BY JEFF FALK

SOUTH LEBANON – They don’t want to get too far ahead of themselves.

The Cedar Crest girls’ basketball team knows the importance of putting first things first. And for the Falcons, that means the section and defense.

On Thursday night at ‘The Cage’, Cedar Crest used some smothering defense to remain undefeated in Section One of the Lancaster-Lebanon League with a 45-14 crossover triumph over Section Two rep Conestoga Valley. The Falcons experienced some ups and downs offensively, but they never stopped playing defense.

With the result, defending champion Cedar Crest moved into sole possession of first place in Section One, a half-game ahead of idle Hempfield. The Falcons are now 8-4 overall, but 5-0 in the circuit.

Cedar Crest was situated eighth in the latest District Three Class AAAAAA power rankings.

Last night represented the second time this season that the Falcons have held an opponent under 20 points.

Conestoga Valley slipped to 1-10 on the season and 0-5 in Section Two.

“Our goals have never changed,” said Cedar Crest head coach Jim Donmoyer. “You can’t play in the league playoffs if you don’t do well in the section. We’ve also made districts eight years running. But it’s just about this year’s team.

“We’re nowhere near where we need to be,” continued Donmoyer. “You can’t take off a whole quarter. You’ve got to be consistent, the first through the fourth quarter. The thing that concerns me is we have one of those quarters every game.”

The quarter to which Donmoyer was referring was the second, when the Falcons were held to a mere two points. It was in strong contrast to Cedar Crest’s performance in the opening quarter.

With Meghan Sholley netting six points, Reese Glover contributing a basket, Sarah Batra scoring a deuce and Nickole Wise dropping in a bucket, Cedar Crest recorded the first 12 points of the game. And when Batra nailed a jumper and Glover converted a foul shot, the Falcons had themselves a confortable 15-4 lead at the end of the first period.

“I thought we played three good quarters, every one but the second,” said Donmoyer. “I don’t know what happened in the second quarter. For whatever reason, we struggled to score. But the whole game was good defensively. In the second quarter, we did a lot of one-pass-and-shoot kind of thing. We weren’t aggressive. Against other teams, two points in a quarter is going to hurt.

“I basically told them (his players) at halftime, ‘We played a great first quarter, but you can’t be the way you were in the second,'” added Donmoyer. “You’ve got to be aggressive throughout the game. We were just being passive. But our defense carried us throughout the game.”

Cedar Crest went without a point over the first 5:38 of the second quarter, as Conestoga Valley clawed to within 15-7 of its lead. Two charity tosses from Sholley made the Falcons’ lead ten at the half.

“We’re giving up 38 or 39 points a game,” said Donmoyer. “Any time you give up under 40 you’re going to be in every game. We’re always looking for those averages.”

Glover paced the Falcons’ balanced scoring attack with 11 points, while Batra collected ten. Cedar Crest went 15-for-20 at the foul line and held the Buckskins to just four two-point field goals.

“She got to the basket tonight, more than she has throughout the year,” said Donmoyer of Sholley. “She plays the point. She’s a junior. She’s one of our most seasoned players. But she’s got to make good decisions with the ball.”

The Falcons put the game away with a devastating 22-2 run during a 12:51 stretch that spanned most of the third quarter and deep in the fourth. Cedar Crest led 39-10 on a couple of charity tosses by Batra, with 2:42 remaining.

Along the way, Glover, Sholley, Batra, Elizabeth Knapp, Brooke Shutter and Kaya Camasta all recorded points for the Falcons.

“In the second half, we gave up five points,” said Donmoyer. “This is varsity basketball. Our offense was better in the second half because we got to the basket off the dribble and got some post touches. You have to remember we haven’t played since last Friday, and with the holidays we only had two practices.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

