After the long off-season and a month of practicing layups, passes and running laps, the 2016-2017 Saucon Valley Youth Basketball season finally tipped off this past Saturday and the boys and girls saw lots of exciting games, terrific team play and outstanding individual performances.
In the 5th and 6th Grade Boys Rec division, the Saucon boys won three of their four games. Steve Reeves (fifth grade) led the Giants to victory by scoring 18 points as they held off a furious comeback by a Bethlehem team. The Trojans also held off a comeback by a Southern Lehigh team, winning 24-22. Hunter Crookham (sixth grade) had three 3-pointers and Ray Matey (fifth grade) scored seven points to lead the way. On the girls side of the 5th and 6th Grade division, Fiona Stern (fifth grade) had 14 points to push the Jaguars past Salisbury, 23-10.
In the boys 3rd and 4th Grade Rec division, the Nittany Lions came together with a great all around team performance and had a hard-earned victory against a very difficult Bethlehem team. The Buckeyes were led to a 30-12 victory by Matt Gulati (fourth grade), who scored 10 points, and Eli Torres (fourth grade), who scored six points and had 11 rebounds. Fourth-grader Ethan Lucas had 12 rebounds.
The 3rd and 4th Grade travel team won their first game of the season against South Parkland. Fourth-grader Caleb Grim scored 6 points and had 15 rebounds while Geno Deren-Stout (fourth grade) scored six points as well and pulled down three rebounds.
Prior to the start of the season, the 5th and 6th Grade Boys Travel team, the Thundering Herd, played in a Thanksgiving weekend tournament where they picked up second place.
Congratulations to everyone for a weekend of exciting basketball!
The next set of games are this weekend, Dec. 10-11. The 3rd and 4th grade girls rec teams play next on Saturday starting at 10:30 a.m. at Southern Lehigh Middle School. The 5/6 boys rec teams are in action again on Saturday morning at Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem, while the 5/6 girls rec teams start play at Salisbury Middle School Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The 3rd and 4th grade boys rec teams play again Sunday afternoon in the middle school gym, starting at 1 p.m.
The 3rd and 4th grade travel team, the Hoosiers, play two games this weekend: 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in New Tripoli and Sunday at 4 p.m. in Allentown. The 5th and 6th grade boys travel team, the Huskies, play on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Northwestern and Sunday at 1 p.m. in Phillipsburg. The Thundering Herd play their first game Saturday at 3 p.m. against Bethlehem at Broughal Middle School and again Sunday at 2:45 p.m. at Troxell. The 5th and 6th grade Girls travel team, the Bobcats, play Southern Lehigh in the Saucon Valley Elementary School gym at 10 a.m. on Saturday while the Leopards and Tigers square off against each other at 11 a.m. in the SVES gym.
The 5/6 Boys youth basketball travel team came in second in the “In The Zone” Thanksgiving Tournament. Pictured from left to right: Cole Pinckney, Alex Magnotta, Jacob Albert, Jack Robertson, Constantine Donahue, Jake Klotz and Quinn Pinckney. Not pictured: Luke Shimko. The team is coached by Reggie Robertson (back left) and Scott Albert (back right).
