Beavers win 15th District 3 Single-A championship
JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
HERSHEY – Make some room in the trophy case.
Lebanon Catholic’s girls’ basketball team is bringing home its 15th District 3 Single-A championship plaque.
The Beavers jumped on Greenwood early and often on the way to a 40-30 win over the Wildcats in the district title game Thursday night in the Giant Center.
Lebanon Catholic, the No. 1 seed, improved to 17-8 overall, and the Beavers were never really challenged in the championship game, making it 15 titles.
It was Lebanon Catholic’s first championship since 2007. The Beavers got some redemption after falling to Reading Central Catholic in last year’s championship game.
“This one means just as much as No. 1 through No. 14 … they’re all special,” Lebanon Catholic coach Patti Hower said. “This is a different group of girls, and it feels great that this group of girls got to win a gold medal.”
Hailey Carangelo paced the Beavers with 14 points. But it was the solid play of guards Stevie Fortna (8 points) and Rachel Kleinfelter (6 points) that helped Lebanon Catholic hold off Greenwood.
Fortna and Kleinfelter shared the point-guard duties, and they did an excellent job running the offense, making crisp passes and running off some clock in the second half, when the Beavers were trying to milk their lead.
“Our patience in the fourth quarter was the key,” Hower noted. “We didn’t really need to score; we just needed to protect the ball. Stevie and Rachel did a great job controlling the tempo.”
Lebanon Catholic will take on the District 6 fourth-place finisher in the first round of States next Saturday.
Kindly check back here Friday for a pair of audio Podcast interviews: the first with Lebanon Catholic senior sniper Rachel Shirk. And you won’t want to miss the second interview with Beavers’ sophomore Erin Walker, who is set to undergo heart surgery. She told me her story after the game, and you won’t want to miss that.
