Five Berks Girls League teams are still alive in their respective District 3 tournaments with the 6A & 5A quarterfinals set to tip off Thursday and the 4A quarters & 3A semifinals set to tip off Friday. Let's dive deeper into the 5A matchup between No. 2 Middletown and No. 7 Conrad Weiser.
No. 7 Conrad Weiser at No. 2 Middletown
The No. 7 Scouts (17-7) travel west to Dauphin County to face the second-seeded Blue Raiders (21-3) Thursday at 7:00 in the 5A quarterfinals. The winner will face either No. 3 Northern York or No. 6 Manheim Central.
Senior 5-7 guard Alex Trevena, a Kent State softball commit, scored 11 points to lead the Scouts past No. 10 ELCO 42-39 in the first round Monday.
First-year head coach Chris Kline, who had previous head coaching stints at Fleetwood and Oley Valley, has gotten the most out of the Scouts, who have returned to the District 3 playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Conrad Weiser's balanced lineup features leading scorer and senior 6-0 center Lauren Grabosky (10.4 ppg), Trevena (8.6 ppg, 44 3s), sophomore 5-10 forward Geniva Paul (8.4 ppg), senior 5-10 forward Sydney Spang (5.7 ppg, 20 3s), and senior 5-4 guard Gisselle Feliciano (4.5 ppg).
Sophomore 5-7 guards Dylan Bossler and Macy Snyder play key bench roles for the Scouts, who rattled off five straight wins to end the regular season before falling 44-28 to Reading High in the Berks Girls League playoff quarterfinals.
The Blue Raiders had a first-round bye in districts after falling 57-38 to Altoona in the Mid-Penn League championship.
Junior 5-10 forward Jayla Koser leads Middletown with a team-high 19.6 points. Koser also averages 7.9 rebounds, 3.6 steals, and has hit 28 3-pointers. Junior 5-6 guard Emma Cleland averages 12.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, and 4.1 assists per game. Junior 5-10 forward Destiny Gassert (5.7 rpg) and junior guard Journee Stover (3.5 spg) are the last two of head coach LaSonda Dixon's main four cogs.
Junior guard Ja'Liyah Stover and sophomore guards Aja Rossum and Rylee Cavrich also get some spin.
Conrad Weiser averages 43.9 points per game offensively and allows only 36.1, second-lowest in Berks. Middletown scores 53.7 ppg and allows 34.3.
The teams have played only one common opponent this season: Blue Mountain. Middletown topped the Eagles 52-12 on Dec. 30 and Conrad Weiser beat the Eagles 39-28 on Nov. 30.
Last season, Conrad Weiser didn't qualify for any postseason play after finishing 6-16. The Scouts have appeared in one district championship, losing 57-52 to Greencastle-Antrim in 3A in 2015.
Middletown lost 61-39 to Wyomissing in the 4A quarterfinals before being bumped up to 5A this year. The Blue Raiders have also appeared in only one district final, losing 49-43 to Bishop McDevitt in the 3A championship in 1985.
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