The 2021-2022 season will go down as a difficult one for the Lady Bears' basketball team. A win over Exeter Township was offset by losses to Lampeter-Strasburg and Ephrata, leaving E-town with a 9-12 overall record.
The setback to Ephrata took place on February 8th with the Lady Mountaineers using a 10-2 run over the final quarter to secure the 34-28 win. Ephrata controlled the second half, buoyed by that fourth quarter spurt, but Elizabethtown held serve in the opening half. That resulted in a 19-14 Lady Bear lead at the break that Ephrata mostly erased with a 10-7 edge in the third. Taryn Hummer (nine points) and Ainsley Raybold (eight points) were top scorers for Elizabethtown.
The loss to Lampeter-Strasburg occurred on the 3rd with E-town going scoreless over the final 3:42 of the game leading to a 39-33 L-S victory. Even without that scoreless stretch the Lady Bears were facing an uphill climb thanks to the Lady Pioneers 16-7 edge in the opening frame. That nine-point margin held until the third quarter where Elizabethtown trimmed it to five with a 10-6 edge only to see L-S regain control in the final frame. Jade Love-Morris netted 13-points and Raybold 12 in the loss.
The victory over Exeter Township was by a 52-40 final with E-town controlling the first and last quarters. In between the Lady Eagles managed a slim 25-21 advantage but the Lady Bears enjoyed a 14-4 run to open the contest and a 17-11 to close things out, leading to the 12-point victory. Kallee Locker posted a game high 17 in the win while Love-Morris chipped in with 14-points.
WRESTLING
The wrestling team made a short trip across the river to Wrightsville on February 5th to take part in the Eastern York Duals. The Bears went a perfect 3-0 to take the title and with seven wrestlers also posting a perfect 3-0 mark were never really challenged. E-town's toughest test was their 51-22 final over Lancaster Catholic with York Tech (59-9) and Eastern York (66-6) barely causing the Bears to break a sweat.
Of the seven perfect grapplers on the day, just two, Jake Rudy and Ryan Findlay, managed to secure all three wins via fall. Nick Smith and Aiden Robinson missed out on three straight falls but still provided the max six team points with both collecting two forfeits to go with one fall. The remaining members of the perfect club, Hayden Best, Nathan Thomas, and Dakota Petrosky, ended up with a collection of falls, decisions and a few forfeits sprinkled in for good measure.
Five other Bears just missed a perfect day, going 2-1 instead. Sam Yoder, Austin Reitmeyer, Ian Brosey, AJ Bush, and Bradly Candy comprised that group with Ryan Hottenstein and Collin Huggins rounding out the E-town contingent with a combined 1-2 mark.
BOYS' BASKETBALL
While a good portion of the high school basketball teams have a make-up game or two remaining, the Bears finished out their regular season with a two-game winning streak. That puts E-town at 13-9 overall and squarely in the District 3-5A bracket and on pace to host a first-round game on February 21st.
After falling to Lebanon on the 1st, Elizabethtown righted their ship by outlasting York Suburban 57-55 on the 3rd. Outlasting because E-town built a 31-22 lead through the first half only to see Suburban slowly chip away at the nine-point halftime cushion. The Trojans trimmed just one point away in the third, leaving their 23-17 run through the fourth to scare Elizabethtown to the final whistle.
Four players handled the bulk of the scoring, led by Matthew Gilhool and his 19-points. Patrick Gilhool added 12-points and Techeal Gonquoi 10-points as the only other double-digit scores. Branden Cummings completed the group of four with a nine-point effort.
The Bears closed out the regular season on the 8th, slipping by Ephrata 42-39 with only five players cracking the box score. Gonquoi and Matthew Gilhool led the way with 11-points each while Cummings added 10 points. Patrick Gilhool (seven-points) and Dax Kelly (three points) finished up the offense for Elizabethtown.
The Bears used strong first and third quarters to counter's Ephrata 15-4 second quarter surge, making it a 32-31 contest heading into the final quarter. E-town was able to hold a narrow, 10-8 edge in the fourth, stretching that one-point lead to the final three-point mark.
BOWLING
The bowling team closed out a perfect regular season with three more wins giving the Bears a sparkling 98-14 overall mark with a L-L best 79-12 league record.
Ephrata was the first of those three, 5-2, victories back on February 2nd, where Zach Wentzel and his 719 series led the way. Daniel Eberle rolled games of 237, 246 and 217 to settle right at 700. Alaina Telenko was consistent with games of 221, 222 and 234 while Ayden Pope finished with games of 226, 188 and 225. Derek Deardorff was the fifth bowler for games one (256) and two (184), before giving way to Connor Alleman for a final game 202.
Eight total bowlers combined for the 5-2 win over CV on the 8th. However, only three of the eight, Pope (724), Wentzel (687) and Eberle (664) completed all three games while Telenko (411) took care of two games. That left single games for Deardorff (214), Eric Barnes (169), Hannah Griffie (165) and Alleman (160).
Elizabethtown closed out the regular season one day later by topping Section One heavyweight Penn Manor with the same 5-2 final. The Bears used a traditional five kegler line-up with Pope and his 763 series leading the way. Eberle added a 706 with Deardorff (659) and Wentzel (626) also passing the 600-pin count. Telenko capped the win with a 563 series.
The Bears were not able to secure the double perfect match some had hoped for but wins over Wilson and Conestoga Valley secured one half of that perfection. With a 495-488 win over Wilson on the 3rd and a 496-488 victory over CV on the 8th, Elizabethtown finished the 2021-2022 regular with a perfect 14-0 mark, locking up the regular season title for the second time in four years.
Against Wilson, Rachel Broomell posted the lone perfect score but Branden Rain, Kyle Lloyd and Caden Kettering were right there with matching 99s. Luke Turner closed out the win with a 98. A few days later it was Rain posting the lone perfect score with Turner and Bonsall being joined by Lloyd and Nizaly Ortiz Kreiner with near-miss, 99s.
Leave a Review