Full Week 1 rankings at the bottom so keep reading …
One full week of Lancaster-Lebanon League girls’ basketball – and one major snowstorm – already in the books.
Hard to believe some teams have played as many as five games already (Conestoga Valley, Ephrata, Lampeter-Strasburg, Pequea Valley), and that some teams have only played two games (Lebanon Catholic).
And I’m in a complete stage of shock because the football season has finally ended. Tip of the cap to Lancaster Catholic for winning the Double-A state crown and to Manheim Central for reaching the Triple-A state championship game, by the way. Incredible football season in these parts, indeed.
Anyhoo … L-L League play in basketball started last week; everyone has a crossover game under their belts.
Saturday’s snowfall wiped out four non-league games, which will all be made up at a later date.
For now, here are some news and notes, stats, facts and recaps and other assorted thoughts as you dig out of your driveway and prep for this week’s Monday/Wednesday crossover games before the holiday break …
SECTION 1
Cedar Crest (1-0 league, 3-1 overall)
Manheim Township (1-0 league, 3-1 overall)
McCaskey (1-0 league, 2-1 overall)
Penn Manon (1-0 league, 4-0 overall)
Warwick (1-0 league, 3-1 overall)
Hempfield (0-1 league, 2-1 overall)SCORING LEADERS
Meghan Phillips, Cedar Crest – 4 games, 88 points – 22.0
Porscha Hunter, McCaskey – 3 games, 39 points – 13.0
Kiersten Green, Manheim Township – 4 games, 50 points – 12.5
T’Onna Johnson, McCaskey – 3 games, 37 points – 12.3
Julie Falk, Penn Manor – 4 games, 48 points – 12.0
Elle Larsen, Hempfield – 3 games, 36 points – 12.0
Bianca Ygarza, Penn Manor – 4 games, 47 points – 11.8
Ali Hartman, Hempfield – 3 games, 31 points – 10.33-POINT LEADERS
Julie Falk, Penn Manor – 7
Meghan Phillips, Cedar Crest – 7
Torri Wagner, Cedar Crest – 5
Jordyn Newsome, Hempfield - 4
NOTABLE: Just one victim on the first night of crossovers, and it was one of the section favorites – Hempfield, which dropped a 59-51 nod to Section 2 favorite Solanco. … Lone undefeated team is Penn Manor, which won its own tip-off tournament before edging Manheim Central in a non-league game and beating previously unbeaten Elizabethtown in the crossover opener. Only ding on the Comets’ chart at the moment is a nagging injury to speedy guard Alicia Ygarza (ankle), who could miss some time. … Speaking of nagging injuries, Warwick’s Casey Mitchell injured her knee in the season-opener against Manheim Central, and she’s very likely been lost for the season. Tough break, but the Warriors have won three games in a row since the opening-night loss to the Barons, and first-year coach Mike Neuman has some depth in the size department. Keep an eye on Lititz; Warriors are tricky. … Hempfield coach Lenny Groft is still sitting on 298 career victories. The Black Knights are at Lebanon on Monday and home against Garden Spot on Wednesday. Two wins, and Groft will join the 300-career-win club. … McCaskey won just three games last season but has two victories out of the chute already this season, and the Red Tornado can thank freshman guard Porscha Hunter for its quick 2-1 start. In the two victories, Hunter scored 32 points, including 18 in the Tornado’s 31-point win over Ephrata in the crossover opener. If McCaskey can keep this up, the Section 1 race will be incredible.
