JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
HERSHEY – The Lancaster-Lebanon League’s longtime small-school lynchpin, Lebanon Catholic, appeared in its 17th District 3 Single-A girls’ championship game Thursday night.
And for just the third time, the Beavers walked away with silver medals.
“It’s certainly a different feeling,” said Lebanon Catholic coach Patti Hower, whose team owns a single-class-record 14 titles, but lost in a Single-A championship game for the first time since 1998, dropping a 48-32 decision to No. 2 Reading Central Catholic in the Giant Center.
It was the Cardinals’ third Single-A title in the last four years – and fourth overall, including a Double-A title — and Central Catholic and Lebanon Catholic have now won every Single-A crown since 1999.
Lebanon Catholic, the No. 4 seed, looked good early on – leading 10-9 after the first quarter and 19-15 at the half – but when the Beavers’ leading scorer, Hailey Carangelo, was whistled for her fourth foul with 7:09 to go in the third quarter, things became unhinged in a hurry for the Beavers.
Central Catholic forwards Krissy Wrobel and Rachel Schleicher owned the post, particularly in the second half, when the Cardinals grabbed the lead for good, 26-24, on Wrobel’s three-point conversion with 2:24 to go in the third.
Wrobel, a 1,000-point scorer who earned a volleyball scholarship to Seton Hall, finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Schleicher scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as Central Catholic (21-6 overall) owned a commanding 35-15 advantage on the boards.
Having Carangelo, who came into the game averaging 15.9 points, sitting for that long certainly didn’t help the Beavers’ cause.
“It had a big effect on us,” Hower said. “We never got into a rhythm on offense without her in the game.”
Samantha Carangelo picked up the slack with a pair of 3-pointers and 10 points – raising her career total to 983 – but Lebanon Catholic (14-13) turned the ball over nine times in the second half, couldn’t get into a rhythm on offense, and had no answer for Wrobel or Schleicher on the other end.
The Beavers open the PIAA Single-A playoffs a week from Saturday against the District 1 runner-up.
