MYERSTOWN – There was a flip of the script in the second meeting of the Gold Rush boys’-girls’ doubleheader at Elco High School on Friday night.
The Lady Vikings of Northern Lebanon won their third in-a-row and improved their record to 12-1, following a 53-45 victory over the Elco Lady Raiders. It also gave Northern its fifth Section Four win of the season.
We saw seven lead changes in the first quarter, a pattern culminated by Zara Zerman’s jumper that put the Vikings ahead, 13-12. Northern Lebanon extended that advantage to six, but the Raiders rallied to knot the score at 18. Sophomores Kailey Eckhart and Emma Fox each nailed jumpers and junior forward Ashley Yoh hit a pair of free throws to tie it up.
Despite Elco’s effort, Zerman retaliated with seven unanswered points, including the three that increased Northern’s halftime lead to five. The Vikes had the momentum at halftime, but the Raiders came right out of the gate and snatched it away with seven straight points of their own in the third quarter. That run was highlighted by junior guard, Amanda Smith’s go-ahead layup.
“I’d love to say we did something tricky, but we just talked to them about settling down, concentrating and not letting the emotion play the game,” said Northern Lebanon head coach, Ken Battistelli.
Battistelli’s players received the message and although the Vikings trailed for much of the third, they regained control with a 7-0 run. It was a stretch highlighted by sophomore guard, Ashlyn Messinger, whose go-ahead trey put Northern Lebanon ahead for good.
Whenever Elco responded, the Vikings came up with the answers that kept their four-point advantage in tact. Those came on a pair of lay-ups from senior forward, Lindsay McFeaters, and Zerman’s clutch foul shots that iced the contest. The senior guard sank a total of five free throws within the final eight minutes.
This contest had its jumpers and layups, but it also had its scrums, dives and physicality. Neither side surrendered an inch and the players survived the knockdowns and picked themselves up only to hit the floor again. It was the way a Northern Lebanon-Elco grudge match was meant to be played and the coaches couldn’t agree more.
“That’s the kind of game I like,” said Elco head coach, Ashli Shay. “I like physical, I like fast, I like to see basically who’s the toughest and tonight, I thought it was pretty even for most of the night and they just kinda out-toughed us at the very end there a couple times.”
“They’re rough and tough and we pride ourselves on not being intimidated,” stated Battistelli.
Zerman had her fair share of knockdowns, but she shook off the bumps and bruises to log a game-high 27 points. She converted six field goals, but most of her scoring came from the charity stripe, where she hit 12 of her 14 attempts.
“Zeke, as little and frail as she looks, she’s a fighter,” Battistelli said. “I don’t like seeing her go down, but I just have it my head that you’re not keeping that kid down, she’s getting up, she’s just gonna get up and she’s gonna make her foul shots to win the game. That’s how I feel.”
“Zerman’s obviously very difficult to guard because she can do a little bit of everything,” Shay stated. “She has extended her range to the three point line in the last couple of years whereas she used to be more of a “get to the basket” kind of kid.”
Smith made seven field goals before finishing as the Raiders’ leading scorer with 16 points. Meanwhile, Eckhart added eight points, Yoh tallied seven and Fox recorded six.
“I thought we attacked very well on offense,” said Shay. “I thought we got some critical offensive rebounds, I thought we got to the rim more than they probably would’ve liked us to get to the rim.”
With Elco sitting at 6-7 overall, one league contest is in the rear-view mirror, but another one lays ahead. The Lady Raiders will hit the road to take on the Lady Crusaders of Lancaster Catholic, which is scheduled for Friday night @ 7:30.
As for the Vikings, their next league meeting takes place at Octorara on Tuesday night.
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 12/06 6:45 pm | Ephrata Northern Lebanon at Northern Lebanon Tip-Off Tournament | 43 48 | Nonleague |
| 12/07 7:00 pm | Palmyra Northern Lebanon at Northern Lebanon Tip-Off Tournament | 29 41 | Nonleague |
| 12/10 7:30 pm | West Perry at Northern Lebanon | 19 35 | Nonleague |
| 12/13 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Lampeter-Strasburg | 38 26 | League |
| 12/16 7:30 pm | Cocalico at Northern Lebanon | 31 37 | League |
| 12/18 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Garden Spot | 48 17 | League |
| 12/20 7:30 pm | Solanco at Northern Lebanon | 19 35 | League |
| 12/27 6:00 pm | New Oxford Northern Lebanon at Lebanon Holiday Tournament | 27 45 | Nonleague |
| 12/28 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon McCaskey at Lebanon Holiday Tournament | 44 41 | Nonleague |
| 1/03 7:30 pm | Lancaster Catholic at Northern Lebanon | 50 47 | League |