GOING FOR A GRAND: Cedar Crest senior guard Meghan Phillips is sitting on 996 career points. Tied for the L-L League in scoring in the early going (22.0 points per game, knotted with Lebanon Catholic’s Hailey Carangelo for the league lead), Phillips very likely would have joined the 1,000-career-point club Saturday, but the Falcons’ non-league home game against Lower Dauphin was postponed because of the snow. So she’ll go for the mark Monday on the road at Solanco. I had a nice chat with Phillips after she dropped a career-high 30 points against Lebanon last Thursday, and she revealed that she wasn’t sure if she is going to play basketball in college or not. She said she’s been accepted to Penn State, and that she’d love to get accepted to Bucknell. She said she’d wait a while before making a final decision, but as of now, she was leaning toward not playing hoops in college. By the way, Phillips is poised to become the eighth girls’ player in the history of Cedar Crest’s program to hit 1,000 points. The Falcons actually have a pair of 2,000-point scorers – Carla Munnion (2,256) and Alyse Hoover (2,088), which rank them third and sixth, respectively, all-time in L-L League history.
You can find the L-L League 1,000-career-point tote board here.
SECTION 2
Solanco (1-0 league, 3-1 overall)
Conestoga Valley (0-1 league, 1-4 overall)
Elizabethtown (0-1 league, 2-1 overall)
Ephrata (0-1 league, 0-5 overall)
Garden Spot (0-1 league, 2-2 overall)
Lebanon (0-1 league, 2-2 overall)SCORING LEADERS
Sarah Fairbanks, Elizabethtown – 3 games, 41 points – 13.7
Taylor Kreider, Solanco – 4 games, 53 points – 13.3
Mel Andrew, Ephrata – 5 games, 62 points – 12.4
Jess Martin, Conestoga Valley – 5 games, 59 points – 11.8
Julia O’Brien, Garden Spot – 4 games, 46 points – 11.5
Lauren Taylor, Garden Spot – 4 games, 45 points – 11.3
Emily Allport, Solanco – 4 games, 44 points – 11.0
Janelle Frey, Conestoga Valley – 5 games – 52 points – 10.43-POINT LEADERS
Janelle Frey, Conestoga Valley – 6
Brittany Padillas, Lebanon – 5
Emily Allport, Solanco – 4
Lauren Taylor, Garden Spot – 4
Jen Martin, Garden Spot – 3
Melanie Siegrist, Solanco – 3
Anastasia Stratton, Conestoga Valley – 3
Ashley Uhler, Lebanon – 3
NOTABLE: If you haven’t heard, the Section 1-2 crossover games have been rather unkind to the Section 2 combatants over the years, which makes Solanco’s Night 1 win over Hempfield mucho important. It gave the Golden Mares a very early leg up in the Section 2 hunt, and some momentum going into Monday’s showdown against Section 1 favorite Cedar Crest in Quarryville. Think I might stick my head in on that game (if the roads are plowed). … Rough start for reigning section champ Ephrata, which is just one of two winless teams in the L-L League (Columbia is 0-4). One positive for Ephrata – Sarah Shearer is your early leader for Sixth Man of the Year. She’s popped off the bench and averaged 7.2 points per game for the Mounts. … Conestoga Valley lefty sniper Janelle Frey drilled five (5) 3-pointers in the Buckskins’ 54-37 non-league win over reigning Triple-A state runner-up Lampeter-Strasburg last Wednesday – the most treys in a game so far this season. Frey scored a career-high 22 points in the win. … After giving up a grand total of 13 points in its first two games (63-5 over Mount Calvary and 51-8 over Milton Hershey), Elizabethtown did give up 50 points to Penn Manor – but hung with the Comets until the closing the minutes. … A successful return to the court for Garden Spot’s Lauren Taylor. After leaving the hoops team to concentrate on field hockey (and earn a scholarship to Shippensburg), she pumped in 21 points and three 3-pointers in her first game back in a 30-point win over Pottstown. Taylor also scored 17 points in a 10-point win over Pequea Valley. The Spartans will be in the Section 2 race if Julia O’Brien continues to come up big in the paint. She and Taylor are both average 11 points per game. Don’t overlook Garden Spot – despite the 46-point loss to Manheim Township. … Lebanon hung tough against Cedar Crest and is 2-2 overall. But look for the Cedars to make a rush for the top of the section charts when 6-1 leaper Malia Harris returns from a nagging knee injury. She’ll crash with 6-1 Gemiqua Benjamin, who is getting looks from the University of New Hampshire and St. Francis University.
