Centre County High School Basketball Teams Set to Begin Play

Even though Penn State is still playing football — and in increasingly important games — it is getting toward winter and the cold weather.

That means, of course, that the high school basketball season is about to start up, and in fact there are a number of local teams that will be playing as early as Friday.

One of the teams in action will be the State College Little Lions, who open their season at 7:30 p.m. at home against North Allegheny in the Skip Coleman Tournament. The defending District 6 champions then face either District 12 power LaSalle College or Philadelphia’s Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School on Saturday.

The SC girls’ team, with new head coach Chris Leazier, will have to wait until Tuesday, Dec. 13, to open its season. The Little Lions will travel to Harrisburg to take on Central Dauphin East in the opening game of the Mid-Penn Conference, Colonial Division.

Other local teams will also open play on Friday. The Bellefonte boys will be home against Central Mountain and the Bellefonte girls are at Juniata.

The P-O boys are at close rival Moshannon Valley to open their season Friday, and the Penns Valley girls will be at home with the BEA girls.

Also on Friday, the Penns Valley boys will travel to open their season at Mifflinburg.

Shortly thereafter, the rest of the teams in Centre County will get into action.

The BEA boys and Penns Valley will have an early-season, Mountain League faceoff at BEA on Tuesday.

The Philipsburg girls will be at home against West Branch on Monday while both St. Joseph’s Academy teams will be in action. The SJCA girls will travel to Williamsburg on the Tuesday, and the boys will be on the road at Penns Valley on Monday.

Some other big matchups to look forward to before the holidays include the State College boys against Mifflin County on Monday, Dec. 19, the Bellefonte boys hosting P-O on Thursday, Dec. 22, Penns Valley boys at Bellefonte on Friday, Dec. 16, and BEA girls at Philipsburg, also on the 16th.

The 2015-16 season was filled with close games and exciting moments, and there’s no need to think that this year will be any different.