Perhaps the novelty has begun to waiver a bit once the reality of winning a state championship has sunk into the players and coaches of the Loyalsock Township state champion girls’ basketball team, but their accomplishment made school and District IV history and the smiles on their faces and pride in their hearts remain as fresh as on that March 20 evening when the Giant Center became a Township annex.
It is said to have originated in 1832 during a New York State political campaign, but the saying “To the Victor Go the Spoils” now has its roots firmly embedded in the Loyalsock Township high school trophy case. Yes, the state championship plaque is there, but so are the proclamations citing Curtis Jacobson, Class AAA Coach of the Year, Alaina Dadzie Player of the Year, and teammate Lacy Kriebel as a second-team honoree.
Some might describe the Lady Lancers’ 30-2 state championship season as having a storybook ending, but the fantastic conclusion was not storybook stuff, nor was it fiction. It was achieved by a group of girls and their coaches dedicating themselves to achieving what some may have thought to be unattainable.
They were the first area girls’ basketball team to do what they did, but like other monumental accomplishments of the past, there were pioneers, sometimes unnamed, that paved the way to make the path they followed a bit easier.
In times of old, girls wanting to play basketball were limited to a game of six-on-six basketball, the rules of which by today’s standards were archaic:
1. Teams had six players: three forwards and three guards.
2. Only forwards were allowed to shoot the ball. Forwards had to stay in their team’s frontcourt, and guards had to stay in their team’s backcourt. The forwards only played offense; the guards only played defense.
3. Unlimited dribbling was not allowed. Once in possession of the ball, players could only dribble twice; at that point, the player must shoot or pass to a teammate.
Beginning in 1958, the Office of Civil Rights started looking at banning six-on-six high school girls’ basketball. It took 37 years to finally phase it out, with Oklahoma being the last state to give it up in 1995.
I would venture a guess that none of the Lancer players are aware of the 1968 Virginia Slims advertising slogan, “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!” In recent years, our area has become a hotbed for successful girls’ athletic achievements. It hasn’t always been that way, and some significant achievements by competitively driven, talented young ladies helped pave the way for the opportunities that soon followed.
In the 1970s, a young South Williamsport girl wanted to play Little League Baseball but was denied. She and her mother wanted answers from LLB Headquarters but were shunned. As society began to change, she was permitted to play and made the Little Mountaineer All-Star team. In her first All-Star game, she was the leadoff batter. As she approached the plate, the public address announcer said, “Now batting Dennis Day.”
The batter stepped out of the batter’s box, looked up at the press box, and proudly stated, “It’s Denise Day.”
Upon high school graduation, she received a softball scholarship to attend the University of Nebraska. She etched her name into Husker history by becoming a two-time All-American, led her team to four conference championships and its first Women’s College World Series appearance, and in 1985, she won the Honda Award as the nation’s best softball player. The University retired her number 10 and enshrined her in the school’s Hall of Fame.
Following graduation, she played on the gold medal winning United State National Team in 1990 and was a member of the 1991 Pan Am team.
During the time Day was tearing up the softball diamond, Montoursville’s Kelly Mazzante was making her mark on the basketball court. During her four-year high school career, she scored 3,217 points and was a four-time All-State selection.
She went on to star at Penn State, graduating in 2004 as the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer with 2,919 points and being a two-time Associated Press First Team All-American. She went on to play seven years in the WNBA, winning two league titles with the Phoenix Mercury in 2007 and 2009. She later played professionally in Europe. Mazzante now serves as an assistant coach at Georgetown University.
Those ‘pioneers’ have been followed by a bevy of local young ladies who have excelled in their chosen sport over the years. Among the recent champions are South Williamsport’s Oliva Dorner, winner of two consecutive state tennis titles in 2020/21; Montgomery’s state champions softball team in 2022; Williamsport’s Marisa Rumsey state wrestling champion at 136 pounds in 2022; and the Montgomery girls PIAA state wrestling champions this past spring comprised of Zoe Furman, Jenna Houseknecht, and Emily Murphy.
Joining Dadzie and Kriebel as All-State selections are Jersey Shore’s Peyton Dincher, named as an AAAA selection for the third straight year, and AAA Hughesville’s Alli Anstadt, the first Spartan to achieve the honor this century.
In 1967, an Aretha Franklin song, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, spoke out on women’s behalf. Thirty years later, Shania Twain’s 1997 hit Man, I Feel Like a Woman, upped the ante. In 2025, our local female athletes have won their respect and taken the sports they play to a much higher level.