SECTION 3
Donegal (1-0 league, 2-2 overall)
Lampeter-Strasburg (1-0 league, 2-3 overall)
Cocalico (0-1 league, 2-2 overall)
Elco (0-1 league, 1-3 overall)
Manheim Central (0-1 league, 1-2 overall)
Northern Lebanon (0-1 league, 1-3 overall)SCORING LEADERS
Kala Yoders, Elco – 4 games, 62 points – 15.5
Carly Leitzel, Manheim Central – 3 games, 45 points – 15.0
Kelsey Souders, Lampeter-Strasburg – 5 games, 68 points – 13.6
Alecia McNiff, Donegal – 4 games, 54 points – 13.5
Renee Wiegand, Manheim Central – 3 games, 30 points – 10.03-POINT LEADERS
Taylor Shaak, Elco – 8
Jordan Page, Cocalico – 5
Leah Wilhelm, Northern Lebanon – 4
Bethany Noll, Cocalico – 3
Kelsey Souders, Lampeter-Strasburg – 3NOTABLE: Lampeter-Strasburg, retooling after losing practically everyone from season’s PIAA Triple-A state runner-up team, opened defense of its section crown with a win over winless Columbia. The Pioneers have two wins this season – both over the Crimson Tide; the first was a non-league game in the season-opener on Dec. 11. The league win snapped the Pioneers’ three-game losing skid; L-S only lost four times all of last season. Keep an eye on L-S freshman forward Lexie Lantz, who has already scored in double-digits three times, including 19 against Columbia on opening night in her varsity debut. Had a coach tell me last week that she’s already tough as nails on the boards, and will only get better. … Donegal was the only other Section 3 team with an opening-night crossover win. The Indians, who have 11 players on the roster and dropped their JV team this season, topped Annville-Cleona, and are tied (albeit wickedly early) with L-S for the top spot.
CLOSING IN ON A GRAND: While Cedar Crest’s Meghan Phillips should join the 1,000-career-point club on Monday, Elco senior forward Kala Yoders, the section’s top scorer early on, should join the club very, very shortly. After scoring a team-high 19 points in Elco’s 77-52 loss to Lancaster Catholic in the league opener, Yoders is sitting on 943 career points. So she’ll need 57 to reach 1,000. Elco is at Annville-Cleona on Monday and will host Columbia on Wednesday before playing in the Hamburg Holiday Tournament. Yoders is poised to become the sixth girls’ player in the history of the Raiders’ program to hit 1,000 points, joining Angie Bashore (1,103), Autumn Dougherty (1,116), Stacey Boyer (1,354), Alicia Hartlaub (1,491) and Ashli Schwab (2,169), who is No. 5 all-time in L-L League history.
