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IMG_8949BY 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.

IMG_6431While 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.”

IMG_6583The 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.

IMG_6586“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.

 

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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
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PIAA District Three
 Class AAAAAA Power Rankings
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
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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

 

 

 

 

 

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