BY JEFF FALK

 NEFFSVILLE – In many ways, it’s been a cinderella ride. They’ve been able to accomplish things that other teams haven’t, and things they weren’t sure they could do.

 But this task was difficult like no other. Still the Elco girls’ basketball team had to give it a go.

 On Friday night at Manheim Township High School, in the championship game of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs, the Raiders gave it their all, but fell to mighty Lancaster Catholic, 66-42. The Raiders competed hard with the Crusaders for about a half, before Lancaster Catholic began to wear on them physically, mentally and then finally emotionally.

 The Section Four runner-up, Elco’s rare run to the league’s final game featured three straight inspiring wins, including two over Section champions. The Raiders’ runner-up finish, coupled with a league championship in girls’ soccer in the fall, also represented a one-two feat that one single group of core athletes had rarely accomplished in the L-L before.

 Three of 20-5 Elco’s losses this season have come at the hands of Lancaster Catholic. Up next for the Raiders is the District Three Class AAAA tournament, which they will open on Friday at home against Eastern York, as the fifth seed.

 The triumph moved Lancaster Catholic’s unbeaten record to 25-0. The Crusaders are the reigning PIAA Class AAAA champion and haven’t lost a game in two years, in over 50 outings.

 Lancaster Catholic had defeated the Raiders by similar scores during the regular season. On January 18th in Myerstown, the Crusaders bested Elco 68-44, then in Lancaster on February 5th, Lancaster Catholic downed the Raiders 67-31.

 It was Lancaster Catholic’s 14th Lancaster-Lebanon League championship overall.

 “It’s unbelievable when you think of it,” said Elco head coach Ashli Shay of the Raiders’ one-two finish in the league soccer and basketball tournaments. “They’re soccer players. The majority of our kids are soccer-first. We’ve got a couple who are basketball players. We have 17 girls on the roster and three of them play basketball outside of basketball season. This is a group who plays basketball from November to whenever it’s over. It’s just a testament to how hard they work and how they work together.

 “It’s good for us to play teams like them (the Crusaders),” continued Shay. “They’re a team that pushes us. It is what it is. It’s a great opportunity. These kids won’t play against a team like that again.”

 Though the Raiders battled, their challenge was made even more difficult by illness and injury to seniors Ryelle Shuey and Jordan Rosengrant. 

 After Lancaster Catholic tallied the first seven points of the contest, Elco faced an uphill fight the entire way. But the Raiders did battle back to within 10-8 of the lead late in the opening quarter, on free throws from Shuey and Amanda Smith.

 “We talked about trying to slow it down,” said Shay of pregame strategy. “Ninety-nine percent of the teams we play against, we’re yelling, ‘Go, go, go’. We wanted to try to make it a half-court game. They (the Crusaders) make it difficult to have a game plan. We wanted to set our offense and get good shots. But at the end of the day, that’s not in our DNA.

 “They (the Crusaders) force you to make mistakes,” Shay continued. “We were timid. We just weren’t aggressive and confident for 32 minutes. Once they (the Crusaders) get in a run, it’s hard to get out of that slump.”

 Early in the second quarter, the Raiders were still hanging around, thanks to a Kayla Gerber jumper that made it 14-10 and a Katelyn Rueppel free throw that drew Elco to within 16-11.

 But Lancaster Catholic scored six straight points after that, to push its margin to 22-11. The half ended with the Crusaders ahead 31-15.

  “These kids have battled all year,” said Shay. “They didn’t quit. They kept playing. They played to the end. They give you effort for 32 minutes. I’m just extremely proud of the effort.

 “I certainly hoped that it (having played Lancaster Catholic twice before) helped,” added Shay. “We were confident about what they were going to do. You can try to simulate it in practice, but when it’s live it’s a different element. But there were so many unforced turnovers.”

 With Shuey and Rosengrant on the bench, another Elco senior, Julia Nelson, stepped up with a team-high 22 points. At one point in the fourth quarter, while the Raiders were trimming a 32-point deficit down to 57-33, Nelson notched 14 straight Elco points.

 Shuey, who was battling the effects of an illness, picked up her third foul 3:31 into the second quarter. The 5-11 senior forward was whistled for her fourth foul 1:23 into the second half and never returned.

 Crusader superstar KiKi Jefferson poured in 30 points, on 11 field goals and eight-for-ten free throwing. Lancaster Catholic outscored Elco 42-20 on two-pointers.

 “She was out of her mind,” said Shay of Nelson. “We know she can do that. When teams leave her open, she shoots with confidence. It was a great little show she put on.

 “She’s (Shuey) struggling,” Shay added. “She has walking pneumonia. We were down two starters and some size.”

 Lancaster Catholic registered the first seven points of the second half to extend its lead to 38-15. The Crusaders also posted the final eight points of the third quarter to make it a 55-23 game.

 “I think it’s a little different if Rye and Jordan are 100 percent,” said Shay. “But you don’t know. If you let them (the Crusaders) go on a run and your head goes down, you’re in trouble.

