Cedars Show Strengths

LEBANON — Will there be a changing of the guard atop the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two girls basketball race this season?

It’s still really early, but it sure is starting to look that way.

Two nights after Warwick KO’d co-defending champ Elizabethtown, Lebanon pulled off the same trick Thursday, beating co-defending champ Ephrata 4942 as the Cedars continued their resurgence.

Freshman phenom Kailah Correa scored a teamhigh 17 points, and the host Cedars used an 11-0 thirdquarter surge to overcome a halftime deficit, seize control for good, and tie Warwick for the very early lead in the Section Two race.

“Lebanon is legit,” Ephrata coach Brian Cerullo said. “They’re definitely a team to be reckoned with for sure.”

Warwick hasn’t won a section title since a Section One banner in 1991; Lebanon (1-0, 3-1) hasn’t won a section flag since backto- back crowns in 2006, in Section Two, and 2007, in Section Three.

Hey, it’s mid-December. But it’s safe to say that Warwick and Lebanon certainly have everyone’s attention.

“We’ve been building the program for a while now,” Lebanon coach Jaime Walborn said. “This is my sixth season here, and we haven’t had much success. It’s like putting the puzzle pieces together, and it’s finally coming together.”

Turns out Lebanon needed that third-quarter onslaught here Thursday; Ephrata (0-1, 0-3) went 10-0 during a secondquarter spree for a 29-28 halftime edge. During the run, Jasmine Griffin scored off a steal to start the clip, she bottomed out a wing 3-pointer, and she assisted on three straight buckets, including Barbara Price’s baseline jumper as Ephrata grabbed a 22-16 lead.

But Lebanon lit it up in the third; Correa and

Olivia Uffner splashed 3-pointers during the 11-0 spree; Uffner’s trey gave the Cedars their largest lead of the game, 39-29 late in the third.

“They certainly came out with more energy in the third, and we just couldn’t make any shots,” Cerullo said. “When that happens, you need to find other ways to score. They out-shot us by 11 at the foul line, and they beat us by seven.”

Lebanon went 16-for-18 at the foul line and survived 19 turnovers.

Here’s where the Cedars really dominated Thursday: Dorthie Zechman and Liliana Harrison were awesome in the paint. Zechman scored seven points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and Harrison chipped in with six points and 10 boards of her own as Lebanon outrebounded the Mountaineers 38-25.

“They’re a huge help,” Correa said about Lebanon’s post protectors. “They take up the whole paint, and we couldn’t do any of this without them.”

Lebanon came up largest in money time; the Cedars held Ephrata to three second-half field goals, and none after the 1:45 mark in the third quarter. Griffin scored 14 of her team-best 17 points in the first half.

“Jasmine had a nice run in the first half, and we knew we had to shut her down,” Correa said. “We needed to apply some pressure and cut off her 3-point shots, and that’s what we did. We’re trying to focus on playing smart. Grabbing a lead and just playing smart. No dumb passes. Run the offense. And just play a team game.”

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