BY JEFF FALK
SOUTH LEBANON – Three technical fouls produced three points for the opponents- the exact same number of points the Falcons scored during the entire first period.
While it may have blurred the line between cause and effect, it was painted with frustration. And those points sure would’ve come in handy down the stretch.
Yeah, it was one of those nights for the Cedar Crest girls’ basketball team.
‘Frustration’ was the theme of the evening on Friday night at ‘The Cage’, as it and visiting Elizabethtown got the best of the hometown Falcons, in the Bears’ 37-27 Lancaster-Lebanon Section One victory. Playing from behind the entire way and struggling to score points, the Falcons’ emotions boiled over in the middle of the fourth quarter, while they were making their final of a number of runs at the Bears.
While it may or may not be a step back for the emerging Falcons, it snapped their four-game win streak. It certainly didn’t aid Cedar Crest in its quest to defend a Section One championship which it has owned over the last few seasons.
The Falcons are now 8-5 overall and 5-2 in Section One. Elizabethtown improved to 11-2 on the year and 6-1 in the circuit, with its night straight victory.
“The technicals played a big role in the outcome,” said Donmoyer. “I don’t know how many foul shots they (the Bears) shot. We didn’t play well enough to win, and we didn’t win. They (the Bears) didn’t play that well either. When you don’t score it’s frustrating. That was probably the worst offensive game we had. Three points at the end of the quarter and seven at halftime. That’s awful.
“The whole game was frustrating, start to finish,” continued Donmoyer. “It was emotional. I want them (his players) to have a fair shake. When a kid has the ball and she goes flying out of bounds, it’s a foul. But we lost because we didn’t come ready to play. We didn’t play hard enough. I thought defensively we played pretty well. But offensively, we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”
The three technical fouls on Cedar Crest were all called within 12 seconds of each other in the middle of the final period, with Elizbethtown nursing a 24-19 lead. Just a 1:50 earlier, it was Falcon Morgan Thomson who had nailed a three-pointer to close her side’s gap.
The Bears made three of their six technical foul shots to pad their lead to eight points, and the resulting possessions helped to lengthen what would become a 4:02 score-less span by the Falcons. With two minutes remaining, Rachel Witherite and Hannah Woelfling pulled the Falcons to within 29-23, with back-to-back buckets, but the Bears netted their last eight points at the charity stripe.
“We won four in-a-row,” said Donmoyer. “We had some momentum. I’m happy we played hard and played together and played defense. There’s going to be nights when you don’t have it. As bad as we played, the game wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter, with foul shots. The technicals was when it fell apart. We didn’t get dominated by ten points. It was all at the end on foul shots. Twenty-six to ten (free throw attempts), are you kidding me?”
Following a woeful first half offensively, Cedar Crest began picking up the Bears three-quarters court in the third quarter, and it translated into some transition points.
With its combination of pressure defense and energized offense, the Falcons pieced together a 6-0 run to draw within 19-13 of the Bears. Hannah Woelfling had two driving lay-ins in the burst and Gracen Donmoyer contributed a bucket.
Cedar Crest closed out the third stanza with a Witherite triple that made it a 21-16 game.
“We’re averaging 46, 47, 48 points a game,” said Donmoyer. “The last four games we haven’t been under 46. To come out here and lay an egg, it’s hard to explain. They (the Bears) had to play defense too. I’m not saying 27 points wasn’t us stinking up the joint. We didn’t finish at the basket.”
The Falcons, who entered the contest shooting 56 percent from the charity stripe, made just four of their ten attempts and were outscored by 11 points there. The point total represented Cedar Crest’s lowest of the campaign.
“It was the next one,” said Donmoyer of the importance of last night’s game. “It was important because we were tied (for second place). It’s not life or death. It makes it tougher for us to win the section. But it’s not the end of the world. We need one of the three (top spots in Section One) to get into the dance (the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs).”
Witherite’s three-pointer 2:28 into the contest made it a 4-3 score. But it would be the only points the Falcons would score over the next 11 minutes of game clock.
With Elizabethtown up 15-3, Donmoyer halted the Bears, 11-0 burst with a jumper. But the half ended with Elizabethtown ahead 17-7.
“I didn’t tell them anything I’m going to tell you guys,” said Donmoyer, after emerging from a somber locker room. “I’m not going to say they (the Bears) played a great game. We played the (crappiest) game all year.”
To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.
