Craig Baughman

The West Perry girls’ basketball team, coming off a 9-13 sixth place finish in the Mid-Penn Colonial League in 2023, will have seven sophomores and four freshmen on their 16 member roster after losing three senior starters from last year.

The Newport Buffalo girls’ basketball team will once again rely on defense and hustle to win games according to third year head coach Ed Geyer.

The West Perry Mustang boys’ basketball squad, coming off back to back 3-19 seasons, will bring a lot of experience into the 2024 campaign in the Mid-Penn Colonial League.

West Perry basketball fans can only hope that the boys’ basketball team’s season opening games are a harbinger of things to come.

The Newport girls’ basketball team rallied from a nine point deficit early in the third period to outscore the Midd-West Mustangs 23-12 in the second half (9-2 in the 4th period) to salvage a 44-38 victory at their Dec. 5 home opener.

The Newport boys’ basketball team committed several critical turnovers down the stretch squandering a 13 point lead they had accumulated early in the third period and ended up losing a cliffhanger 46-44 at the final buzzer Dec. 13 versus the East Juniata Tigers (2-2) in the Buffalo’s home opener.

The Greenwood girls’ basketball team captured the 51st annual PECO tournament and their first since 2010 upending the defending champion West Perry Mustangs 39-30 Dec. 7 in Millerstown.

The Susquenita girls’ basketball team used a pressing, trapping defense to stymie the Newport Lady Buffs Dec. 16 to defeat the home team 51-28 in a rematch of their PECO consolation game.

To be blunt – it was a tough week for the Newport boys’ basketball team.

Sophomore forward Jaxson Bower scored two of his game high 14 points off a backdoor pass from senior Braedon McKeever with 1.8 seconds to play to seal a climatic 47-45 victory for the Mustangs Dec. 19 over the Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils at Elliottsburg.