Let's preface this by saying there's a lot more basketball to be played as we've reached the halfway point of the 2024-25 season and entered a new year.
Some teams, however, have established themselves as division favorites and/or put themselves in position for Berks and District 3 playoff berths.
BCIAA Playoffs? We're talking about playoffs?!
Reminder on the BCIAA playoff structure, which includes eight qualifiers (seeded based on District 3 power ranking):
The four division winners get in.
The Berks I or Berks II runner-up gets a bid based on head-to-head winner in the teams' crossover game.
The Berks III or Berks IV runner-up gets a bid based on head-to-head winner in the teams' crossover game.
Two wild-card teams get a bid based on highest district power ranking.
As of Jan. 10, 2025, the division leaders are: Reading High (.701 power rating) in Berks I, Twin Valley (.697) in Berks II, Wyomissing (.753) in Berks III, Brandywine Heights (.471) in Berks IV.
The current runners-up in Berks I and II are Gov. Mifflin (.666) and Conrad Weiser (.639), which play each other on Jan. 16. We'll give the Mustangs the bid for this scenario since they have a higher power rating.
The current runners-up in Berks III and IV are Schuylkill Valley (.525) and Oley Valley (.563), which play each other on Jan. 27. Again, we'll give the nod to the Lynx here based on their higher power ranking.
That leaves two wild-card spots, which would go to Wilson (.698) and Berks Catholic (.670) with Conrad Weiser, Exeter (.530), and Schuylkill Valley being the first three out.
The bracket would look like this:
No. 1 Wyomissing vs. No. 8 Brandywine Heights
No. 2 Reading High vs. No. 7 Oley Valley
No. 3 Wilson vs. No. 6 Gov. Mifflin
No. 4 Twin Valley vs. No. 5 Berks Catholic
District 3 Picture
The Berks Girls League fields teams in the 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A classifications of District 3. Six teams classify for the 3A bracket, 10 qualify for the 4A bracket, 14 for the 5A bracket, and 16 for 6A.
Here are the current rankings for the 18 Berks teams as of Jan. 10:
3A: No. 4 Oley Valley (.563), No. 8 Brandywine Heights (.471), No. 9 Tulpehocken (.419), No. 10 Kutztown (.415), No. 12 Antietam (.300).
4A: No. 1 Wyomissing (.753), No. 5 Berks Catholic (.670), No. 12 Schuylkill Valley (.525), No. 16 Hamburg (.417), No. 20 Fleetwood (.338).
5A: No. 4 Twin Valley (.697), No. 9 Conrad Weiser (.639), No. 15 Exeter (.530), No. 28 Daniel Boone (.281).
6A: No. 8 Reading High (.701), No. 9 Wilson (.698), No. 11 Gov. Mifflin (.666), No. 22 Muhlenberg (.509).
The current classification leaders are Linville Hill Christian in 1A, York Catholic in 2A, Trinity in 3A, Wyomissing in 4A, Middletown in 5A, and Red Lion in 6A.
Classification Shuffle
The Wyomissing vs. Middletown matchups during the regular season and rematches during the District 3 Class 4A playoffs were a treat the past few years. While the regular season matchups continue (Wyomissing travels to Middletown on Jan. 11), the teams won't face in the district playoffs this season.
Middletown bumped up to 5A, a classification the Blue Raiders are currently sitting atop at a spotless 11-0 so far this season behind junior forward Jayla Koser, who is averaging 18 points per game and recently reached 1,000 career points.
Having said that, an incredibly worthy challenger has re-entered the 4A mix to try and prevent Wyomissing from winning its third straight district title.
Lancaster Catholic, which won PIAA and District 3 titles last season in 3A, is back up to 4A this season and sits behind the Spartans at No. 2 in district ratings.
The Crusaders opted to play in 3A, where their enrollment says they should be, the past two seasons knowing the PIAA competition formula would likely move them up a class after last season's seniors graduated.
They were right and the Crusaders are back in 4A, which they had played in when the PIAA went to six classifications in 2017.
Other notable shuffling includes Trinity going from 4A to 3A and York Catholic from 3A to 2A.
Recap of 2023-24 Playoffs
In case you forgot, here are recaps of how Berks qualifiers performed in the BCIAA, District 3, and PIAA playoffs last season.
BCIAA
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Wilson defeated No. 8 Schuylkill Valley 66-20.
No. 2 Wyomissing defeated No. 7 Reading High 46-36.
No. 3 Gov. Mifflin defeated No. 6 Oley Valley 59-54.
No. 4 Berks Catholic defeated No. 5 Exeter 54-35.
Semifinals:
No. 1 Wilson defeated No. 4 Berks Catholic 41-24.
No. 2 Wyomissing defeated No. 3 Gov. Mifflin 50-42.
Championship:
No. 2 Wyomissing defeated No. 1 Wilson 45-36.
District 3
No. 5 Oley Valley: Lost to No. 4 York Catholic 65-40 in 3A quarterfinals.
No. 10 Schuylkill Valley: Lost to No. 7 Middletown 38-36 in 4A first round.
No. 5 Berks Catholic: Lost to No. 4 Bishop McDevitt 66-43 in 4A quarterfinals.
No. 2 Wyomissing: Beat No. 7 Middletown 61-39 in 4A quarterfinals, beat No. 3 Northern Lebanon 45-15 in semifinals, beat No. 1 Delone Catholic 45-32 in championship.
No. 9 Exeter: Lost to No. 8 Manheim Central 46-30 in 5A first round.
No. 11 Gov. Mifflin: Lost to No. 6 Manheim Township 70-51 in 6A first round.
No. 2 Wilson: Beat No 10 William Penn 44-33 in 6A quarterfinals, lost to No. 3 Central Dauphin 42-41 in semifinals.
PIAA
3-4 Wilson: Lost to 1-3 Conestoga in 6A first round.
3-1 Wyomissing: Beat 12-5 Carver E&S 43-22 in 4A first round, beat 12-3 Neumann-Goretti 62-52 in second round, beat 7-1 North Catholic 61-46 in quarterfinals, lost to 7-2 Blackhawk 47-31 in semifinals.
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