BY JEFF FALK

 SOUTH LEBANON – At its most fundamental, defense is the act of keeping oneself between an opponent and the goal. But what defense is really about is moving your feet, desire and helping each other out.

 You know what they say about defense. It wins championships.

 On Saturday night at ‘The Cage’, during the quarterfinal round of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs, the Cedar Crest girls’ basketball team did a defensive number on visiting Lampeter-Strasburg, to the tune of 43-28. While their defensive intensity was at a high level throughout, the Falcons really turned it on in the second half, when they pulled away from the Pioneers.

 At this time of the year, all victories have added importance. This one lifted Section One champion Cedar Crest to 17-5 on the year and into Tuesday’s semifinal round of the L-L League postseason, opposite Lebanon County rival and Section Three runner-up Elco, at 7 p.m. at Lebanon High.

 Lampeter-Strasburg, the runner-up from Section Three, dipped to 17-7 overall. 

 “We’re a defensive team,” said Cedar Crest head coach Jim Donmoyer, whose club surrenders, on average, 30 points per outing. “We knew what we had to take away. My kids play hard. And if you do that, and play together, things will take care of themselves. They know there’s two parts to basketball – putting it in the basket and stopping the other team from putting it into the basket. That’s our strength.

 “That’s the best defense we played all year,” continued Donmoyer. “They (the Pioneer) have three kids who can hit outside shot. Those three kids weren’t going to beat us, and they didn’t. We knew Raven (Morgan) and Hannah (Woelfling) could handle things inside. It wasn’t perfect. But it was 90 percent perfect.”

  “Our defense was amazing,” said Morgan, a senior star. “It was probably the best we played all year, especially in the second half. I like to look at our help defense. It’s not just individuals. But we work hard at our defense.”

 Nursing a four-point halftime margin, Cedar Crest held Lampeter-Strasburg to four points in the third quarter.

 The Falcons opened the second half with a 6-1 burst fueled by a three-pointer and foul shot from Morgan Thomson, and a deuce from Hannah Woelfling, to open a 26-17 margin. They also closed the third quarter with a Molly Bucher triple and a pair of Woelfling free throws, and a 31-20 lead.

 “We went out 11-4,” said Donmoyer of the opening quarter. “We played a decent second quarter. But we’re a second-half team. In the third quarter, we opened it up. You’ve got to get us in the first half.”

  “It was important because it was the next game,” said Morgan. “We need to keep winning and worrying about the game we’re playing. We played good, but we could’ve been better. I’m just glad my teammates stepped up.”

 With its defense dictating the pace, Cedar Crest closed out the Pioneers in the final quarter.

  Protecting a nine-point margin, the Falcons rattled off eight of the next nine points over a five-minute stretch to push their lead to 41-25. Thomson was resposible for four of those Crest points, while Bucher had two and Woelfling a couple.

 “Why not us?,” said Donmoyer, when asked about the championship of the tournament. “I’ll take it a bite at a time.

 “We were ready to do what we needed to do,” added Donmoyer. “We executed the game plan.”

 “The goal is to win it,” said Morgan. “We need to step it up a little more. We need to play a lot harder. These teams in the playoffs aren’t like every other team.” 

 With 13 points, Woelfling was the only Falcon to reach double digits. The Falcons converted 16 of their 21 foul shots.

 Turning the Pioneers over, going hard to the defensive glass and contesting every shot, Cedar Crest limited Lampeter-Strasburg to a total of six two-point field goals. Cedar Crest committed only nine total fouls.

   “Madison Rambler came off the bench, and she picked us up,” said Donmoyer. “That’s the way it is. The other thing was our foul shots. You’ve got to play defnse, take care of the ball and make foul shots at the end.”

  “My job is to hold it down, down low,” said Morgan. “To be strong, to get rebounds.”

  Woelfling drained a free throw, Morgan canned two pairs and Reese Glover knocked down a jumper, as Cedar Crest raced out to a 7-1 lead. Then near the end of the opening period, Morgan and Woelfing connected on back-to-back inside buckets to extend the Falcons’ margin to 11-3.

 “I’m glad for Coach Shay,” said Donmoyer of Elco’s 55-38 quarterfinal triumph at Solanco. “Two Lebanon County teams in the semifinals. There’s going to be a Lebanon County team in the final. That’s always good. I’m familiar with Elco. It should be a nice game.”

 “They’re just the next team to play,” said Morgan, of the Raiders, respectfully. “To me, it’s the next game.”

 Cedar Crest’s biggest lead of the first half came at 16-7, courtesy of a Bucher lay-in 3:08 into second period. The half ended with the Falcons up 20-16.

  “Defense is keeping your body between the girl and the basket,” said Donmoyer. “It’s fundamental. It’s a lot of work. It’s hard work. We do defensive drills for half-an-hour every day. We’ve been doing it for eight years. It’s the hardest part of practice. But that’s what carrying us right now.”

 As well as paying dividends.

 

 

 

 

 To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2018-19 Cedar Crest Girls’ Basketball Results