 “Nobody likes moral victories,” Shay continued. “To be in the top two of 26 teams in the league, that’s impressive. No one outside of our locker room thought we could do this. For them (her players), it’s fantastic to be here.”

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2018-19 Elco Girls’ Basketball Results

 

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
12/07 6:00 pm	Susquehanna Township Elco at Middletown Tip-Off Tournament	22 46
12/08 7:30 pm	Elco Middletown at Middletown Tip-Off Tournament	46 55
12/11 7:30 pm	Fleetwood at Elco	24 34
12/14 7:30 pm	Cocalico at Elco	39 57
12/17 7:30 pm	Elco at Manheim Central	49 33
12/19 7:30 pm	Solanco at Elco	39 40
12/21 7:30 pm	Elco at Lampeter-Strasburg	32 39
12/27 4:30 pm	Elco Pine Grove at Pine Grove Holiday Tournament	47 30
12/28 6:00 pm	Elco Kennett at Pine Grove Holiday Tournament	43 36
1/04 7:00 pm	Octorara at Elco	12 75
1/08 7:30 pm	Elco at Donegal	63 59
1/11 6:00 pm	Elco at Northern Lebanon	31 19
1/12 2:30 pm	Elco at Lebanon	51 28
1/15 7:30 pm	Elco at York Catholic	51 46
1/18 7:30 pm	Lancaster Catholic at Elco	68 44
1/22 7:00 pm	Elco at Octorara	68 13
1/25 7:30 pm	Donegal at Elco	59 78
1/26 6:30 pm	Elco at Oley Valley	50 27
2/01 7:30 pm	Garden Spot at Elco	38 54
2/02 1:00 pm	Elco at Northern Lebanon	49 26
2/05 7:30 pm	Elco at Lancaster Catholic	31 67
2/07 6:00 pm	Elco Ephrata at Garden Spot	61 44
2/09 7:00 pm	Elco at Solanco	55 38
2/13 7:30 pm	Elco Cedar Crest at Lebanon	36 34
2/15 7:00 pm	Lancaster Catholic Elco at Manheim Township
2/22 7:00 pm	Eastern York at Elco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 PIAA District Three

 Final Class AAAAA Power Rankings

 

AAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Lancaster Catholic	21-	0-	0	0.809768	1.000000	0.577262	23.4	265.1	0.0	194.1
2	Bishop McDevitt	19-	2-	0	0.800883	0.930283	0.642726	21.4	298.5	1.6	165.9
3	Kennard Dale	20-	2-	0	0.751993	0.922131	0.544046	22.5	258.2	1.9	216.4
4	Eastern Lebanon County	17-	4-	0	0.713756	0.834452	0.566239	18.7	260.3	3.7	199.4
5	Eastern York	15-	7-	0	0.681454	0.732906	0.618568	17.2	301.2	6.3	185.7
6	Big Spring	14-	6-	0	0.629746	0.740196	0.494750	15.1	212.1	5.3	216.6
7	Bermudian Springs	15-	7-	0	0.614414	0.679545	0.534809	15.0	248.9	7.1	216.5
8	Susquehanna Township	11-	11-	0	0.603616	0.570455	0.644147	12.6	315.6	9.5	174.4
9	Wyomissing	14-	8-	0	0.587937	0.685990	0.468094	14.2	217.5	6.5	247.2
10	Northern Lebanon	13-	9-	0	0.570943	0.637778	0.489256	14.4	232.3	8.2	242.5
11	Oley Valley	14-	8-	0	0.544753	0.628959	0.441835	13.9	200.4	8.2	253.1
12	West Perry	11-	11-	0	0.511226	0.506637	0.516836	11.5	237.2	11.2	221.7
13	Fleetwood	9-	12-	0	0.511012	0.486420	0.541069	9.9	239.5	10.4	203.1
14	James Buchanan	11-	11-	0	0.490770	0.532895	0.439285	12.2	193.0	10.7	246.4
15	Schuylkill Valley	11-	11-	0	0.490253	0.537209	0.432862	11.6	196.0	10.0	256.8
16	Littlestown	9-	13-	0	0.468523	0.405963	0.544984	8.9	258.1	13.0	215.5
17	Boiling Springs	9-	12-	0	0.468042	0.461358	0.476212	9.9	212.2	11.5	233.4
18	Middletown Area	7-	13-	0	0.453423	0.379227	0.544107	7.9	231.3	12.9	193.8
19	Hamburg Area	8-	14-	0	0.417688	0.386473	0.455840	8.0	212.9	12.7	254.2
20	Octorara Area	0-	21-	0	0.267241	0.000000	0.593869	0.0	249.0	19.9	170.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Lancaster-Lebanon League

 Final Section Four Standings

 

	League			Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
Lancaster Catholic	13	0	100.00	25	0	100.00	1658	909
Elco	10	3	76.92	20	5	83.33	1191	895
Northern Lebanon	7	6	53.85	13	9	59.09	928	764
Donegal	4	9	30.77	10	12	45.45	1209	1162
Octorara	0	13	0.00	0	22	0.00	403	1378