BY JEFF FALK

ELLIOTTSBURG – The irony wasn’t lost on even the casual observer.

The anxiety the Northern Lebanon girls’ basketball team was experiencing was the result of all the hard work, time and effort it had put in – the exact things which had brought it to this point of the season. But the Vikings had to work through those nerves to get back to the team they had become.

On Wednesday night at West Perry High School, an early case of the jitters cost Northern Lebanon its break-out season, as it endured a season-ending 39-29 defeat to the Mustangs, in the opening round of the District Three Class AAA tournament. The Vikings managed only seven first-half points, before outscoring the defending Class AAA champions 22-17 over the final 16 minutes of action.

Though their nine-game improvement over last season seems to signal even brighter days ahead for the Vikings, after the game head coach Ken Battistelli declined to look too far ahead or too far behind. The 14th-seeded Vikings ended their campaign at 15-8 overall.

Third-seeded West Perry will carry a 21-3 mark into Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the district postseason.

“Yeah, nervousness was a factor,” said Battistelli. “You could see it, just the tightness and the nerves. They (his players) were really excited to be here. But we couldn’t get out of our own way. I told them, ‘Instead of making the moment more nervous, make it more focused. Everyone is out there by themselves with their own nerves, and it’s hard to play as a team.

“You could tell they (the Mustangs) were comfortable in the situation,” Battistelli continued. “Our kids were excited to be here. They were nervous. We didn’t play our best game, for sure.”

Even though it may have been a bit late, Northern Lebanon certainly calmed down after halftime and performed much better in the third and fourth periods. The Vikings were a missed free throw here, a rimmed-out jumper there, a loose ball away from turning the tables on West Perry and putting the pressure back on it.

In the face of its 15-point halftime deficit, Northern Lebanon extended its man-to-man in the third quarter, became more active in half court and the defense seemed to spark its offense. The Vikings closed to within 31-24 with 4:16 to go, on a couple of charity tosses from Zoe Zerman, and then got to within 33-26, 19 seconds later courtesy of a Zerman jumper.

But the Vikings’ offensive woes again reared its ugly head, in the form of a 3:10 scoring drought that ultimately spelled their doom.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of difference for us defensively in the second half,” said Battistelli. “We stretched out our defense a little bit more. Sometimes that settles us down. The focus changed a little bit, and we were determined to get it in the hole.

“I told them at halftime, ‘This is no fun like this’,” continued Battistelli. “‘The bottom line is: If you don’t surrender to the moment and go for it, things probably won’t change. If you trust in your teammates, you’ll be in it.’ But we almost had to be flawless to come back down 15 to a team that’s so good.”

Northern Lebanon held West Perry without a point for a 5:47 span to start the second half. During that time, the Vikings got a stop-and-pop and two free throws from Zerman and jumper by Megan Brandt to trim the Mustangs’ advantage to 22-13.

“I think this will help them enormously in the future,” said Battistelli of his girls. “I think it’ll put the fire in their bellies. But I don’t want to think about that right now. I’m just enjoyed in this season so much.This team has been super-duper to coach.

“I told them (his players) when we were preparing for this game it was more because I didn’t want my time with them to end more than I wanted to win, and I’m a very competitive person,” Battistelli added. “They’re really good kids. I’m ready to play another game right now.”

While the Vikings didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, they also left some points at the foul line, where they went nine-for-16. The Mustangs outscored Northern Lebanon by four points at the charity stripe and by six from beyond the arc.

Zerman recorded 13 points, the only Northern Lebanon scorer to reach double figures.

“I definitely think we could’ve won this game,” said Battistelli. “We didn’t play well. The heart is working with these kids, but sometimes the body doesn’t follow.

“We didn’t play offense nearly well enough to win,” added Battistelli. “We had a long lay-off. But I think their (the Mustangs’) experience helped them.”

Although they never led, the Vikings did pull to within 5-4 of West Perry thanks to an early three-pointer by senior Morgan Phillips. But Northern Lebanon would go point-less over the next eight minutes, as the Mustangs scored ten unanswered to open a 15-4 bulge.

“We have stretches when scoring is tough,” said Battistelli. “That comes from inexperience. They’re (the Mustangs) big. They’re experienced. They’re good. They didn’t get rattled. They do what they’ve got to do.

“The defense in the second half led to more opportunities,” continued Battistelli. “They (his players) didn’t have to rely on the offense. But I thought we played good defense the whole game.”

West Perry enjoyed a 22-7 lead at the break.

“Realistically, my goal was to win the section (Three of the Lancaster-Lebanon League) championship,” said Battistelli. “My expectation was to win tonight, and keep winning and winning. I get upset because I don’t get a chance to spend any more time with this exact same group.”

Northern Lebanon (29)

West Perry (39)