” Chisdock said. “But, we all wanted to win together.”
Team Parker scored the first seven points and Team Gavio never caught up. It closed to one in the third quarter, but O’Brien had four points, Cummings scored the last two and Chisdock had a steal to assist a layup by Holy Redeemer’s Lydia Lawson during a 10-point streak to end the third quarter with a 41-30 lead.
Chisdock finished with six points, six rebounds and three assists. O’Brien had four points, a game-high seven rebounds and two assists. Cummings had four points.
Solano, who had two points and two assists, and Wright each had four rebounds, joining O’Brien and Chisdock in helping Team Parker to a 59-41 rebounding advantage.
Division 1 rallied from a double-figures, first-half deficit and was still down at the break in the boys’ game.
Osticco had four points in the win.
Shaver had seven points for Divisions 2-3.
