Players with local ties help Marian to district title

The Marian Catholic High School girls’ basketball team rolled to a second straight District 11 championship last week, this time in Class 2A. And, once again, two players with deep Weatherly connections were right in the center of the action.

Weatherly resident Ashley Pleban, daughter of one-time Weatherly boys’ basketball star Jeff Pleban, is the Fillies’ starting point guard. Frankie Martinelli, a starting wing for Marian, is the daughter of Weatherly girls’ basketball legend Sue Sernak-Martinelli. Both Pleban and Sernak-Martinelli are in the Weatherly Area Sports Hall of Fame. Their daughters are making quite a name for themselves as well, leading the Fillies to a 24-2 record and into the state tournament for a third consecutive year, the previous two in Class A.

In a 57-35 semifinal win over Northern Lehigh, Martinelli scored 13 points and Pleban added eight points and knocked down a pair of triples top help open things up on the perimeter. Then, in Saturday afternoon’s Class 2A final back at Martz Hall, the two combined for seven points, and played stellar on the defensive end of a 40-19 rout of Tri-Valley for the championship.

Martinelli, a junior, is averaging just over 10 points per game, and Pleban, a senior, is one of the area’s top 3-point shooters again this season.

The Fillies’ only losses in 2022-23 have come by playing against Class 4A schools, including Allentown Central Catholic during the regular season, and North Schuylkill in the Schuylkill League championship game. Those two teams played for the District 11 Class 4A championship over the weekend and are also headed to states.

Marian opens state tournament play on Friday night at home, hosting MAST II (8-7), the District 12 runner-up, at 7 p.m. The winner gets a second-round game on Wednesday, March 15 against either District 2 champion Montrose (20-4) or District 4 third-place finisher Northwest (20-6).