Mike Vukovcan Following some time off to rest, get healthy and prepare, the Hopewell High School Girls basketball team begins the second season tonight.
Head coach Jeff Homziak and his team open up the WPIAL playoffs as they go on the road to take on Elizabeth Forward.
The Lady Vikings qualified for the playoffs as the 4th place team in Section 2, but the opposition tonight will be tough.
The Elizabeth Forward Warriors finished the regular season with a record of 17-5 and 13-1 in Section 3. Taking a look at Elizabeth Forward’s season, they started by losing 3 of their first 4 games, falling to Avonworth, Bethel Park and Thomas Jefferson. After that, EJ went on to win 16 consecutive games before losing their final two games of the season against South Park (47-37) and Baldwin (77-50).
Elizabeth Forward enters the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in Class 4A, while Hopewell is No. 13.
Due to a variety of injuries and a young roster, Hopewell struggled for the majority of the first half of the season. However, things changed in the home stretch as the Lady Vikings finished the season winning 7 of their last 10 games.
The question now is can they keep this up tonight as they’ll be under the bright lights of the playoffs against a quality opponent.
Vikings Sports Now had the opportunity to catch up this morning with Coach Homziak to get his thoughts prior to tonight’s playoff opener.
“We had some injuries at the beginning of the season which required players to play at different positions and some of the younger players to play more significant minutes than they normally would have if we were healthy,” said Homziak. “Once we were able to get players back, those playing out of position were able to return positions they were most comfortable, which helped our team both offensively and defensively and has led to us playing our best games the last couple weeks of the season.”
If Hopewell is to advance to the second round, they’ll need to play their best game of the season against a team that Homziak knows is very talented.
“Elizabeth Forward, who is the Section 3 champion, has experience throughout their lineup. They all can shoot the 3 and have a formidable post presence with senior #14 Jellison.”
If the Lady Vikings are to pull the upset, Homziak lays out the keys to victory.
“Two keys to us being successful will be rebounding on both sides of the floor and making layups and free throws. Those two factors are what we have been working on improving as the season has progressed. If we can finish, we can be successful tonight.”
Vikings Sports Now wishes Hopewell the best of luck tonight. Tipoff from Elizabeth Forward High School is set for 7 PM.
