Some news and notes for you …
McCaskey senior guard Sasha Williams became the third Lancaster-Lebanon League player to join the 1,000-career-point club this season on Tuesday, when she hit a driving layup with 3:18 to go in the third quarter in the Red Tornado’s 65-42 win over Conestoga Valley in the first round of the District 3 Quad-A playoffs.
There were no flowers or balloons, but the refs stopped the game and Williams received a great ovation from McCaskey’s fans.
The best moment was when a Tornado fan, holding a huge banner recognizing Williams’ accomplishment, held up the sign and did a little dance, running up and down the sideline showing off his homemade sign.
After the game, Williams’ teammates and other well-wishers carried her off the floor on their shoulders. Nice touch.
Heading into Friday’s quarterfinal game against Central Dauphin, Williams has 1,002 career points, and she’s the 10th girls’ player in McCaskey history to hit 1,000 career points. The last? Jamie McDonald in 2005, although she got a good chunk of those points playing for Lancaster Catholic before transferring to McCaskey.
So congrats to Sasha.
The other two players who joined the 1,000-career-point club this season are also still playing:
Lebanon senior guard Megan Strohman (1,084 career points) and Cedar Crest senior guard Allison Smith (1,083 career points) also joined the party this season.
So who’s next?
Could be McCaskey junior guard Teasia Myers, who has 906 career points. If the Tornado can keep on keeping on, she’s got an outside shot to reach that milestone this season.
From this season’s junior class, there will five (5) players coming back next season with 600 or more career points:
Penn Manor’s Kelsey Caruthers (874).
Conestoga Valley’s Allison Bauer (825).
Lebanon Catholic’s Samantha Carangelo (740 heading into Districts).
Columbia’s Tori Aston (612).
Manheim Central’s Bekah Roland (603).
Speaking of Bauer … CV’s gritty guard closed the season in style. In her final five games, she scored 98 points (19.6 per) and hit 10 3-pointers.
While I’m on the topic of career points, three high-scoring seniors saw their career come to a close Tuesday night:
CV’s Caitlyn Dillard finished with 1,718 points – most in school history.
Warwick’s Kaitlyn Ober finished with 847 points.
And Manheim Township’s Alex Velasquez finished with 655 points.
IT’S OFFICIAL … I’M OLD: Remember Bobby Dean? He was a super exciting guard for McCaskey’s boys’ basketball team back in the early 1990s. I covered Bobby Dean. Tuesday night, his daughter, Rochelle Dean, made her first varsity appearance playing for McCaskey. I covered Bobby Dean, and now I’m covering his daughter. And as far as I know, that’s a first for me. Next? Gray hair. Ugh.
NOTABLE: Don’t forget – if Lancaster Catholic can get past Delone Catholic in the first round of the District 3 Triple-A playoffs AND win its quarterfinal game on Saturday, it would give coach Lamar Kauffman 600 career wins. … Did you catch that halftime score Tuesday night: Manheim Township 10, Cedar Crest 9. Wowzer. Crest went on to outscore Township 29-10 in the second half and advanced. … I have received all of the coaches’ votes for the New Era/Coaches All-Star teams (and Coach of the Year), and I’m going to start compiling those graphics and story probably next week. I’ll let you know when that will appear in the paper. … I’m also going to compile a list of which local seniors will continue their basketball career in college. I’ll probably post that list here in the very near future. … I’m also going to post complete post-season reports on all 24 L-L League teams, including season highlights and season stat packs – team-by-team. Stay tuned for that.
Thanks for reading.
JEFFREY REINHART
