For Mackenzie Borger, basketball is more than just a game.

It's an outlet, a stabilizing force and a way for the Pleasant Valley senior to bond with her friends and carry on a legacy that means so much to her family.Borger has grown up with the game, learning from older brothers Dylon and Dickson.The ties go beyond the court for the family, as Borger's mom, Pamela, can be seen keeping the scorebook at Pleasant Valley's girls basketball games.But as Mackenzie was preparing to carve her own path on the court for the Lady Bears, she lost one of her biggest influences off of it when her father, Dean, passed away in December of 2012.Only a freshman, the loss was hard for Borger to fully comprehend."It was so sudden," she said. "There really wasn't any time to prepare for it. He was such a big part of my life and helped me in so many ways."Though one never truly gets over such a loss, there is hope for anyone in such a situation to move on and take all the good memories of that person with them moving forward.What better way for Borger to do that than by getting back on the basketball court?"It was a way for me to deal with any frustration I had," Borger said. "It helped me get my mind off of things and just think about doing something I really love, something that's always been there for me."And that meant more than just playing the games or being apart of the practices."We wanted this to be like a second family for her," said Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky. "She's such a good kid and we wanted to make sure we were there for her."While certainly not always easy, Borger remained with the program, leaning on her coaches and teammates as she charted the unknown waters of growing up during her high school career.Entering her junior season, Borger looked primed to be one of the Lady Bears key contributors as a leader both on and off the court as the team sought a return to the postseason.But Borger was dealt yet another setback, this time coming down with mononucleosis, or mono, that limited her to a handful of games."It was tough," Borger said. "I pretty much just had to rest. I had no energy."Borger played in the first three games of the season, scoring in double figures twice, but didn't see game action again until late January."We tried it, but had to pull the plug," Gauronsky said of the attempted comeback.The illness persisted beyond the season, and Borger was limited in offseason workouts.With her health uncertain, Borger's status for her senior season was very much up in the air.That doubt was replaced with a sense of self-confidence after Borger was able to participate in Pleasant Valley's preseason camps over the summer with almost no restrictions."It felt great," she said. "I really wasn't sure if I was going to come out this year. But after talking to coach (Gauronsky) and being able to do a lot more during the offseason, I felt much better about it."I'm still getting back into the swing of things as far as my conditioning is concerned, but it feels great to be out there."Always improving, Borger has continued to make strides throughout the season, a fact evidenced by her 14-point performance in Tuesday's 61-53 come-from-behind win over William Allen.But it's not the stats that her coach is concerned with - it's making sure Borger continues to thrive off the court as much as she does on it."She has such a bright future," Gauronsky said. "I want to do everything I can to help her reach and achieve all of her goals, and I hope this is something that helps her do that."*******Every Thursday during the winters sports season, the Times News will publish its annual basketball notebook reflecting back on the week that was, and highlighting both individual and team accomplishments, as well as interesting information that may have occurred in games from the previous seven days. Today's notebook will reflect back on all the happenings from the beginning of the season up through this past Tuesday. Times News sports writer Jason Boris will once again be handling the compilation of notes and is encouraging all local head coaches to email him with noteworthy information that can be used in this column. Emails can be sent to

jboris@tnonline.com.*******A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER ... Last month, three Times News area teams were crowned "Tournament Champions." On opening weekend, the Marian Fillies defeated Shamokin (37-24) and host Lourdes Regional (35-21) to claim the championship of the 19th Annual Red Raider Tipoff Classic. Vanessa Whitecavage combined for 31 points and seven three-pointers during the season-opening tournament. It is the third straight year that the Fillies have captured the championship of the Lourdes Regional Tipoff Tournament.Over the holidays, the Lehighton boys won the Slatington Rotary Touranment for the third year in a row with a 53-47 victory over Palmerton. Palmerton's Spencer Hay was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player. On December 29, the Jim Thorpe girls captured the Lady Indians Holiday Classic with a 47-44 victory over host Lehighton. Jim Thorpe's Kaylee Kovac was named the Tournament MVP.*******THE BOMB SQUAD ... There has been 11 times this season that a Times News area player has recorded five of more three-pointers in a game. Leading the way is Jim Thorpe's Brendan Carroll, who buried seven treys during a 56-28 victory over Williams Valley on December 13. Tamaqua's Thad Zuber is the only area athlete to have accomplished the feat twice on the year, with six three-pointers against Nativity on December 13 and five more long balls on January 2 against Dieruff. Northwestern's Parker Jones and Brady Mengel, Lehighton's Tanner Zwetolitz, Palmerton's Zach Svetik, Tamaqua's Russell Blaker, and Panther Valley's Anthony Micholik all buried five three-pointers in a game at various points this season.*******FREE THROWS APLENTY... Panther Valley's Christina Dacey went to the free throw line 29 times in the Panthers 38-24 setback to Schuylkill Haven on December 13. Dacey converted 14 of her free throw attempts and ended the night scoring 18 of Panther Valley's 24 points. The 14 made free throws and 29 free throw attempts are both Times News area highs for the season.*******STREAKS SNAPPED ... The Weatherly girls basketball team ended an 11-year drought (and a 20-game losing streak) by defeating Nativity 60-53 on December 14. It was the Lady Wreckers' first win over the Golden Girls since the 2004-2005 season, when they upset Nativity 52-44. Also, the Lehighton girls basketball team ended a nine-game losing streak to Palmerton, when the Lady Indians posted a 52-34 victory over the Bombers on opening night. The last time Lehighton defeated Palmerton was on December 28, 2009, when it recorded a 43-39 victory during the Lady Indians Holiday Classic.*******COACHING MILESTONE ... Northwestern girls basketball head coach Chris Deutsch recorded his 200th career coaching victory on December 18 when his Lady Tigers rolled to a 69-29 Colonial League victory over Northern Lehigh. Deutsch is in his 13th season as the head coach of Northwestern and has compiled a 202-118 overall record. Prior to assuming head coaching duties of the girls team, he served seven years as an assistant coach for the Northwestern boys basketball team.*******DOUBLE TROUBLE ... Playing a double overtime game is rare in high school basketball, but the Tamaqua boys basketball team managed to play two consecutive double overtime games in the span of three days earlier this season. On December 13, the Blue Raiders lost to Nativity by a final score of 90-85. Then, on December 15, Tamaqua pulled off a 67-65 double overtime victory over Panther Valley. The last time Tamaqua played a double overtime game was on January 4, 2000, when it lost to Mount Carmel 89-75. According to our records (dating back to the 1988-1989 season), it is the first time Tamaqua has ever played back-to-back double overtime games. In fact, Tamaqua has only been invovled in two or more overtime games in five of the last 17 seasons.*******BONUS POINTS ... When Tamaqua scored 85 points (a Times News area high) in its double overtime loss to Nativity on December 13, it was the first time the Blue Raiders scored 85 or more points in a game since January 13, 1998 when they defeated Shamokin 89-75. According to Times News records (which go back to the 1988-1989 season), the most points the Blue Raiders have scored in a losing effort prior to their loss to Nativity was 81 in a 92-81 defeat on February 15, 1991 to Pottsville.