L-S holds on for Ephrata Title

Asked after the fact what she expected coming into Friday night's game, Lisa Boyer paused and stared, almost as if she was trying to find the perfect, politically-correct, "We knew they were a good team" kind of response.

But a few seconds later, Lampeter-Strasburg's junior point guard decided to just shoot from the hip instead.

"We knew they hustled a lot," Boyer said of Ephrata's girls' basketball team. "But I don't think we expected it to be that close."

Especially considering the way the Pioneers started.

Despite taking an 11-0 lead with 4:02 remaining in the first quarter, L-S was forced to claw its way to a 51-49 victory over the Mountaineers in the championship game of the Ephrata Holiday Tournament.

Clinging to a 50-49 lead after Ephrata guard/forward Aly Goodman made a layup with 5.1 seconds left, L-S (11-1) bumped its edge to 51-49 when Boyer hit the back end of a two-shot foul with 3.1 remaining.

But the Mounts' hopes were officially unplugged on their ensuing possession, when Boyer intercepted a pass at midcourt from Alison Weaver as Ephrata (5-7) rushed up the floor for a final shot.

"We knew they were on a high," L-S coach Matt Wieand said, referring to Ephrata's recent L-L Section Two victories over Conestoga Valley and Solanco, and a win over Elco in Thursday's tournament opener. "We knew they were red hot and we expected a ball game."

With L-S still holding a 17-9 advantage after one quarter, Ephrata made it a game in the second thanks to Goodman, guard Brynn Lyons (game-high 23 points) and forward Gabrielle Hondros -- who combined for 15 points during a 19-4 Mounts run that tied it at 26 with 1:38 left in the first half.

"(Ephrata) stepped it up a notch and we stayed," said Boyer (11 points), who was named the tournament MVP. "They got a few (buckets), they had the crowd going wild and we just stayed where we were, and that's not good enough."

In fact, even when L-S rebuilt its lead to 40-33 with 2:51 left in the third quarter, Ephrata responded again -- this time with six points from Weaver (10 points) during a 12-3 run that gave the Mounts their only lead of the night (45-43) with 5:08 left to play.

But five points by L-S guard Danielle Rittenhouse (team-high 14 points) and a couple of costly Ephrata turnovers over the next 3:03 put the Pioneers back in front, 48-45, with 56 seconds to go.

Of the Mounts' 26 turnovers in the game, seven came in their dismal first quarter, and eight were committed in the fourth, when they needed to keep the ball the most.

"I thought we really battled," Ephrata coach Mike Garman said afterward. "Down 11-0, I thought we showed a lot of character to come back and then take the lead.

"But the thing that will stick in my mind is we were (down) two with a little over two minutes to play ... then we have two possessions and two turnovers."