| 1/04 2:30 pm | East Pennsboro Northern Lebanon at Northern Lebanon Middle School | 22 44 | Nonleague |
| 1/08 6:30 pm | Middletown at Northern Lebanon | 15 38 | Nonleague |
| 1/10 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Elco | 53 45 | League |
| 1/14 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Octorara | League | |
| 1/17 7:30 pm | Donegal at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 1/18 2:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Tulpehocken | Nonleague | |
| 1/21 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Lancaster Catholic | League | |
| 1/23 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Manheim Central | League | |
| 1/25 4:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Annville-Cleona | Nonleague | |
| 1/28 7:30 pm | Elco at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 1/31 7:30 pm | Octorara at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 2/04 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Donegal | League |
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 12/06 6:00 pm | Susquehanna Township Elco at Middletown Tip-Off Tournament | 51 38 | Nonleague |
| 12/07 6:00 pm | Elco Boiling Springs at Middletown Tip-Off Tournament | 41 24 | Nonleague |
| 12/10 7:30 pm | Elco at Fleetwood | 30 32 | Nonleague |
| 12/13 7:30 pm | Elco at Cocalico | 37 32 | League |
| 12/16 7:30 pm | Manheim Central at Elco | 46 50 | League |
| 12/18 7:30 pm | Elco at Solanco | 28 34 | League |
| 12/20 7:30 pm | Lampeter-Strasburg at Elco | 53 58 | League |
| 12/23 7:30 pm | York Catholic at Elco | 36 53 | Nonleague |
| 12/27 2:00 pm | Blue Mountain Elco at Pine Grove Holiday Tournament | 45 40 | Nonleague |
| 12/28 2:00 pm | Elco William Allen at Pine Grove Holiday Tournament | 53 64 | Nonleague |
| 1/03 7:30 pm | Elco at Octorara | 48 25 | League |
| 1/09 7:30 pm | Donegal at Elco | 65 62 | League |
| 1/10 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Elco | 53 45 | League |
| 1/11 1:30 pm | Lebanon at Elco | Nonleague | |
| 1/17 7:30 pm | Elco at Lancaster Catholic | League | |
| 1/21 7:30 pm | Octorara at Elco | League | |
| 1/24 7:30 pm | Elco at Donegal | League | |
| 1/25 4:00 pm | Oley Valley at Elco | Nonleague | |
| 1/28 7:30 pm | Elco at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 1/29 7:30 pm | Elco at Conrad Weiser | Nonleague | |
| 1/31 7:30 pm | Elco at Garden Spot | League | |
| 2/04 7:30 pm | Lancaster Catholic at Elco | League |
| AAAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1 | Lancaster Catholic | 9- | 1- | 0 | 0.782700 | 0.917391 | 0.618076 | 10.6 | 154.6 | 1.0 | 95.5 |
| 2 | Bermudian Springs | 10- | 1- | 0 | 0.748413 | 0.912442 | 0.547932 | 9.9 | 139.8 | 1.0 | 115.3 |
| 3 | Eastern York | 10- | 3- | 0 | 0.729394 | 0.816479 | 0.622957 | 10.9 | 156.3 | 2.5 | 94.6 |
| 4 | Northern Lebanon | 12- | 1- | 0 | 0.716502 | 0.935154 | 0.449261 | 13.7 | 115.6 | 1.0 | 141.7 |
| 5 | Susquehanna Township | 9- | 3- | 0 | 0.680249 | 0.788000 | 0.548553 | 9.9 | 128.0 | 2.7 | 105.3 |
| 6 | Bishop McDevitt | 6- | 3- | 0 | 0.674248 | 0.729282 | 0.606985 | 6.6 | 130.4 | 2.5 | 84.4 |
| 7 | Kennard Dale | 9- | 4- | 0 | 0.672232 | 0.741697 | 0.587330 | 10.1 | 131.7 | 3.5 | 92.5 |
| 8 | Wyomissing | 7- | 4- | 0 | 0.575623 | 0.658768 | 0.474002 | 7.0 | 109.9 | 3.6 | 121.9 |
| 9 | Fleetwood | 6- | 5- | 0 | 0.569894 | 0.599078 | 0.534223 | 6.5 | 126.1 | 4.4 | 109.9 |
| 10 | Schuylkill Valley | 8- | 5- | 0 | 0.560440 | 0.640927 | 0.462067 | 8.3 | 107.5 | 4.7 | 125.2 |
| 11 | Eastern Lebanon County | 6- | 6- | 0 | 0.547191 | 0.551724 | 0.541651 | 6.4 | 141.1 | 5.2 | 119.4 |
| 12 | Littlestown | 6- | 5- | 0 | 0.533363 | 0.535211 | 0.531104 | 5.7 | 136.6 | 5.0 | 120.6 |
| 13 | Big Spring | 5- | 6- | 0 | 0.499383 | 0.506977 | 0.490103 | 5.5 | 102.8 | 5.3 | 106.9 |
| 14 | Boiling Springs | 4- | 6- | 0 | 0.445267 | 0.445545 | 0.444927 | 4.5 | 102.4 | 5.6 | 127.8 |
| 15 | Hamburg Area | 4- | 9- | 0 | 0.400134 | 0.315789 | 0.503222 | 3.9 | 125.0 | 8.5 | 123.4 |
| 16 | Middletown Area | 3- | 8- | 0 | 0.396909 | 0.280788 | 0.538835 | 2.9 | 127.7 | 7.3 | 109.3 |
| 17 | James Buchanan | 2- | 6- | 0 | 0.390888 | 0.291139 | 0.512804 | 2.3 | 117.2 | 5.6 | 111.3 |
| 18 | Oley Valley | 4- | 8- | 0 | 0.373718 | 0.318966 | 0.440639 | 3.7 | 104.9 | 7.9 | 133.1 |
| 19 | Octorara Area | 1- | 9- | 0 | 0.317112 | 0.112745 | 0.566894 | 1.2 | 128.6 | 9.1 | 98.3 |
| 20 | West Perry | 2- | 9- | 0 | 0.314192 | 0.175115 | 0.484174 | 1.9 | 110.9 | 9.0 | 118.2 |
| League | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | |
| Lancaster Catholic | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 9 | 1 | 0.900 | 587 | 479 |
| Northern Lebanon | 5 | 1 | 0.833 | 12 | 1 | 0.923 | 553 | 384 |
| Elco | 4 | 3 | 0.571 | 6 | 7 | 0.462 | 583 | 560 |
| Donegal | 3 | 4 | 0.429 | 6 | 7 | 0.462 | 636 | 665 |
| Octorara | 1 | 5 | 0.167 | 1 | 10 | 0.091 | 307 | 680 |
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