Cici Smetana

HOPEWELL TWP– The Hopewell High School Girls Basketball team had a dominant win tonight over the New Castle Hurricanes in their first home game of the season. Led by key performances from Avery Boyd, 24 points and Addison Blosnick, 24 points, the Vikings stomped the Hurricanes 66-32.

In the first quarter. The Vikings got off to an impressive 14-0 start, converting their aggressive defense into explosive offense. A lot of action from Boyd led the Vikings to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, our offense continued its explosiveness even though they gave up more points than the first quarter. The Vikings took advantage of their many trips to the free throw line, making 6 of 9 free throws in the second quarter. They finished this quarter leading 39-14.

After the halftime break where the Hopewell Little Dribblers and Little Lady Vikings Youth program was recognized, the Vikings offense yet again kept the momentum rolling, outscoring the Hurricanes 15 to 12 in the third quarter. Boyd and Blosnick combined for 11 of the Vikings 15 points. Hopewell led 54-26, and the end of the third.

In the final quarter of the game, Cici Smetana and Blosnick shined, scoring 8 of the Vikings 12 points. The Vikings’ defense showed off, allowing the Hurricanes to score only 6 points in the fourth. The final score of the game was Hopewell 66, New Castle 32.

Next up, the Vikings head to Moon for the Moon Tipoff Tournament. They play Franklin Regional at 6:00 PM tomorrow night, and Moon, Saturday night at 6:30 PM. Their next home game is Tuesday, December 9th vs Beaver Falls.

PLAYER STATS:

Addison Blosnick: 24 points

Avery Boyd: 24 points

Cici Smetana: 11 points

Hannah McDowell: 5 points

Abby Kovell: 2 points

GAME RECAP:

1st Quarter-

2-0 – Avery Boyd with a steal leading to a layup

4-0 – Hannah McDowell to Addison Blosnick in the post for a layup

6-0 – Boyd to McDowell for a layup

8-0 – Blosnick coast to coast for 2

10-0 – Boyd to Blosnick on the fast break for another layup. Timeout New Castle

12-0 – Block by McDowell leading to a Blosnick fast break

14-0 – Boyd with a fast break layup

15-3 – Cici Smetana free throw

17-3 – Smetana with a jump shot

19-3 – Boyd with another fast break layup

21-3 – Boyd another layup after a nice pump fake

2nd Quarter-

23-3 — Lob from Ava Ray to Blosnick for a layup

25-3 – Boyd scores a layup with a pass from Ray

26-3 – Blosnick makes one of two free throws

28-5 – Another layup for Boyd off a crossover

30-5 – Boyd with a layup plus the foul

32-7 – Smetana with a nice floater

34-9 – Arching jump shot from Abby Kovell

36-11 – Blosnick makes two of two free throws

38-14 — Blosnick makes two of two free throws

39-14 – McDowell makes one of two free throws

3rd Quarter-

41-14 – Blosnick layup after nice feed from Boyd

43-16 – Another layup from Blosnick

45-16 – Pull-up jumper by Boyd

48-21 – Blosnick makes one of two free throws

50-26 – Smetana with a two-point jumper

52-26 – Boyd with a nice take up the middle for a layup

54-26 – Layup off a steal for Boyd

4th Quarter-

56-31 – Blosnick with the spin move for a side layup

58 -31 – Smetana makes two of two free throws

60-31 – Bounce pass from Blosnick for Boyd layup

62-31 – Layup off of an offensive rebound for Blosnick

64-31 – Pull-up jumper for Smetana

66-31 – Basket by McDowell

Final Score: Hopewell 66, New Castle 32

The 2025-26 Hopewell HS Girls Basketball season tipped off Monday night as the Vikings traveled to take on West Allegheny in a non-section game.

The reality of things is that the upcoming season will be very challenging for the Lady Vikings as they’re trying to overcome a lot of obstacles.

First and foremost, senior Caylee Sundy will miss the entire season after suffering a knee injury in the off-season. That’s devasting for Coach Homziak’s squad because Sundy is Hopewell’s most talented players and one of the best players in Beaver County.

Caylee was Hopewell’s point guard, leading scorer and team leader.

Hopewell also has another starter from last season not playing this season so the depth and after losing others to graduation, the depth on this 2025-26 team is challenged.

Despite all that, the season must go on, and it will. Hopewell will show up, will be prepared and will compete as they did last night against West Allegheny.

Although they’ll try and win every game, the theme of this season will be about the development of young players on the roster. The underclassman, Avery Boyd, Ava Ray, Addison Blosnick, Cici Smetana, Hannah McDowell, Abbey Kovell, Lili Enders have talent but they’re all young, which means they’ll be growing pains.

Taking the glass half full mentality, with a year of on-court experience and the addition next year of talented players from the 8th grade roster, the results could look much different next season for Hopewell.

It’ll be fun this season to watch the development of the players on the roster and as the season goes on, the team will get better.

Last night in the season opener, Hopewell took on a tough opponent in West Allegheny and lost 63-35.

WA got off to a strong start, leading 20-11 after the 1st quarter and 37-14 at halftime.

The biggest bright spot for the Vikings was the play of sophomore guard Cici Smetana, who scored a career-high 16 points. Smetana was particularly strong from outside as she connected on 4 3-pointers.

Smetana received a lot of varsity playing time last season as a freshman and has the opportunity to develop into one of the on-court leaders of this team for the next few seasons.

Sophomore Addison Blosnick, coming off a strong freshman season, scored 7 points, while Avery Boyd scored 6 points. Other Vikings on the scoresheet were Hannah McDowell with 4 and freshman guard Ava Ray, who scored her first varsity field goal. Congrats Ava.

Hopewell will return to the court on Thursday for their home opener as they’ll host New Castle at 6:30 PM. Thursday will also be Youth Basketball Night at Hopewell. All Little Lady Vikings in-house players grades 3-6 will be recognized with their team during halftime. Free entry for all youth players.

Blosnick and Boyd Lead Hopewell to Convincing Win Over New Castle in Home Opener

Hopewell HS Girls Basketball Lose to WA in Opener, Smetana Shines