JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Our very own Phil Glatfelter was in Ephrata on Monday night to watch Garden Spot clinch its first section championship since 1974. Here is Phil’s story from Tuesday’s New Era:
To say it was a long time coming would be an understatement.
It’s been 33 years since a Garden Spot girls’ basketball team has won a Lancaster-Lebanon League section title.
The Spartans took care of that drought Monday night with a 47-37 win at Ephrata to wrap up the Section 2 crown.
“It’s undescribable,” first-year Garden Spot coach Kevin Gensemer said. “These kids have worked so hard since November. Everything I ask them to do, they go out and do, and they play hard and they play as a team.”
The Spartans improved to 14-8 overall and clinched the section crown with an 11-4 record with one game to play.
Conestoga Valley, which wrapped up the runner-up spot with a 46-40 win over Cocalico on Monday, is 9-6 in the section.
The Buckskins visit the Spartans on Wednesday.
Ephrata’s slim chances of a playoff berth were ended as the Mountaineers fell to 6-9 in the section and 9-13 overall.
“It’s a really exciting time for us,” said Garden Spot’s Chrissy Taylor, who led all scorers with 13 points. “They brought in a new philosophy that brought us together and we’re doing new things. … We worked hard for a long time to get to this point.”
Garden Spot will play the Section 4 runner-up — either Lancaster Catholic or Lancaster Mennonite, who are tied — in the first round of next week’s L-L League Tournament.
The Spartans led the entire game after breaking a 2-all tie on Taylor’s 3-pointer at 3:26 of the first quarter.
Still, Ephrata managed to stay within striking distance, falling behind by double digits for only a few minutes in the third quarter.
The Spartans led 12-6 after a quarter and were up 25-16 at halftime.
Taylor’s long jumper and a basket inside from Tynesha Faust, who had 12 points, gave Garden Spot its largest lead, 29-16, with 4:55 left in the third quarter.
Ephrata scored nine unanswered points to make it 29-25, but the Mounts, already missing starter Gabbie Hondros who was out sick, lost Aly Goodman, who picked up her fifth foul with 55.2 seconds left in the third quarter.
Garden Spot finished the third up 33-25.
But Ephrata wouldn’t quit, and a 3-pointer by Jan Woolley with 3:35 left in the game cut it down to 37-34.
“I kept telling them to work the ball,” said Gensemer. “We kept trying to take shots, and I kept telling them to run some clock. … They did what I asked them to do, they worked the ball when they needed and down the stretch they came up big.”
The Spartans regrouped and closed the game on a 10-3 run, including hitting six of eight foul shots.
“These girls have not been in the playoffs, and the pressure,” said Gensemer. “But they showed me tonight that they can handle it, that they can handle the pressure.”
“We knew we needed to be confident in ourselves and believe in each other,” Taylor said, “and that’s exactly what we did.”
“They had a good nucleus and played well together,” said Ephrata coach Mike Garman about the Spartans this season.
“The thing that really helped them is they won some crossover games, and that’s definitely a credit to them. … I hope they do well in the playoffs.”
Brynn Lyons led Ephrata with 11 points and Goodman finished with 10.
“I’m proud of this basketball team and what they did this year,” said Garman. “Now the key for us is we’ve got to get better.”
Also Monday:
Conestoga Valley 46,
Cocalico 40
The host Buckskins locked up sole possession of second place and a spot in the league playoffs behind Morgan Gerz, who pumped in a career-high 16 points, and Marqui Lyons, who chipped in with 12 points for CV, which will face the Section 4 champ — Lancaster Catholic or Lancaster Mennonite — in the first round of the league playoffs.
The Bucks also remained in the chase for a District 3 Quad-A playoff spot, and must beat Garden Spot on Wednesday to clinch a bid.
Samantha Weaver pumped in a career-high 25 points for Cocalico.
Solanco 40,
Elizabethtown 31
CeCe Buzzard scored 14 points for the host Golden Mares, who outscored the Bears 13-6 in the fourth quarter and snapped their seven game losing skid.
Becca Bigler scored eight points for E-town, which dropped its 11th game in a row.
