NTL GIRLS BASKETBALL: TOWANDA HAS ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEASON (March 16, 2026)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
It was another successful season on the court for the Towanda Lady Knights, but it was one season they felt they could have gotten more out of.

“It's very hard to be disappointed in an 18 win season, and we certainly are not disappointed in that but I think if you asked anyone in our program, they would all feel that we left some things on the table and I believe they would love to have another opportunity to achieve some of the things we did not accomplish,” said Towanda coach Rob Gentile. “Unfortunately, there are no "do overs" in high school sports, so we will use these experiences to drive us to accomplish more in the future. We will stay committed to improving each and every day and our coaches will continue to provide opportunities for growth as individual players and as a team. To be successful at a high level you have to have a tremendous work ethic and fortunately, we have a bunch of hard working kids that love to compete and I know they will do whatever it takes to get us to where we would like to be. We have a large group of fantastic players and parents that are all committed to the same things. We do not have an effort problem or an attitude problem, so it makes coaching this group so easy and so enjoyable. There are times that we wished they had the belief and confidence in themselves, that our coaching staff had in them, but again that just comes down to skill and confidence, and the two of those things go hand in hand. With improved skill comes self confidence and our players understand that. Now they just have to invest the time and effort into themselves to build the confidence necessary to win consistently at a high level, and there is no doubt that each of them will do just that.”

Towanda came in second in the NTL Large School standings, and reached the showcase final, but falling against Troy in both.They got a home game for districts but lost to Mt. Carmel.

Towanda opened with a 45-28 loss to defending state champs Loyalsock, but then rattled off eight straight wins. During that span they defeated rival Athens (34-23), Ithaca (68-42) and Johnson City (41-34) to win their bracket at the Josh Palmer Fund, and Williamsport (50-44).

A home loss to Troy (46-18) ended that streak, and after beating Wellsboro (49-12), they suffered a close loss on the road to NP-Mansfield (43-41).

They got on another win streak - this time four in a row - as they beat Wyalusing (48-41), and held off a pesky Canton squad, 48-41.

They would go 1-2 over their next three games, falling to NEB (47-45), getting the sweep against Athens (48-37), and then falling to Troy (51-34).

They ended the regular season with three straight wins, including the sweep against Wyalusing (47-33), and a revenge win over NP-Mansfield (50-21).

They would get one back against NEB in the Showcase playoff before falling in their final two contests.

They were led by seniors Brynn Woodruff and Kennedy Heyer. Woodruff was the team’s leading scorer, who could hit from inside and out, while Heyer did a little bit of everything for the Knights.

“We say goodbye to two outstanding seniors, who have both impacted our team in their own unique ways in Brynn Woodruff and Kennedy Heyer,” said Gentile. “Brynn's toughness and competitiveness will be hard to replace. She ends her career scoring 1,093 career points and securing 772 career rebounds. Brynn has also taken an unofficial total of 46 charges in her career (32 in the past 2 seasons alone) which I believe is her most impressive stat. It shows the true toughness and character of a kid who will do whatever it takes to win games for her team. This is not a stat that gets historically tracked but I would have to believe if it were, it would likely be a school record. I can honestly say in my 30 plus years of coaching, it is by far the most of any other player I have coached, boy or girl, and I am not sure I will see anything even remotely close to that again. She is a special kid who will be impossible to replace. Kennedy's true value to our team comes in her energy and the effort that she always provided for us. She is a fantastic teammate that always put her team success ahead of her own. Her value to us can't be measured in stats but the impact she made on her teammates by her inspiring and unselfish play will leave a lasting impact on anyone who got to play with her and coach her. Kennedy is just one of those once in a lifetime kids that all coaches dream about but rarely ever get. We were all lucky to have had her on our team, and she will go down as the greatest teammate I have ever had the pleasure of coaching. It doesn't get anymore valuable in high school sports than that! Again, impossible to replace a Kennedy Heyer! Both will leave a lasting impact on the culture of the Lady Black Knight Basketball Program. They helped create the level of standards and expectation that we live by (effort, attitude, and toughness).”

They do bring back three of their five starters, and were one of the deeper teams in the league a year ago, as their freshmen got plenty of varsity playing time.

“Our cupboard is not bare, however,” Gentile said. “We bring back three very good juniors in Payton Perry, Mya Maynard, and Karis Flynn who are all natural leaders, very good players, and just all around fantastic kids. We also return three highly competitive sophomores in Mary Kate Eberlin, Reese Sullivan, and Ali Hollett who all have unique abilities and have all gained valuable varsity experience the past two seasons. We also were able to get three freshmen key varsity minutes this year as well in Maris Cobb, Taylor Aquilio, and Maci Alexander. Not to mention, those same 9th and 10th graders completed an undefeated (17-0) JV season and won every game by 14 or more points, many of which were mercy rule wins. We will also add a large group of talented and athletic 8th graders to next years group that had a very successful Jr High season this past year as well, including arguably one of the top Jr High players in our league the past couple of seasons and one of the more skilled 8th graders we have had in quite some time in Mila Santiago. We are really excited to get them all with us to begin teaching them the Towanda way, and to start building for the future of Towanda Lady Knights Basketball.”

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