JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
ONCE AGAIN, HOST BLACK KNIGHTS, CRUSADERS WILL MEET IN HEMPFIELD HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
It has become one of the better - and bitter - rivalries in local girls’ basketball circles.
For the last 12 years, Hempfield has invited Lancaster Catholic to play in its holiday tournament.
Tonight, for the 11th time each, the Black Knights and the Crusaders – benchmark teams around the L-L League, and section leaders when league play hit the holiday break – will meet in the Hempfield Holiday Tournament title game.
“It’s a great matchup,” Catholic senior guard Molly Holt said. “And it should be a great game.”
Catholic punched its ticket into tonight’s finale with a hard-fought 49-40 win over Dallastown in Wednesday’s opener. The Crusaders trailed 33-29 after three quarters before feasting on eight fourth-quarter turnovers and closing the game on a 12-2 clip.
Megan Fessler scored seven of her 11 points and Holt scored six of her nine points in the final eight minutes, and Brittany Ryder chipped in with 11 points for Catholic, which is tied for the Section 4 lead with Lancaster Mennonite.
In the nightcap, host Hempfield, the Section 1 co-leader with Cedar Crest, survived a scrap with Mennonite, which was fresh off its 45-40 triumph at Catholic last Friday.
Wednesday in Landisville, Hempfield’s Steph Graver hit four free throws in the waning seconds and Chelsea Cypress scored 10 points for the Knights, who won their 10th game in a row – a 40-35 victory over the pesky Blazers, who lost for just the second time this season.
Tonight at 7:30, Hempfield (10-1 overall) and Catholic (6-4) will meet yet again for the tournament crown after Mennonite (9-2) takes on Dallastown (1-9) in the consolation game.
The only time the Knights and the Crusaders didn’t meet for the Hempfield Holiday Tournament title was in 1998, when Hempfield fell in the first round, and 2000, when Catholic fell in the first round.
Catholic has won the last two championships.
“Ultimately, if you want to win the league title – even if Catholic loses a bunch of kids, like they did from last year – the league title, in my opinion, always goes through them,” Hempfield coach Lenny Groft said.
“At some point you’re going to have to beat Catholic.”
While tonight’s game will have little bearing on whether these teams will meet again in the league finale in February, the rivalry will continue.
The Crusaders have won six titles and the Knights have won five titles. And Hempfield topped Catholic in the L-L League finale in 2005 – when this year’s seniors were freshmen.
“It’s always exciting to play Catholic,” said Cypress, who grabbed five rebounds and had a pair of clutch fourth-quarter baskets against Mennonite.
“We lost the last two years to them, so we’re hoping this is our year to finally beat them. We respect them and they’re a good team. You have to bring it when you play Catholic.”
If there is one coach who can compare and contrast Hempfield and Catholic, it’s Mennonite’s Sherri Gorman, who guided her Blazers to a win at Catholic last Friday – and then led her team against the Knights on Wednesday.
“Tempo will be huge,” Gorman said. “Hempfield will try and slow it down, be methodical and run its half-court offense. Catholic is a racehorse team that loves transition and will look to create turnovers and get the ball and go.
“Whoever controls tempo will win the game.”
Catholic coach Lamar Kauffman is wary of Hempfield’s approach – force tempo, play lockdown defense, and keep the score in the 40s or 50s. The Crusaders, on the other hand, like to press, trap, run like mad and play in the 60s or 70s.
These teams are basically polar opposites.
“Physically, Hempfield can control the game, and they don’t turn the ball over very much,” Kauffman said. “But they don’t play a lot of teams that press like we do, either.”
Catholic forced Dallastown into 21 turnovers on Wednesday – 13 in the second half, when the Crusaders rallied from a 27-22 deficit, tied the game at 29 on Holt’s 3-pointer, and took the lead for good, 39-38, when Emily Weaver hit a jumper with 3:53 to play.
“Defense got us back in it,” Holt noted. “We were able to step into the passing lanes and cutting lanes and force some turnovers.”
Neither team turned the ball over very much in the nightcap – Hempfield 12 times and Mennonite 13. The Knights escaped when the Blazers’ Katelyn Vanderhoff misfired on a potential game-tying 3-pointer from the top of the key with 17 seconds to go. Her shot spun around and agonizingly popped out.
Graver hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 15.2 seconds left to ice the game, setting up what promises to be another Hempfield-Catholic classic.
