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If there’s a tougher field to navigate to earn a PIAA championship than the District 6 2A girls bracket, it would be hard to believe.

Consider the top names in the hunt as the Bellwood-Antis Lady Blue Devils begin their part of the bracket tonight at home at 7 p.m. against Bishop McCort:

• The Lady Crushers are the defending District 6 champion, and they come in with a 5 seed.
• Juniata Valley, after moving up from 1A, is in as the 3 seed. The Lady Hornets were a PIAA finalist last season in the smaller classification.
• Penns Manor is the top seed with a 20-1 record, while Blairsville is 2 at 19-4. The Lady Bobcats were the Lady Devils’ opponent last season in the PIAA Final Four, one step away from Hershey. At the same time, playing out of the East, Penns Manor reached the 2A Final Four and narrowly lost to West Catholic.
• And there at No. 4 is 19-3 Bellwood-Antis. Clearly the Lady Devils aren’t going to take anyone by surprise, but the simple fact that B-A and Penns Manor could be considered the bracket’s sleeper teams speaks volumes to the kind of competition that’s there in 2A.

The level of competition in 2A is unrivaled anywhere in Pennslvania, and the winner and survivors have an inside track to a PIAA championship.

“Class AA in District 6 is the toughest classification in the state.  The loser of our quarterfinal game with Bishop McCort is capable of winning a state title. Not sure that you could say that about any other classification,” said B-A coach Jim Swaney. “It is an exciting time of the year because everyone is good.  We try to stay focused on what is directly in front of us.  It worked well for us in the past and I think it will again.”

The top four teams qualify for the state tournament, which means if the Lady Devils can win tonight over McCort, they’re in, with the chance to defend their 2018 crown.

It won’t be easy. The Lady Crushers are 15-6 but they have won 9 of their last 10 games. Averaging 67.6 points per game, McCort has a balanced attack led by three players averaging double-digit scoring: Sierra Widmar (13.8), Isabellan Hunt (13.7) and Mikayla Martin 12.0.

All of the Lady Crushers losses have come to teams that qualified for the District 6 playoffs in one classification or another, including losses to Bishop Guilfoyle and Penns Manor, both 2A qualifiers.

B-A, meanwhile, has lost to only one team in the state of Pennsylvania, and that was an 11-point setback to Juniata Valley in January. Outside of that defeat B-A’s only losses were to Lovejoy, GA and Arlington, TN in the Crescom Bank Holiday Tournament in Myrtle Beach in December.

The Lady Devils, behind 2,000-point scoring junior Alli Campbell, have been dominant in their title defense, winning by an average of 30 points each time out. Campbell is averaging 30 points and 6 rebounds per game, but she’s not alone in putting up big numbers to carry the team. Junior Sakeria Haralson is averaging a double-double with 11.5 points and 10.9 rebounds per game; Emilie Ledig is averaging 11.5 points per game; senior Riley D’Angelo is at 12.5 points per game and is 7 points away from reaching 1,000 for her career.

B-A’s propensity for scoring provides an interesting contrast for their matchup against McCort. The Lady Crushers are allowing only 50 points per game. They’ve held eight opponents under 50 and four of their last 12 opponents have failed to reach 40.

The winner of tonight’s advances to the semifinals to take on the winner between Penns Manor and No. 9 Homer Center.