To get an idea of what the winter weather might be like this year, you might want to buy a copy of the Old Farmer’s Almanac or check with your favorite meteorologist to see whether the El Nino or the La Nina climate pattern will be in effect.
To get an idea of what the upcoming winter basketball season will be like, you ask Ed Jennings, the founder and director of the Select Competition Basketball League fall league.
The SCBL completed its 13th season on Sunday with the two boys division championship games after the first year of the girls division had its finals on Oct. 15.
According to Jennings, the 2023-24 basketball season should be competitive and filled with great performances based on what he saw over the last two months.
“It has been a fantastic year,” Jennings said. “Adding the girls division made it a lot of fun. We had a lot of competitive games and there are a lot of talented girls from throughout the Valley. I am excited about watching girls basketball in the future and I think it’s going to grow and get better and better.”
“This was my first time doing it and I had a lot of fun,” said Allen’s Layla Sweatte who was the girls division championship game MVP. “I wish I was able to do this other years. It helped me get ready for the coming season and just helped me get better in general.”
Whitehall sophomore Jaylene Wilson said: “I really enjoyed it because we were able on to play a team with different skills level. It really helped me and I am definitely going to do do this again next year.”
In addition to adding girls players for the first time, the SCBL had a new venue — Executive Education.
“I had no complaints,” Jennings said. “The change from the Swain School was necessary because of adding the girls and next year we expect to be in the new fieldhouse and we can run more games simultaneously. We’ll be able to get out of here in a shorter time frame.”
Jennings estimated that he had about 175 players involved in the league this year.
“I see it growing because there are more opportunities for the kids to play on Sundays,” he said. “My format works where we do a draft when we pick the teams to balance the teams out. And we have player movement where we have games decided by 15 or 20 points. So we always want the games to be balanced and I think the parents want to come back because they know the games are going to be competitive.”
Jennings said the SCBL has been a positive for the basketball community and has helped to get the players ready for the coming season while others might be playing a fall sport.
Jennings said players who stood out throughout the season included Jametric Harris and Will Barber from Emmaus, Jahrel Vigo from Allentown Central Catholic, Blake Hargrove from Liberty and Jaden Thomas and Zaire Smaltz from Parkland.
Dieruff senior Buster Fallah was the championship game’s MVP with 24 points. Jennings considers him to be another rising star. The regular season co-most outstanding players were Fallah and Barber from Emmaus.
In the NCAA division for boys in grades 7-9, the most promising prospect was Jake Ross of Emmaus and the most outstanding players were Jayden Leatherbury of Freedom and Noeah Newsome of Executive.
In the girls division, the most promising prospect was Cassie Doemling of Emmaus, while the most outstanding players were Maekaela Bordner of Whitehall and Jayla Rosario of Dieruff.
Coaching clinic
A free clinic will be held Sunday at Executive featuring former Allen coach Doug Snyder, former Colgate and Lafayette coach Michael Jordan and Jon DeJesus, the former East Stroudsburg North coach who is now at Blair Academy. Penn State-Harrisburg coach Will Cabrera will also participate.
The clinic is open to boys and girls all levels and benefits the Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank.
“Admission is free for the clinic, but we ask for help in fighting family food insecurities, especially within our youth,” Jennings said. “You can help by donating a non-perishable food item or giving a monetary donation. We want to make sure kids are getting nutrious, healthy food.”
To register, go to scblhoops.org.
Blake Barthol shines
Parkland graduate Blake Barthol continues to rack up the honors playing Division I baseball at Coastal Carolina. The sophomore was the program’s fall MVP after leading the team with a .419 batting average, .561 on-base percentage and a .710 slugging mark. As a freshman, Barthol hit .308 with 24 extra-base hits, including seven home runs and 32 RBIs. He was selected to the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American team.
Wyatt Henseler
Emmaus High graduate Wyatt Henseler has had three stellar seasons at Penn, earning all-Ivy League and All-American honors. He announced recently that following his upcoming season, he will spend his grad year at Texas A&M. Henseler hit .321 with 18 home runs and 63 RBIs last season.
Elyse Wenner
Parkland junior gymnast Elyse Wenner recently announced on social media that she has committed to LSU. Wenner is ranked 16th overall in College Gym News’ Class of 2025 recruiting rankings.
Wenner trains at Stallone Gymnastics in Berks County and in 2022, she scored a 9.900 on the vault to open the season, a top 100 score in the nation. She also won the vault and beam at the Pennsylvania State Championships. She repeated as state champ on the beam this year and has also had great performances in the prestigious Excalibur Cup and Nastia Liukin Cup.
