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Notebook: Wyomissing's Aaron Anders Reaches 100, Brandywine's Benner Breaks Record, Division Champs Crowned

It's February and all league games in the Berks Girls League have been completed. Wasn't it just November?


The BCIAA playoffs tip off this Saturday with the District 3 playoff beginning Monday, Feb. 17. Time will tell if any Berks teams will be playing into the PIAA tournament in March.


Let's catch our breath and take a look at a few milestones recently reached around the league and how the playoff picture has shaped up.

Wyomissing girls basketball head coach Aaron Anders.
Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders draws up a play. (PhilMarPhoto)

Wyomissing Head Coach Aaron Anders Reaches 100 Wins

Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders became one of the fastest Berks coaches to reach win No. 100 in the Spartans' 55-17 victory over Brandywine Heights on Jan. 30.


Anders reached the century mark in just his fifth season as head coach. The Spartans went 31-1 in 2023-24, 28-3 in 2022-23, 13-10 in 2021-22, and 12-7 in 2020-21.


The win against Brandywine moved the Spartans to 16-3 this season. Wyomissing beat Northeastern and Fleetwood since and Anders now holds a 102-24 overall record.


"I'm just super proud of the girls, players former and current," Anders said after reaching 100 wins Jan. 30. "I have a great staff that works hard to prepare for the games but also prepare the girls for beyond basketball."


Anders became the 37th overall and fourth active coach in Berks girls basketball to reach 100 wins. Berks Catholic's Bob Birmingham (660), Gov. Mifflin's Mike Clark (313), and Schuylkill Valley's Jason Bagenstose (113) are the other active coaches with 100 wins or more.


Anders joins former Wyomissing head coaches Mike Mitchell Sr. (224), Mike Mitchell Jr. (136), Matt Ecker (103), and Russ Hinsey (102) with 100 or more career wins in Berks girls basketball.


Wyomissing has won back-to-back BCIAA and District 3 titles in 2023 and 2024; the 2023 titles were the first in the Spartans' history.

Brandywine Heights senior Addison Benner.
Brandywine Heights' new all-time leading scorer: Addison Benner. (PhilMarPhoto)

Addison 'Turbo' Benner Breaks Brandywine Scoring Record

After becoming the fourth Brandywine Heights girl to reach 1,000 points earlier this season, Addison Benner has broken the Bullets' all-time scoring record.


Benner scored 25 points in a 57-33 victory over Antietam Monday to increase her career total to 1,276 and break Deanna Daddona's school record of 1,253 set in 2015.


The senior is the first Berks girl to break her school's scoring record since Grace Reedy became Exeter's all-time leading scorer in 2024. The most recent before that were Twin Valley's Peyton McDaniel in 2020 and Antietam's Paige Glovenski in 2019.


Wyomissing's Amaya Stewart sits at 1,757 career points and needs 129 to break Rachel Hoffman's school record of 1,886, which she set in 1994.


It's Playoff Season

The four Berks division champions have been crowned: Wilson in Berks I, Twin Valley in Berks II, Wyomissing in Berks III, and Oley Valley in Berks IV.


Those four have secured their spots in the BCIAA playoffs.


The next two automatic qualifiers are the winners of the head-to-head matchups between the Berks I/II runner-up teams and the Berks III/IV runner-up teams. Those spots went to Gov. Mifflin and Schuylkill Valley.


Gov. Mifflin was the runner-up in Berks I and Conrad Weiser in Berks II. The Mustangs beat the Scouts 59-31 on Jan. 16.


Schuylkill Valley was the runner-up in Berks III and Brandywine Heights in Berks IV. The Panthers beat the Bullets 37-35 on Dec. 16.


The last two qualifiers are wildcards based on highest District 3 power ranking. As of Feb. 4, Reading High (.667826) and Conrad Weiser (.653221) claim those spots, leaving Berks Catholic (.612251) as the first team out.

Conrad Weiser's Geniva Paul and Twin Valley's Hailey Kilgore.
Conrad Weiser's Geniva Paul attacks as Twin Valley's Hailey Kilgore defends. (PhilMarPhoto)

There could be some slight shuffling with others teams across District 3 wrapping up their seasons, but the BCIAA playoff field is all but officially set with only a few games remaining on Berks teams' schedules.


The BCIAA cutoff date is Feb. 5 with the seeding committee meeting to take place on Feb. 6.


According to the BCIAA policy manual, "seeding committee will be formed and run by the sport chair and meet one (1) day after the

BCIAA cutoff date at 7:00 p.m. to create the final bracket. This committee will consist of all eight head coaches of the teams qualifying for playoffs (or another school-appointed representative if the head coach is not available)."


The cutoff date for games to count in District 3 ranking purposes is Feb. 12.


The only remaining games on the Berks regular season schedule are Gov. Mifflin at Cedar Crest, Wyomissing at Exeter, York Tech at Antietam, and Brandywine Heights at Executive Education on Feb. 5. Muhlenberg plays at Susquehanna Township on Feb. 7.


Here are the quarterfinal matchups if the season ended today and no changes are made during the seeding committee meeting, when coaches have a chance to challenge their seed:


No. 8 Schuylkill Valley (.557386) at No. 1 Wyomissing (.744637)

No. 7 Oley Valley (.569342) at No. 2 Wilson (.724902)

No. 6 Twin Valley (.637427) at No. 3 Gov. Mifflin (.685464)

No. 5 Conrad Weiser (.653221) at No. 4 Reading High (.667826)


Here are the District 3 tournament qualifiers from Berks separated by classification:


6A (16 qualifiers): No. 7 Wilson, No. 9 Gov. Mifflin, No. 12 Reading High.

5A (14 qualifiers): No. 7 Conrad Weiser, No. 9 Twin Valley.

4A (10 qualifiers): No. 3 Wyomissing, No. 6 Berks Catholic, No. 10 Schuylkill Valley.

3A (6 qualifiers): No. 3 Oley Valley.








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