BY JEFF FALK

LANCASTER – The Elco girls’ basketball team doesn’t measure success by its results against Lancaster Catholic. It never has.

Instead, the Raiders choose to focus on themselves, their own accomplishments, their own standards.

On Monday night at Lancaster Catholic High School, Elco dropped yet another meaningful outcome to the Crusaders, to the tune of 55-40. Lancaster Catholic put the Raiders under its thumb once again, with a crucial 13-0 run that spanned the latter portions of the opening quarter and spilled over into the second.

A Raider victory in their Lancaster-Lebanon Section Four finale would’ve created a tie atop the standings and forced a one-game playoff to determine which team would represent the section in the upcoming league playoffs. But the result was simply more of the same for Elco, which hasn’t beaten the Crusaders in no one knows how long.

The setback dropped Elco to 12-6 overall and 4-2 in Section Four play. Back on January 8th in Myerstown, during the season opener for both clubs, the Crusaders had shaded the Raiders 46-43.

In the latest District Three power rankings, Elco was situated seventh in a AAAA field that takes ten teams for its postseason tournament.

With the triumph, Lancaster Catholic, now 10-2 on the year and 6-0 in Section Four, captured its umpteenth section championship.

“Oh my gosh, who the heck knows?,” said Elco head coach Ashli Shay, when asked for the last time Elco beat Lancaster Catholic. “Maybe when I played, back in the early 2000s. You’d have to ask Coach Meyer (former head coach, Dave) that. They’re (the Crusaders) just good at what they do.

“We’re doing well,” continued Shay. “We’ve positioned ourselves to hopefully make the district playoffs, and maybe host a first-round game. I’ll take that. It’s a tough loss. They just played better than us tonight.”

The highlight of the evening for the Raiders came in the opening minutes.

A couple of Hailey Eckhart baskets and one from Ashley Yoh staked Elco to an early 6-2 lead, and an Eckhart lay-in 3:34 in gave the Raiders an 8-3 margin.

“I thought our start was fine,” said Shay. “But we didn’t play great in the second quarter. Once it got to the point where we were missing shots we normally make, it was tough. They wear you down.”

Lancaster Catholic notched the last five points of the opening period and the first eight of the second quarter to open an 18-9 advantage. Elco went seven minutes without a score of any kind.

But Abbie Sargent’s three-pointer pulled the Raiders to within 22-14 of the Crusaders at the break.

“It was a combination of both,” said Shay. “I thought they played well. It’s easy to shoot well when you’re playing well. They knocked down a lot of shots. The bottom line for us was turnovers. Did we play our best game? Absolutely not. But were they responsible for that? Sure.

“They force you to play a different way than most teams do,” added Shay. “When they can run 15 bodies in and out, and we’re running maybe eight, that’s a big difference. You wear down mentally and that’s hard to handle.”

Eckhart scored 11 Elco points and Yoh tossed in ten. Lancaster Catholic outscored Elco 34-22 on two-point field goals.

The Raiders were guilty of 17 turnovers.

“It’s something to play for,” said Shay. “I’d be lying if I said this doesn’t hurt. You play for this opportunity, and we’re grateful we got the chance. But someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose.”

Lancaster Catholic’s lead reached 25-14 early in the second half, before Yoh scored inside and Eckhart nailed a three-pointer to draw the Raiders to within six points of the lead. But the Crusaders outscored the Raiders 15-6 over the final 4:40 of the third period to boost their lead to 42-27.

“I don’t want to say unforced errors, but some of those turnovers we could’ve avoided,” said Shay. “We like to play fast. But most teams can’t put that kind of pressure on you. You’ve got to dig in and play defense for 32 minutes, and then you’ve got to worry about playing offense.”

Elco did piece together a late 11-1 burst – thanks to four points from Amanda Smith, a three-pointer from Claudia Huey, a Yoh lay-up and a couple of foul shots by Eckhart – to shave a 49-29 deficit down to 50-40. But it was way too little way too late.

“That game was filled with turnovers, by both teams,” said Shay of the January meeting with the Crusaders in Myerstown. “It was the first game of the season and both teams only had a couple of practices. It’s different when you’re in someone else’s gym. They’re a great team.”