SECTION 4
Lancaster Catholic (1-0 league, 1-2 overall)
Lancaster Mennonite (1-0, 4-0 overall)
Lebanon Catholic (1-0 league, 2-0 overall)
Annville-Cleona (0-1 league, 1-4 overall)
Columbia (0-1 league, 0-4 overall)
Pequea Valley (0-1 league, 2-3 overall)SCORING LEADERS
Hailey Carangelo, Lebanon Catholic – 2 games, 44 points – 22.0
Amber Stoltzfus, Pequea Valley – 5 games, 77 points – 15.4
Vicky Siebecker, Annville-Cleona – 5 games, 68 points – 13.6
Marissa Ferris, Pequea Valley – 5 games, 62 points – 12.4
Erin LaVenice, Lancaster Mennonite – 4 games, 47 points – 11.8
Jen Roehm, Lancaster Catholic – 3 games, 34 points – 11.3
Steph Rheinheimer, Lancaster Mennonite – 4 games, 43 points – 10.8
Emily Nobile, Columbia – 4 games, 42 points – 10.5
Reina Hill, Lancaster Catholic – 3 games, 31 points – 10.33-POINT LEADERS
Marissa Ferris, Pequea Valley – 11
Jenna Plastino, Columbia – 8
Emily Nobile, Columbia – 5
Hailey Carangelo, Lebanon Catholic – 4
Alicia Wengert, Annville-Cleona – 4
Molly Westwood, Lancaster Catholic – 4
Steph Rheinheimer, Lancaster Mennonite – 3
NOTABLE: Another fast getaway for Lancaster Mennonite, the reigning L-L League champ, which joins Penn Manor at 4-0. And Lebanon Catholic has played just two games, but won both. … Told you the Pequea Valley duo of Amber Stoltzfus and Marissa Ferris would be quite the handful, and they’ve more than backed that up – Stoltzfus had a career-high 28 points in a win over Lancaster Country Day and is second in the section in scoring (15.4), and Ferris (12.4) has an L-L League-leading 11 3-pointers, including four each in the Braves’ first two games. … No JV games to date for Annville-Cleona, which is getting by with just nine (9) players on the roster. … As mentioned, Columbia is winless, but the Tide, under first-year coach Gary Sutton, has showed a penchant for hitting the 3-pointer. Columbia has 14 treys in four games, and Jenna Plastino, who has eight bombs, has hit at least one 3 in every game this season. … Speaking of the Tide, Columbia has dropped its JV schedule, and the Tide will play varsity games only with 12 total players on board. … Brutal first two games for Lancaster Catholic, which lost to PIAA powers York Catholic (in OT) and Trinity (by 27 points) before beating Elco (by 25 points) in the league opener. Would think those first two games should toughen up the Crusaders for future endeavors. … Video of Lancaster Mennonite senior forward Erin LaVenice dunking a tennis ball here.
MORE SCORING STUFF: Because I can never update the 1,000-career-point tote board enough, here are the L-L League’s active career scoring leaders, through games of Friday, Dec. 18 …
Hailey Carangelo, Lebanon Catholic – 1,136 points
Meghan Phillips, Cedar Crest – 996 points.
Kala Yoders, Elco – 943 points.
Taylor Kreider, Solanco – 876 points.
Erin LaVenice, Lancaster Mennonite – 746 points.
Kiersten Green, Manheim Township – 681 points.
So after Phillips and Yoders join the club in the very near future, Solanco’s Taylor Kreider, a fourth-year starter for the Golden Mares, should be the third player this season to hit 1,000 points. Erin LaVenice, should she keep up her current pace, will likely hit the milestone later on in the league season. Green is the only junior on the list.
FOR BILL: Donegal will honor late friend and team supporter Bill Vogel when the Indians host their annual holiday tournament, which will be dubbed the Bill Vogel Memorial Tournament. Donegal, Wyomissing, Middletown, Oley Valley and Susquenita will compete in varsity and JV tournaments on Dec. 28-29 in Mount Joy. Vogel, a Donegal grad, was the Indians’ former team bus driver, and the school is honoring him by changing the name of the tournament and selling bus-themed t-shirts. Donegal is hoping Vogel’s wife will be on hand for the tournament.
FOOD DRIVE: Donegal is holding an athletic holiday food drive, and fans are asked to bring two non-perishable items to games this week and receive free admission to the game. The games – Monday, Donegal boys vs. Columbia; Wednesday, Donegal girls vs. Pequea Valley.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Assuming everyone gets shoveled out and the roads are clear, the league crossover games are set for Monday and Wednesday this week. Nice game Monday in Quarryville, where the only team in Section 2 with a crossover win, Solanco, welcomes Cedar Crest. I picked the Falcons and the Golden Mares to win their respective section races, and if you haven’t heard, Meghan Phillips should join the 1,000-point club in the first quarter. So I think I’ll shuffle off to Quarryville for that one. Wednesday, I tentatively circled Lancaster Mennonite at Lampeter-Strasburg. That was a gem of a game last season (the Blazers’ lone league loss, as it turned out), and will surely go a long way in determining who wins it again this season. … Penn Manor will look to stay unbeaten Monday at Ephrata while Lebanon Catholic will look to stay unbeaten Monday at home against L-S.
