BY JEFF FALK

 MYERSTOWN – Last year, the Elco girls’ basketball team’s season got off to a slow start.

 Not only is that an old story, it’s a sad story. And the way it turns out for the Raiders, there was also a moral to that story.

 On Wednesday night, senior Ryelle Shuey’s inside maneuver with 25 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner, as Elco’s start to the current campaign stayed hot, with a 40-39 Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three-Four crossover victory over Solanco. Shuey converted a pass from Julia Nelson underneath the basket, and the Raiders forced two subsequent Mule turnovers to preserve the triumph.

 The Raiders had trailed 39-35 with 3:17 remaining, before getting three free throws from Shuey, to pull to within 39-38.

 The win was Elco’s fourth straight and improved its record to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in Section Four. With the result, Solanco fell to 4-3 on the year and 1-2 in Section Three.

 “It’s nice to be off to a great start,” said Elco head coach Ashli Shay. “We talk about staying humble and hungry. We want to continue to get better. There are a lot of areas where we can improve.

 “Last year we started real slow,” continued Shay. “Then we hit a point where we won six in-a-row, but we just couldn’t finish out. There were like three or four games we thought we had no business losing. We have to prepare like every game is our last game.”

 After the Raiders had enjoyed leads of varying amounts in the first half, the third quarter belonged to the Mules. 

 Solanco used a 7-3 start to the second half to assume its initial lead of the evening, 27-24 three minutes into the third period. The Mules enjoyed a 34-29 advantage with 1:28 left in the third stanza.

 “It was an out-of-bounds play under the basket, and it was exactly what we drew up,” said Shay of Shuey’s decisive score. “We told Julia (Nelson), ‘If they bring two girls to you, dump it into Rye. That’s what happened. And Rye had an unbelievable finish.

 “They (the Mules) were trying to hold the ball a little bit,” Shay continued. “We were not getting up on the ball. Once we started doing that, I think we made them play a little chaotic.”

 Shuey pumped in 14 points to show the way for Elco.

 The Raiders converted 13 of 18 foul shots and outscored Solanco by nine points at the charity stripe. But the Mules outscored Elco 12-3 from beyond the arc.

 “I thought we started very strong,” said Shay. “We always emphasize starting strong. We hit a lull. But the thing I’m most proud of is how we played when the game was on the line.

 “Defensively, I thought we did a pretty decent job,” added Shay. “We started switching our defense up a little bit and that helped us. I thought our kids did a really nice job of staying with them.”

 Courtesy of a Jordan Rosengrant three-pointer, a Katelyn Rueppel jumper, a Shuey put-back and an Amanda Smith free throw, Elco notched the first eight points of the game. The Raiders led 10-2 on a jumper by Nelson and 14-9 late in the opening period, on a driving lay-in from Smith.

 “They’re aggressive,” said Shay of the Mules. “They’re game is controlled chaos. They’re very physical. There were a couple of box-outs we missed, but for the most part we scrapped right with them.”

 Thanks to a couple of buckets from Shuey, Elco enjoyed a pair of seven-point advantages in the second quarter – first 20-13 and then 22-15. But Solanco recorded the final five points of the first half.

 “I am very pleased with our record,” said Shay. “We all want to be 6-0. Can we continue to get better? Absolutely. These kids, especially the seniors, have been absolutely fantastic. I think we’ve improved every single game, in some facet, in some area. These kids work so, so hard. This is a huge win for us over a more-than-quality opponent.

 “I really believe success belies success,” concluded Shay. “It wasn’t just soccer this fall, it was sports in general. The buzz in the hallways was special. I think we can ride off that and create our own success. These kids know what it’s like to win. I don’t think they want to go back to the alternative.”

 

 

 

 

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 2018-19 Elco Girls’ Basketball Schedule