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

2021 Elco Girls’ Basketball Results

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
1/08 7:30 pm	Lancaster Catholic at Elco	46 43	League
1/11 7:30 pm	Pottsville at Elco	35 48	Nonleague
1/13 7:30 pm	Fleetwood at Elco	34 52	Nonleague
1/15 7:30 pm	Elco at Donegal	55 33	League
1/19 7:30 pm	Elco at Northern Lebanon	39 26	League
1/23 1:30 pm	Lower Dauphin at Elco	59 42	Nonleague
1/29 7:30 pm	Susquehanna Township at Elco	57 47	Nonleague
1/30 1:30 pm	Elco at Hamburg	45 28	Nonleague
2/03 7:30 pm	Northern Lebanon at Elco	36 51	League
2/04 7:30 pm	Elco at Conrad Weiser	46 37	Nonleague
2/05 7:00 pm	Linden Hall at Elco	34 23	Nonleague
2/09 7:30 pm	Elco at Wyomissing	44 21	Nonleague
2/10 7:30 pm	Garden Spot at Elco	34 48	Nonleague
2/12 7:30 pm	Cocalico at Elco	49 46	Nonleague
2/13 1:30 pm	Donegal at Elco	31 57	League
2/16 7:00 pm	Elco at Manheim Central	54 53	Nonleague
2/20 1:00 pm	Elco at Lampeter-Strasburg	53 42	Nonleague
2/22 7:30 pm	Elco at Lancaster Catholic		League
2/24 7:30 pm	Solanco at Elco		Nonleague

PIAA District Three

Class AAAA Power Rankings

AAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Delone Catholic	15-	0-	0	0.789465	1.000000	0.532144	15.15	123.75	0.00	108.80
2	Eastern York	14-	1-	0	0.767342	0.947368	0.547310	15.30	132.75	0.85	109.80
3	Lancaster Catholic	9-	2-	0	0.738061	0.841410	0.611745	9.55	109.90	1.80	69.75
4	Berks Catholic	15-	3-	0	0.723805	0.875000	0.539012	17.15	162.00	2.45	138.55
5	Big Spring	12-	2-	0	0.713372	0.884354	0.504394	13.00	117.65	1.70	115.60
6	Bishop McDevitt (3)	13-	3-	0	0.684311	0.824405	0.513085	13.85	111.75	2.95	106.05
7	Eastern Lebanon County	12-	5-	0	0.650549	0.736842	0.545079	13.30	145.10	4.75	121.10
8	Wyomissing	10-	5-	0	0.613285	0.675410	0.537354	10.30	126.95	4.95	109.30
9	Bermudian Springs	10-	5-	0	0.606708	0.680135	0.516965	10.10	125.70	4.75	117.45
10	Schuylkill Valley	10-	5-	0	0.583895	0.690554	0.453535	10.60	134.70	4.75	162.30
11	Hanover (3)	8-	6-	0	0.529856	0.586207	0.460983	8.50	118.15	6.00	138.15
12	Conrad Weiser	7-	11-	0	0.511690	0.463068	0.571116	8.15	182.70	9.45	137.20
13	Susquehanna Township	5-	6-	0	0.489963	0.464115	0.521555	4.85	104.65	5.60	96.00
14	Hamburg	9-	10-	0	0.482531	0.478992	0.486856	8.55	156.50	9.30	164.95
15	Northern Lebanon	6-	8-	0	0.478857	0.467626	0.492584	6.50	117.90	7.40	121.45
16	James Buchanan	5-	9-	0	0.477225	0.399254	0.572524	5.35	126.90	8.05	94.75
17	Middletown	1-	7-	0	0.361296	0.131250	0.642463	1.05	104.85	6.95	58.35
18	Kennard Dale	2-	12-	0	0.345194	0.144000	0.591097	1.80	157.35	10.70	108.85
19	Littlestown	2-	12-	0	0.328214	0.151079	0.544712	2.10	133.40	11.80	111.50
20	East Pennsboro	2-	12-	0	0.325029	0.127820	0.566063	1.70	125.10	11.60	95.90
21	Boiling Springs	0-	10-	0	0.271202	0.000000	0.602670	0.00	130.90	8.70	86.30
22	Octorara	0-	10-	0	0.194818	0.000000	0.432930	0.00	85.85	10.80	112.45

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section Four Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
Lancaster Catholic	6	0	1.000	10	2	0.833	577	430
Elco	4	2	0.667	12	6	0.667	835	710
Northern Lebanon	2	4	0.333	6	8	0.429	530	523
Donegal	0	6	0.000	0	12	0.000	341	667

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