2019-20 Cedar Crest Girls’ Basketball Schedule

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
12/06 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest Cedar Cliff at Cedar Cliff Tip-Off Tournament	51 44	Nonleague
12/07 7:30 pm	Spring Grove Cedar Crest at Cedar Cliff Tip-Off Tournament	55 41	Nonleague
12/10 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Wilson	45 49	Nonleague
12/11 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Wyomissing	41 31	Nonleague
12/13 7:30 pm	Elizabethtown at Cedar Crest	32 50	League
12/16 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Lebanon	60 54	League
12/18 7:30 pm	Ephrata at Cedar Crest	39 41	League
12/20 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Warwick	44 31	League
12/21 7:30 pm	Palmyra at Cedar Crest	39 35	Nonleague
12/27 7:30 pm	Waynesboro Cedar Crest at Lower Dauphin Holiday Tournament	16 64	Nonleague
12/28 4:00 pm	Cedar Crest Lower Dauphin at Lower Dauphin Holiday Tournament	38 42	Nonleague
1/02 7:30 pm	Conestoga Valley at Cedar Crest		League
1/07 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Hempfield		League
1/10 7:30 pm	Penn Manor at Cedar Crest		League
1/14 7:30 pm	McCaskey at Cedar Crest		League
1/16 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Manheim Township		League
1/18 7:30 pm	Dallastown at Cedar Crest		Nonleague
1/21 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Reading		Nonleague
1/24 7:30 pm	Hempfield at Cedar Crest		League
1/28 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Penn Manor		League
1/31 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at McCaskey		League
2/04 7:30 pm	Manheim Township at Cedar Crest		League

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Governor Mifflin	6-	0-	0	0.830603	1.000000	0.623562	7.4	89.5	0.0	54.0
2	Cumberland Valley	3-	0-	0	0.812056	1.000000	0.582346	3.8	71.3	0.0	51.1
3	Central Dauphin	9-	0-	0	0.790426	1.000000	0.534279	11.0	67.8	0.0	59.1
4	Red Lion	8-	1-	0	0.756676	0.926108	0.549591	9.4	100.9	0.8	82.7
5	Manheim Township	8-	2-	0	0.746500	0.857143	0.611270	9.6	117.7	1.6	74.9
6	Dallastown	6-	2-	0	0.703579	0.827586	0.552015	7.2	101.4	1.5	82.3
7	Cedar Cliff	7-	2-	0	0.696088	0.812808	0.553429	8.3	101.5	1.9	81.9
8	Central York	6-	3-	0	0.665000	0.740331	0.572928	6.7	106.5	2.4	79.4
9	Cedar Crest	7-	4-	0	0.656696	0.716738	0.583312	8.4	113.3	3.3	80.9
10	HEMPFIELD	6-	4-	0	0.655597	0.701923	0.598975	7.3	111.1	3.1	74.4
11	Wilson	3-	3-	0	0.639450	0.625000	0.657111	3.8	116.9	2.3	61.0
12	Reading	4-	4-	0	0.619785	0.609756	0.632042	5.0	107.7	3.2	62.7
13	Ephrata Area	6-	4-	0	0.613400	0.676190	0.536655	7.1	104.7	3.4	90.4
14	Exeter Township	3-	3-	0	0.585396	0.587719	0.582557	3.4	87.5	2.4	62.7
15	Warwick	3-	5-	0	0.532567	0.486667	0.588667	3.7	112.2	3.9	78.4
16	Penn Manor	3-	6-	0	0.525815	0.437126	0.634212	3.7	128.7	4.7	74.2
17	Lebanon	3-	6-	0	0.508765	0.442424	0.589848	3.7	116.2	4.6	80.8
18	J P McCaskey	3-	7-	0	0.497284	0.392473	0.625387	3.7	121.2	5.7	72.6
19	Chambersburg Area	2-	5-	0	0.478078	0.384000	0.593062	2.4	88.9	3.9	61.0
20	Central Dauphin East	1-	6-	0	0.421777	0.213675	0.676125	1.3	97.7	4.6	46.8
21	Carlisle	2-	7-	0	0.415370	0.296774	0.560320	2.3	77.1	5.5	60.5
22	York Country Day School	3-	6-	0	0.395490	0.292818	0.520978	2.7	86.3	6.4	79.4
23	Conestoga Valley	1-	9-	0	0.332374	0.120253	0.591633	1.0	118.8	7.0	82.0
24	William Penn	0-	9-	0	0.288212	0.000000	0.640472	0.0	111.3	8.0	62.5
25	Harrisburg	0-	3-	0	0.261981	0.000000	0.582180	0.0	82.0	2.3	58.9
26	York County School Of Technology	0-	0-	0	0.000000	0.000000	0.000000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section One Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
Cedar Crest	5	0	1.000	8	4	0.667	555	446
Hempfield	4	0	1.000	6	4	0.600	386	318
Manheim Township	3	1	0.750	8	2	0.800	450	337
Penn Manor	1	3	0.250	3	6	0.333	370	401
McCaskey	1	3	0.250	3	7	0.300	392	474

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