FREDERICKSBURG – We had a showdown on our hands at Northern Lebanon High School on Friday night, as the Lady Vikings hosted the Lady Crusaders of Lancaster Catholic. Northern Lebanon came in with a spotless 9-0 record, but the Crusaders were right behind them and the winner would have sole possession of first place in the Section Four standings.
It was a heavyweight fight and whatever one side threw, the other retaliated. After four quarters, the game went into overtime tied at 41. In the end, Catholic demonstrated why it rode an eight-game winning streak and the Crusaders added another victory to their belts after surviving the Vikings, 50-47.
Northern raced out to a 7-0 lead in the opening period, but the Crusaders stormed back to tie the score. The Vikings withstood Catholic’s best punches and re-established control by building an eight-point advantage following a 12-0 run in the second quarter. Still, the Crusaders rallied for 10 unanswered to take a two-point lead at the break.
Lancaster’s late surge was ignited by senior forward, Bryanna Hicks, and sophomore guard, Naomi Zulueta. Hicks hit a pair of threes, including the go-ahead trey that put the Crusaders ahead at intermission, while Zulueta made a layup along with two free throws. It was the spark she needed following a rough start.
Zulueta’s offense was non-existent for most of the half, but she turned it on after both teams came out of the locker room. Zulueta accounted for 14 of her team-high 18 points during the final 20 minutes, including overtime. Unfortunately for her, Zara Zerman, Northern Lebanon’s 1,000-point scorer, went off as well.
The senior guard kept the Vikes in contention by logging 18 of her game-high 22 points during that same stretch. Zerman also accounted for all of Northern’s fourth quarter scoring and her two free throws with 55.6 seconds remaining, along with a last-second Catholic miss, forced the extra period.
“Zeke is a freak. Zeke is that good that it’s unreal and I guarantee you she feels like she didn’t play a good game tonight,” said Northern Lebanon head coach Ken Battistelli. “She missed a couple peepers, she doesn’t always miss those, but maybe next time she won’t miss them.”
Despite Zerman’s showing, Lancaster Catholic’s senior threesome of Cassie Peris, Sommer Reeser and Zaniah Banks came through with the standout plays that made the difference in overtime. Peris gave the Crusaders the lead on a layup, Reeser hit a three and Banks sunk the crucial free throws that put the game on ice.
Peris recorded the second-highest field goal and scoring totals for Lancaster Catholic, finishing with five conversions and 10 points. She, along with Reeser and Banks, combined for 27 points overall. Hicks, who helped spark the Crusader comeback, also added eight points of her own.
While Zerman carried a majority of the load, the Vikings received additional support from senior forward, Lindsay McFeaters, and junior forward, Rachel Papson, who each connected on a trio of field goals. McFeaters and Papson logged eight and six points, respectively, while junior guard, Emily Hauck, registered a pair of buckets for six points of her own.
“Our kids don’t quit, they didn’t surrender and I’ll guarantee you they would’ve been thrilled to play another overtime,” Battistelli said. “This game showed that with a little bit of polishing and a few less mistakes that we can beat the best, and that’s all you want.”
Battistelli plans on moving forward as his Lady Vikings take the court for their next two contests, both non-league matchups against East Pennsboro and Middletown. After that, a three-game Section Four stretch with ELCO, Octorara and Donegal await. Meanwhile, Lancaster Catholic looks to extend its streak to a perfect 10 against Octorara next 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 at Northern Lebanon | Nonleague | |
| 1/07 7:30 pm | Middletown at Northern Lebanon | Nonleague | |
| 1/10 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Elco | 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 |
| AAAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1 | Bermudian Springs | 8- | 0- | 0 | 0.786516 | 1.000000 | 0.525592 | 8.1 | 108.9 | 0.0 | 98.3 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | 9- | 1- | 0 | 0.771660 | 0.917391 | 0.593543 | 10.6 | 116.8 | 1.0 | 80.0 |
| 3 | Eastern York | 7- | 2- | 0 | 0.715383 | 0.825137 | 0.581241 | 7.6 | 118.1 | 1.6 | 85.1 |
| 4 | Northern Lebanon | 9- | 1- | 0 | 0.710434 | 0.916667 | 0.458373 | 10.5 | 96.9 | 1.0 | 114.5 |
| 5 | Kennard Dale | 7- | 3- | 0 | 0.673230 | 0.745192 | 0.585277 | 7.8 | 104.2 | 2.7 | 73.8 |
| 6 | Susquehanna Township | 6- | 3- | 0 | 0.641212 | 0.710383 | 0.556669 | 6.5 | 108.3 | 2.7 | 86.3 |
| 7 | Bishop McDevitt | 4- | 3- | 0 | 0.630441 | 0.647482 | 0.609613 | 4.5 | 104.0 | 2.5 | 66.6 |
| 8 | Fleetwood | 4- | 4- | 0 | 0.548081 | 0.551282 | 0.544169 | 4.3 | 94.3 | 3.5 | 79.0 |
| 9 | Littlestown | 5- | 4- | 0 | 0.544009 | 0.555556 | 0.529896 | 4.8 | 109.5 | 3.8 | 97.1 |
| 10 | Eastern Lebanon County | 5- | 5- | 0 | 0.542699 | 0.551546 | 0.531885 | 5.4 | 113.9 | 4.4 | 100.2 |
| 11 | Schuylkill Valley | 6- | 4- | 0 | 0.536551 | 0.616162 | 0.439250 | 6.1 | 73.8 | 3.8 | 94.2 |
| 12 | Big Spring | 4- | 4- | 0 | 0.517923 | 0.551282 | 0.477150 | 4.3 | 79.4 | 3.5 | 87.0 |
| 13 | Wyomissing | 4- | 4- | 0 | 0.504289 | 0.526316 | 0.477367 | 4.0 | 86.0 | 3.6 | 94.1 |
| 14 | Middletown Area | 3- | 6- | 0 | 0.433601 | 0.345455 | 0.541335 | 2.9 | 98.6 | 5.4 | 83.5 |
| 15 | Hamburg Area | 2- | 5- | 0 | 0.378527 | 0.285714 | 0.491964 | 1.9 | 90.3 | 4.8 | 93.3 |
| 16 | Boiling Springs | 2- | 6- | 0 | 0.367671 | 0.282051 | 0.472316 | 2.2 | 83.6 | 5.6 | 93.4 |
| 17 | Oley Valley | 3- | 7- | 0 | 0.357014 | 0.290816 | 0.437923 | 2.9 | 77.6 | 7.0 | 99.6 |
| 18 | James Buchanan | 1- | 5- | 0 | 0.335300 | 0.194915 | 0.506881 | 1.2 | 88.4 | 4.8 | 86.0 |
| 19 | Octorara Area | 1- | 8- | 0 | 0.331707 | 0.125683 | 0.583514 | 1.2 | 107.6 | 8.0 | 76.8 |
| 20 | West Perry | 2- | 8- | 0 | 0.324689 | 0.190000 | 0.489308 | 1.9 | 87.0 | 8.1 | 90.8 |
| League | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | |
| Lancaster Catholic | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 9 | 1 | 0.900 | 587 | 479 |
| Northern Lebanon | 4 | 1 | 0.800 | 9 | 1 | 0.900 | 418 | 302 |
| Elco | 4 | 1 | 0.800 | 6 | 5 | 0.545 | 476 | 442 |
| Donegal | 1 | 4 | 0.200 | 4 | 7 | 0.364 | 502 | 587 |
| Octorara | 1 | 4 | 0.200 | 1 | 8 | 0.111 | 261 | 537 |
Loading ...