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What to expect from the Mid Penn tourney


The Mid Penn Conference tournament can be somewhat unpredictable, with teams usually facing off for the first time in a season.

But one thing is for sure about Tuesday's semifinal matchups: It's not going to be easy for the pair of Franklin County teams.

Greencastle-Antrim's girls and Shippensburg's boys captured the Mid Penn Colonial Division basketball crowns and will travel to Big Spring to face Cumberland Valley and Harrisburg, respectively. The girls game begins at 6 p.m. with the boys game to follow.

The other semifinals will take place at Hershey, and will feature Camp Hill (Capital) and Lower Dauphin (Keystone) in girls and Milton Hershey (Capital) and Bishop McDevitt (Keystone) in boys.

On paper, Greencastle's girls may have a shot at beating the Cumberland Valley (18-3), the Commonwealth Division champion. The Blue Devils boast a 20-1 record and are on a 16 game winning streak. They are coming off a win against Boiling Springs that clinched their third straight Colonial Division title.

But while the Eagles have two more losses, including a defeat at the hands of Mount Lebanon just this past weekend, don't count them out so easily. CV is the two-time defending PIAA Class AAAA champion and has at least two players headed to Division I players in Kelly and Katie Jekot.

Greencastle is led by the Big 3 - Jenay Faulkner (20.8 ppg), Hannah Crist (17.0) and Meghan Hirneisen (9.0) - but have had double-digit performances by Morgan Wagaman, Madison Sweitzer and Lydia Crist at least once apiece this season.

On the boys side, Shippensburg (16-6) also faces an uphill grind versus the Commonwealth champ Cougars.

Harrisburg (16-4) runs a seriously high-octane offense and is averaging 68 points per game. The Greyhounds have scored 68 points once this season - in their third game of the year against Waynesboro.

The Cougars are a bit short-handed though, as leading scorer Chris Whitaker has missed the last few weeks with an injury. But the Hound defense will certainly have its hands full.

Offensively, Ship is led by Wade Mills (15.0 ppg), Shuntan Hickman (10.2) and Carter Van Scyoc (9.4), and Teagan Staver has come on strong lately, posting double figures in seven of his last eight games.

Anything is certainly possible, but it's going to take a lot for Franklin County to get a spot in either championship game Thursday.

Media coverage: On Twitter, follow @LindseySquints for updates from the girls game, and I'll be at the boys game (@liziarbogast).

Lizi's note: The snow date for Tuesday's games is Wednesday at the same times and places.