Blue Streaks win in Landisville for first time since 1995-96 season, take over sole possession of 2nd place in Section 1 in the process

JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

Lisbet Byler had an extra special motivator for Manheim Township’s L-L League Section 1 showdown against archrival Hempfield on Wednesday night in Landisville.

“My dad,” she said. “(Tuesday) night he put a big sign in my room that said rebound, hands straight up, no fouls, just rebounds. He was even sending me text messages all day (Wednesday) reminding me to rebound. So I wanted to make my dad proud of me. He just sent me a text message telling me that he was proud of me, in fact.”

Byler plucked 6 boards – including 4 enormous rebounds in the fourth quarter – and scored a career-high 13 points, and Kiersten Green drilled four 3-pointers and scored 18 points for the Blue Streaks, who topped the Black Knights 45-31 and took over sole possession of second place in Section 1 in the process.

“Best feeling ever,” Byler said. “We came over here with the mentality that we were going to win the game. There was no doubt in our minds.”

It was Township’s first win at Hempfield since the 1995-96 season – and first victory over the Knights since the 2004-05 season, in Neffsville — and the streaking Streaks, who won their third game in a row and eighth in their last nine games, improved to 6-1 in the league and to 8-2 overall – a game behind Cedar Crest (7-0) but a game ahead of Hempfield (5-2).

“Absolutely a huge win,” Township coach Lance Wagner said. “Any time you can beat Hempfield … wow, they’re so well coached and they’re always so good. So any time you can beat them on their court is wonderful.”

A wonderful 11-1 clip to open the third quarter gave Township a seemingly safe 33-17 cushion on a layup by Byler with 5:29 to go in the period.

“That was huge,” Wagner noted. “Our confidence just took off from there.”

Until Hempfield closed the third on a 6-0 spurt, and then got two clutch buckets midway through the fourth to make it mighty interesting.

Brittany Starner, who scored a team-high 11 points, converted a three-point play to make it 35-28 with 5:37 to go in the fourth. And when Hempfield’s Shauna Walters splashed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:58 left, the Knights had whittled the Streaks’ lead down to 35-31.

“That was kind of scary,” Green said. “We were a little freaked out. But I thought we came together as a team, we relaxed and we responded.”

Township salted the game away on a basket and two foul shots by Green, and a pair of free throws apiece by Abby Zielinski and Annie Feingold.

“It’s great because we haven’t beaten them in a long time,” said Green, who hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, helping Township grab a 22-16 lead at the break.

“We were focused and we were ready to go,” she said. “And I thought we had an all-around good team effort.”

Particularly on the boards, where Township enjoyed a 28-20 advantage in caroms, including a 6-2 edge in the fourth quarter. That’s when Byler yanked down 4 boards, all on the defensive end, all thwarting second-chance opportunities for the Knights.

That was large because after Hempfield sliced it to 35-31, Township closed the game on a 10-0 run.

“There were about a dozen or so opportunities I thought we left out there,” Hempfield coach Lenny Groft said. “We had some unforced errors and we had some great looks that could have dropped but didn’t go … about dozen or so opportunities that maybe if we correct, we’re right there competing at the end.”

Hempfield only turned the ball over 15 times, but six of those miscues came in the pivotal fourth quarter. Township survived 17 turnovers – but won the battle on the boards, and got enough zip out of that devastating 11-1 run to hold off their rivals.

Byler had three buckets, Emily McDonald scored in the post and Green hit a 3-pointer during the spree.

“Township made a great run, and we certainly give them credit for that,” Groft said. “We talked about correcting some things, getting some buckets and making some stops. We were able to make a couple of buckets, we got a couple of stops and we cut it to 4 …”

But the Streaks slammed the door, grabbing some clutch boards, making some key foul shots and, at the end of the night, taking over sole possession of second place in Section 1.

“This is really exciting,” Wagner said. “I really enjoy this team. I like these kids. It is a little tough because we can lose to anybody on any night … but we can also beat anybody in the league. I think our kids have confidence and they’re starting to believe that they can do this.

“I know we came over here for the first time since I’ve been here, knowing that we could win this game.”

Township certainly didn’t have its usual lead-up heading into such a big rivalry game – and this one had some more juice since second place was on the line. Tuesday’s bad weather forced the cancellation of practice, so Wagner brought his team in early Wednesday morning to have a walk-through.

“We were in the gym at 6:50 (Wednesday morning) going through our game plan,” Wagner said.

By 9:30 Wednesday night, his Streaks had wrestled second-place away from the Knights, and Township had its eighth victory in its last nine games.

So, Ms. Byler, surprised over your team’s success?

“Honestly?” she said. “No. We knew what we could do this season. It was just a matter of being confident. And that’s the way we’ve been playing. It’s five people on the court doing it all together. It’s not one person. And that’s a great feeling.”

Especially when you knock off your archrivals – on the road – in a statement game.

NOTABLE: Township, whose lone league loss is to first-place Cedar Crest, wraps up the first half of section play on Friday at home against Warwick (4-3). … Hempfield is at McCaskey on Friday, before the final three crossover games, which begin next week. “Right now, the most important thing is bouncing back and getting a win in our next game, and then working our way through the crossovers,” Groft said. “If we can stay within one game of Township, we’d still control our own destiny. The key for us is the next four games. We simply can’t look ahead. We know we’re in third place now, but we need to go to McCaskey, regroup, and try and get that game.” … Circle your calendars: Hempfield at Township is Monday, Feb. 2.