Hopewell HS Girls Basketball

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.

With just 7 games left in the regular season, the Hopewell Vikings High School Girls basketball team is looking to start a winning streak.

That’s going to be needed if they hope to continue their streak of participating in the WPIAL Playoffs.

Unfortunately, because of a slow start, the Vikings are hoping to climb out a hole caused by an early season losing streak. Not to make excuses, but a big part of that losing streak was due to injuries up and down the roster, particularly to last season’s leading scorer Caylee Sundy.

The good news for Coach Jeff Homziak’s squad is that for practically the first time this season, they are completely healthy, which is great news and gives the team optimism.

This morning, Vikings Sports Now had the chance to catch up with Coach Homziak and asked him the impact of not having Sundy for the majority of the season and what her recent return has meant.

“Anytime a team is without a player who provides leadership on the floor or playing field, it forces other players to have to assume roles that they may not be ready for at the time, but it forces them to develop skills that will benefit themselves and the team further in the season and their playing careers,” said Homziak.

While it may have negatively impacted the record, plenty of young players benefited as they saw their minutes and responsibilities increase with the absence of Sundy. Addison Blosnick and Cici Smetana, in particular, are playing a lot more than maybe they expected considering they’re just in 9th grade.

“Over the last five-six weeks, younger players have been provided opportunities to display their abilities against varsity competition which otherwise may not have been available,” said Homziak. “It has also helped our coaching staff evaluate our strengths and weaknesses going forward. This has made our total number of players who can provide varsity minutes greater in terms of bench depth.”

The coaching staff is hoping that this depth and playing time will pay dividends down the stretch as Hopewell looks to sneak into 4th place, which would get them in the playoffs.

“We currently are in 5th place in the section standings halfway through,” said Homziak. “On Monday we have the opportunity to earn a season split with Hampton and move into a tie for 4th place.  Four teams and ties qualify for the playoffs from our section, so Monday’s game is critical for us trying to earn a season split and the second half of section play.”

The game tomorrow is at Hopewell High School with a tipoff set for 7:30 PM. It’s a big game so if your schedule allows you to, showing up and supporting this team would be appreciated.

Here’s a look at the current standings and Hopewell’s remaining schedule.

Class 4A, Section 2:
Blackhawk: 6-0
Beaver: 5-2
Central Valley: 4-2
Hampton: 3-3
Hopewell 2-4
Lincoln Park: 1-4
Ambridge: 0-6

Hopewell’s Remaining Schedule- 
1/20: vs. Hampton
1/23: vs. Blackhawk
1/27: at Beaver
1/30: at Ambridge
2/1: at Rochester
2/6: vs. Central Valley
2/10: at Mohawk

*Need to reschedule a postponed game against Lincoln Park

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP- Due to a slow start, the Hopewell High School Girls Basketball team have little margin of error if they plan on qualifying for the 2025 WPIAL Girls Basketball Playoffs.

Entering tonight, the Lady Vikings sat in 5th place in Class 4A, Section 2 trailing 4th place Hampton by just one game. The top four teams, including ties, make the playoff field.

So, tonight’s matchup against Hampton was very important because a win would bump Hopewell up to 4th place. A loss would make it very difficult for the Vikings to be a playoff team without receiving major, unexpected help.

Hopewell is almost 100% healthy and tonight, they looked like the team we were expecting to see all season as they led Hampton wire-to-wire and came away with a convincing 38-20 win.

The overwhelming key to tonight’s victory was the tenacious defense played by every single girl that stepped on the court as well as the job they did rebounding both ends of court. While the entire team was strong at it, two players that really stood out to me for dominating the boards were Addison Blosnick and Alyssa Spang. They were both outstanding.

But once again, the reason for tonight’s important win was the defense allowing Hampton only 12 points at halftime and only 8 eights in the entire second half.

1ST QUARTER RECAP:
*Hopewell got on the scoreboard first as Maya Richburg got the ball to Blosnick, who executed a perfect up and under for the basket, Hopewell 2-0.

*Caylee Sundy pulls down a defensive rebound, pushes the ball up court and find Avery Boyd for the layup, Hopewell 4-2.

*Sundy was missed a 3-pointer, but Spang brings down the offensive rebound and puts it back up for 2-points, Hopewell 7-4.

*Following a Hampton field goal, Hopewell is able to break the press, eventually getting the ball to Boyd who misses a shot from the corner, but Blosnick gets the offensive rebound and 2 points, Hopewell 9-6.

End of 1st Quarter: Hopewell 9 Hampton 6

2ND QUARTER RECAP:
*Like they did in the first quarter, Hopewell continued to get a lot of quality shots, but they weren’t falling early but were able to stay in the game with their defense.

*Following a Hampton missed shot Hopewell got out in transition and Richburg with a great bounce pass to Boyd for the layup, Hopewell 11-6.

*Hopewell once again breaks the Hampton press, as Richburg gets the ball to Boyd, who’s fouled shooting. Avery went on to make both free throws, Hopewell 13-7.

*More rebounding and more made free throws. Allison Ramaley gets the offensive rebound, passes to Sundy, who’s fouled shooting, Caylee goes on to make both free throws, Hopewell 15-7.

*Hopewell once again with good transition offense leading to a layup by Sundy, Hopewell 17-9.

*Next trip up, Spang comes up with the steal and passes to Sundy for the layup, Hopewell 19-9.

*The final basket of the half for Hopewell comes from the player, who opened up the scoring. Boyd misses a 3 but Blosnick grabs another offensive rebound and puts it back up for a layup, Hopewell 21-12.

Halftime: Hopewell 21 Hampton 12

3RD QUARTER RECAP:
*Sundy misses a 3 but Spang grabs the offensive rebound and muscles up for 2 points, Hopewell 23-15.

*Ramaley was once again steady for Hopewell and on this possession, she found an opening in the lane and went up for a layup and was fouled. Allison would then make 2 FT’s, Hopewell 26-15.

*Sundy gets the steal, drives the lane and finds Ramaley with a great bounce pass and Allison makes the layup, Hopewell 28-15.

*Come out of a timeout, Coach Homziak draws up a play and the players execute it perfectly. Great ball rotation with Sundy skipping it to Ramaley who threads the needle to Blosnick in the paint for 2 more, Hopewell 30-17.

End of 3rd Quarter: Hopewell 31 Hampton 17

4TH QUARTER RECAP:

*With the lead, Hopewell is patient running their halfcourt offense which eventually leads to Sundy driving inside for 2 points, Hopewell 33-17.

*Same thing but instead, Sundy kicks it out to Boyd, who drains a 3 from the corner, Hopewell 36-17.

*Last field goal of the game comes from Sundy who knocks down another shot in the paint.

Final Score: Hopewell 38 Hampton 20

The win improves Hopewell’s record to 3-4 in the section, which ties them with Hampton. Next up for Hopewell is a matchup against 1st place Blackhawk on Thursday.

After the game, Vikings Sports Now spoke with Hopewell head coach Jeff Homziak.