ODDS AND ENDS: Still gathering the holiday tournament information. Once I have all the first-round matchups I’ll get those posted here – so you can plan out your holiday basketball-watching schedule. Looks like most of the holiday tournament are either December 28 and 29 or December 29 and 30. L-L League play won’t start up again until Jan. 5, so some teams could have as much as six days off before another game. … Columbia is the only girls’ team not participating in a holiday tournament.
RANKINGS
Since everyone has at least a couple of games under their belts, I thought I’d go ahead and put a ranking list together. Remember: I do these for fun. Here are my top 5 heading into the last week of games before the holiday break …
1 – Lancaster Mennonite (1-0 league, 4-0 overall; last week – 1st) – Blazers retain the top spot after a 4-0 start. Really, really like Lancaster Mennonite’s starting five; when coach Sherri Gorman figures out her bench rotation and other kids start stepping up, I wouldn’t want to play the Blazers. Solid. Gritty. Determined. Playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulders to prove they’re still worthy after losing Katelyn Vanderhoff and a pack of senior leaders from last season’s league title team. Section games vs. Lancaster Catholic and Lebanon Catholic could be classics. Hang a star next to those.
2 – Penn Manor (1-0 league; 4-0 overall; last week – not ranked) – Have to put the Comets in this spot after a perfect mark through the first full week. Guard Julie Falk (12.0 points, 7 3-pointers) has been steady, and forward Bianca Ygarza, as expected, has been a pain to defend (11.8). Anxious to see Penn Manor next week in the Lebanon Holiday Tournament. First-round matchup against Lebanon Catholic could be mighty interesting. Picked these guys fourth, but with Hempfield already a game back, the Comets could crash the party. It’s early, but keep an eye on Millersville.
3 – Solanco (1-0 league, 3-1 overall; last week – not ranked) – If there was one game from the first full night of league crossovers that stood out and grabbed your attention, it was definitely the Golden Mares’ 59-51 win at Hempfield. Mighty, mighty impressive league opener for Solanco, which picked off a Section 1 heavyweight and got some major momentum in the Section 2 race. Been waiting for the Mares to get that big, quality win the last couple of seasons; they got it vs. Hempfield. Couldn’t have asked for a better start – and backcourt mates Taylor Kreider and Emily Allport have been smooth. Huge game (if that’s possible the third week of December) Monday at home vs. Cedar Crest. See you in Quarryville, y’all.
4 – Lebanon Catholic (1-0 league, 2-0 overall; last week – not ranked) – The Beavers have only played two games, but won them both, including a 36-point rout over District 3 power Reading Holy Name and a 10-point league crossover win over pesky Cocalico. Will battle Lancaster Mennonite and Lancaster Catholic for Section 4 honors. And with Hailey Carangelo on board, anything can happen. I have a feeling about this crew; Carangelo is the only senior, and everyone else is only going to get better. And put this name in your memory banks: Taylor Ford.
5 – Cedar Crest (1-0 league, 3-1 overall; last week – 2nd) – Kept the Falcons in my top 5 after they bounced back from a 3-point squeaker loss to Mid-Penn power Cumberland Valley with a pair of victories, including a 10-point win over backyard rival Lebanon in the league crossover opener. Meghan Phillips pumped in 30 points in that game. Picked the Falcons to win the Section 1 crown and so far, so good. Big game Monday at Solanco. Circle that one for sure.
I’ll probably put together another list after the holiday tournaments.
Stay tuned.
And happy holidays to you and yours.
