CENTRE COUNTY — The 2026 District 6 Basketball Playoffs began on Monday night with two local teams in First Round action.
The State College girls advanced to the D6 Final with a one-sided, 51-18 victory over Mifflin County at home, and the Penns Valley Rams came away with a heart-pounding, 75-74 victory over Richland at home in the boys’ AAA First Round.
Here’s a closer look at each game and the upcoming playoff schedules:
The State College girls turned up the “D” in a First Round romp over Mifflin County.
The No. 2 State College girls’ basketball team, led by a ferocious defense and sisters Sienna and Sheree Wilson, stymied Mifflin County on Monday night in State College in the First Round of the District 6, AAAAAA Championships.
The Little Lions held the Lady Huskies to just two first-half field goals and shot out to a commanding 21-4 lead after the first two quarters that eventually became a 51-18 victory.
SC kept going after that dominating start, extending\ its lead to 40-13 in the third quarter before finishing on an 11-5 run down the stretch.
The Lions’ high-pressure defense did not allow Mifflin to score in double figures in any quarter as they improved to 14-7 overall for the season. With the loss, Mifflin County’s season came to an end with a final record of 11-10.
Sienna Wilson paced State College with 16 points, Sheree finished with 15 and Mckenna Whitehurst added 11. Also, Ally Swauger scored 5 and Deseray Mobley and Sarah Coudriet each had 2.
The win was the second for State College over Mifflin in the last week as the Lions’ finished their Mid-Penn Commonwealth season with a 51-43 decision over the Huskies on Feb, 13.
State College will now advance to take on No. 1 seeded Altoona on Thursday, Feb. 19 at Mount Aloysius College in the District 6 Final.
Altoona, which defeated SC twice in the regular Mid-Penn season, can play defense as well. The Mountain Lions defeated Williamsport 57-10 on Monday night in the D6 First Round at Altoona.
After a slow 7-4 start, Altoona took control of the game with a 25-2 run in the second quarter and coasted home from there.
Thursday’s game will be a rematch of last year’s D6 Championship in which Altoona edged the Lady Lions, 41-37.
The winner will advance to the PIAA Tournament and take on the No. 2 team from District 7 at home in the First Round.
Penns Valley came from behind in a 75-74 win over Richland.
Penns Valley may have been the higher seed in Monday night’s District 6, First Round matchup against Richland, but the Rams were very aware that Richland was coming into the Ram Dome with all cylinders firing.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Richland bolted out to early leads and took an imposing 11-point, 38-27 lead going into the locker rooms at halftime.
Penns Valley, however, started to warm up after the break.
The Rams crept to within 57-52 after a 25-point third quarter that saw them nail four 3-pointers.
Down the stretch, Fletcher Irsonside’s basket got the Rams to within a point and Spencer Althouse finally gave the Rams their first lead with a basket as time was running out. Then the PV defense was able to hold as Richland’s last-second shot was off the mark.
Ironside, who scored his milestone 1000th career point in the final week of the regular season, scored 8 of his 10 points in the last quarter, while Althouse and Noah Patel were the high scorers for PV with 20 points each. Julian Battaglia, who also made a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, followed with 13 points.
“What a great high school basketball game in front of an awesome Penns Valley crowd,” Penns Valley head coach Robert Irwin said. “We dug ourselves a hole early in the game but we kept chipping away at Richland’s lead. There was no quit in our players. After being down 11 at the half, Carter Ironside and Julian Battaglia got the second half started with shots beyond the arc. This gave us important momentum during the 3rd.
“Dylan Dashem added a three in the third as well that helped us close the gap to 5 pts to start the 4th.
“In the final quarter Noah Patel and Spencer Althouse hit a number of key shots to keep us in the game, and Althouse hit the go-ahead bucket.
“The defense did just enough in the final moments of the game as Richland’s last second shot was off the mark. I was really proud of the team tonight, they battled and made key plays when we needed them.”
Penns Valley will now head into the Quarterfinals against No. 3 Forest Hills (21-3) on Thursday night at Forest Hills with a berth in the PIAA State Tournament on the line.