2017-18 Cedar Crest Girls’ Basketball Schedule
Date | Teams | Results | |
12/08 6:00 pm |
East Pennsboro Cedar Crest at Cedar Cliff Tournament |
34 59 |
|
12/09 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest Cedar Cliff at Cedar Cliff Tournament |
42 47 |
|
12/12 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Wilson |
32 45 |
|
12/14 7:30 pm |
McCaskey at Cedar Crest |
36 65 |
|
12/18 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Warwick |
49 26 |
|
12/20 7:30 pm |
Conestoga Valley at Cedar Crest |
40 49 |
|
12/22 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Manheim Township |
42 58 |
|
12/27 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest York Suburban at York Suburban Tournament |
44 51 |
|
12/28 6:00 pm |
Manheim Central Cedar Crest at York Suburban Tournament |
32 46 |
|
1/05 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Hempfield |
49 21 |
|
1/09 7:30 pm |
Penn Manor at Cedar Crest |
35 53 |
|
1/10 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Lebanon |
48 21 |
|
1/12 7:30 pm |
Elizabethtown at Cedar Crest |
||
1/16 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at McCaskey |
||
1/19 7:30 pm |
Warwick at Cedar Crest |
||
1/20 7:30 pm |
Palmyra at Cedar Crest |
||
1/23 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Conestoga Valley |
||
1/26 7:30 pm |
Manheim Township at Cedar Crest |
||
1/30 7:30 pm |
Hempfield at Cedar Crest |
||
2/02 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Penn Manor |
||
2/06 7:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Elizabethtown |
||
2/07 7:30 pm |
Cocalico at Cedar Crest |
AAAAAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
1 | Manheim Township | 11- | 0- | 0 | 0.817689 | 1.000000 | 0.594865 | 13.6 | 151.8 | 0.0 | 103.4 |
2 | Elizabethtown | 10- | 2- | 0 | 0.758515 | 0.882353 | 0.607157 | 12.0 | 155.3 | 1.6 | 100.5 |
3 | Cedar Cliff | 9- | 3- | 0 | 0.721470 | 0.805556 | 0.618699 | 10.2 | 156.5 | 2.5 | 96.5 |
4 | Dallastown | 7- | 3- | 0 | 0.705926 | 0.766667 | 0.631688 | 8.1 | 152.9 | 2.5 | 89.2 |
5 | Central Dauphin | 5- | 3- | 0 | 0.703254 | 0.732143 | 0.667945 | 6.2 | 139.3 | 2.3 | 69.3 |
6 | Central York | 8- | 3- | 0 | 0.697509 | 0.788382 | 0.586443 | 9.5 | 141.5 | 2.6 | 99.8 |
7 | Governor Mifflin | 6- | 3- | 0 | 0.686502 | 0.748718 | 0.610461 | 7.3 | 122.6 | 2.5 | 78.2 |
8 | Central Dauphin East | 6- | 4- | 0 | 0.684516 | 0.704762 | 0.659771 | 7.4 | 149.9 | 3.1 | 77.3 |
9 | Cedar Crest | 8- | 4- | 0 | 0.677432 | 0.750000 | 0.588739 | 9.6 | 148.0 | 3.2 | 103.4 |
10 | Wilson (3) | 6- | 4- | 0 | 0.662649 | 0.694444 | 0.623787 | 7.5 | 138.2 | 3.3 | 83.4 |
11 | Penn Manor | 7- | 5- | 0 | 0.658903 | 0.687500 | 0.623951 | 8.3 | 163.6 | 3.8 | 98.6 |
12 | Cumberland Valley | 5- | 5- | 0 | 0.653145 | 0.611111 | 0.704519 | 6.1 | 150.5 | 3.9 | 63.1 |
13 | Conestoga Valley | 6- | 5- | 0 | 0.629529 | 0.636771 | 0.620676 | 7.1 | 162.4 | 4.1 | 99.3 |
14 | Ephrata | 8- | 6- | 0 | 0.624280 | 0.664336 | 0.575323 | 9.5 | 140.4 | 4.8 | 103.6 |
15 | Exeter Township | 5- | 7- | 0 | 0.538267 | 0.500000 | 0.585038 | 5.6 | 141.6 | 5.6 | 100.4 |
16 | Reading | 4- | 7- | 0 | 0.530421 | 0.463768 | 0.611887 | 4.8 | 135.9 | 5.6 | 86.2 |
17 | Chambersburg | 4- | 8- | 0 | 0.526458 | 0.409524 | 0.669378 | 4.3 | 160.5 | 6.2 | 79.3 |
18 | J P McCaskey | 4- | 9- | 0 | 0.497933 | 0.410042 | 0.605355 | 4.9 | 148.1 | 7.1 | 96.6 |
19 | York Country Day School | 5- | 3- | 0 | 0.488232 | 0.541096 | 0.423621 | 4.0 | 59.9 | 3.4 | 81.5 |
20 | Carlisle | 3- | 9- | 0 | 0.474601 | 0.322430 | 0.660587 | 3.5 | 157.6 | 7.3 | 81.0 |
21 | HEMPFIELD | 2- | 9- | 0 | 0.442340 | 0.259459 | 0.665860 | 2.4 | 165.1 | 6.9 | 82.9 |
22 | Warwick | 2- | 10- | 0 | 0.435031 | 0.234694 | 0.679888 | 2.3 | 170.6 | 7.5 | 80.3 |
23 | Red Lion | 2- | 8- | 0 | 0.428235 | 0.272727 | 0.618299 | 2.4 | 143.6 | 6.4 | 88.7 |
24 | William Penn | 0- | 11- | 0 | 0.281250 | 0.000000 | 0.625000 | 0.0 | 151.0 | 9.3 | 90.6 |
25 | Waynesboro | 0- | 11- | 0 | 0.246514 | 0.000000 | 0.547810 | 0.0 | 130.1 | 9.8 | 107.4 |
Lancaster-Lebanon League
Section One Standings
League | Overall | |||||||||
W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | |||
Manheim Township | 7 | 0 | 100.00 | 12 | 0 | 100.00 | 665 | 445 | ||
Elizabethtown | 6 | 1 | 85.71 | 11 | 2 | 84.62 | 656 | 458 | ||
Cedar Crest | 5 | 2 | 71.43 | 8 | 5 | 61.54 | 605 | 483 | ||
Conestoga Valley | 4 | 3 | 57.14 | 7 | 5 | 58.33 | 570 | 502 | ||
Penn Manor | 3 | 4 | 42.86 | 7 | 6 | 53.85 | 628 | 609 | ||
McCaskey | 2 | 5 | 28.57 | 5 | 9 | 35.71 | 581 | 780 | ||
Warwick | 1 | 6 | 14.29 | 2 | 11 | 15.38 | 417 | 588 | ||
Hempfield | 0 | 7 | 0.00 | 2 | 10 | 16.67 | 357 | 533 |