The Abington Heights basketball programs continue to make an impact across all levels of college basketball.
The University of South Carolina Upstate women’s team, in its second season with Becky Burke as head coach, is off to a 3-2 start.
USC Upstate improved its winning percentage slightly in Burke’s first season, going from 10-20 a year earlier to 8-15 in the 2020-21 season, which was shortened somewhat by COVID.
Burke has been helped by a player from close to home.
Scranton Prep graduate Rachael Rose scored 23 points and made seven steals in her second college game. Rose already has a Big South Conference Rookie of the Week honor to her credit and is averaging 11.0 points along with team-highs of 3.0 steals and 2.8 assists.
Burke is coaching and George Tinsley is playing on the National College Athletic Association Division I level.
Tinsley is in his third season at Binghamton University where he has started all 51 games of his college career.
The 6-foot-6 junior forward’s role has been reduced this season on an improving team. The Bearcats are 2-3, getting their second win nine games earlier than last season’s 4-14 team.
After ranking second in the nation at 38 minutes per game as a freshman, Tinsley played 33 minutes last year. In 23 minutes per game this season, he is averaging 7.8 points and 4.0 rebounds, down from 11.6/7.4 as a freshman and 8.5/6.6 as a sophomore.
Tinsley’s best game was 14 points, five rebounds and five assists in an 85-77 loss to Columbia.
Indiana Wesleyan University has won seven straight to get to 8-1 and eighth in the country among National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic Association teams with 7-foot center Seth Maxwell again playing a major role.
The All-American and 1,000-point career scorer is averaging 19.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots. Maxwell is shooting 55.7 percent from the floor and 76.2 percent from the foul line.
Cassie Ksiazek, a 6-foot redshirt junior with a history of major injury issues, is on the roster at NCAA Division II East Stroudsburg University, but has not played in the first three games.
Corey Perkins, a sophomore guard at Marywood University, was named to the Atlantic East Conference Weekly Honor Roll for his play through Nov. 28, then went out Nov. 29 and had 11 assists in an 89-80 victory over Keystone College.
Perkins was recognized after scoring 10 points, grabbing seven defensive rebounds, dishing out a game-high six assists, making three steals and blocking a shot to help Marywood snap a three-game losing streak with a 92-84 victory over Wilkes University.
Like Tinsley, Perkins was a member of the 2018 Abington Heights state championship team. His first college season amounted to the only game played by Marywood because of COVID precautions.
Perkins came off the bench to score 11 points in 30 minutes in the only game from 2020-21.
This season, he has started all eight games and is averaging 7.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.6 assists for the Pacers (4-4). Perkins had 12 assists in his first game of the season and has had 11 in a game twice since.
Harry Johnson has broken into the starting lineup as a freshman at Haverford.
The 6-4 forward is shooting 53.2 percent from the floor while averaging 10 points and 4.8 rebounds in six games, the last two of which were starts.
Haverford has won both games Johnson started to improve to 4-2 overall.
Erin Albright, a 5-9 guard/forward, has started all six games for the Haverford women’s team, which is also 4-2.
Albright is a sophomore, but this is her first season because Albright canceled the 2020-21 season because of COVID. She is averaging 2.2 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Clair Marion is averaging 5.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21.5 minutes per game coming off the bench at Dickinson College (2-2). She is a 5-10 freshman forward/guard.
Rachel McDonald has played 21 minutes in four games during Misericordia University’s 3-3 start. The 5-4 guard has four points, two rebounds and two steals.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Katie Dammer helped Georgetown University reach the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships where Hoyas finished 18th in a field of the country’s top 31 teams.
Dammer was in the seven-runner lineup at nationals and when Georgetown won Big East and Mid-Atlantic Region titles. She was part of the five-runner team score in the Big East Championships when Dammer placed 35th out of 97 runners by finishing the 6-kilometer course in 22:35.7.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Tori James, a sophomore from Lackawanna Trail, finished 15th in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championships after placing 20th in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships.
Abby Marion, a freshman from Abington Heights running at West Chester, was 85th in the Atlantic Region after placing 69th at the PSAC Championships.
FOOTBALL
Mike Malone appeared in six games as a sophomore defensive end at NCAA Division I William & Mary.
The Abington Heights graduate had a sack for a five-yard loss and assisted on two tackles.
William & Mary went 6-5.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Emily Clauss, a redshirt junior from Abington Heights, had three assists in eight games for PSAC champion Bloomsburg University.
MEN’S SOCCER
Abington Heights graduate Mike Foder scored 12 goals in 11 games at Penn-State Scranton to earn honors as Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year honors.