by Bud Hart The Solanco girls’ varsity basketball team’s unbeaten streak came to an end at home on Tuesday, December. 12, when the Elizabethtown Lady Bears (2-1) placed three players in double figures to hand the Mules a 63-44 loss. Led by Marena Lonardi (20), Autumn Royer (14) and Sydney Pierson (13), the Bears returned home with their second non-league win of the season.
Solanco jumped out to an 18-16 first quarter lead, but E-town held the home team to four points in the second quarter to own a 29-22 advantage at the half. “We were able to get out in transition early on and we got to the basket and we made some shots,” noted head coach Chad McDowell. “We began to force shots and started settling for outside shots. We went away from what was working in the second quarter and Elizabethtown capitalized.” The Mules struggled in the third quarter, canning only seven points. Their fourth quarter rally fell short as the Bears outscored the host team 34-22 in the second half to widen the final margin by 19 points. Grace Kreider (14) and Jenna Dombach (10) led Solanco in scoring, each connecting on a couple of treys. Four other Mules added to the point column. Jess Cabrera drained the nets for eight; Aleska Burger added six, Kara McClune four and Liz Mowrer two. The Bears stepped to the free throw line on 28 occasions hitting on 16 (57-percent) of their shots, while the Mules were awarded only 12 opportunities connecting on seven (58-percent). Elizabethtown is a solid Section I opponent that should be in the mix for a league playoff spot in February,” added McDowell. “They have solid guard play and their two big girls wore us down in the paint”. Solanco’s junior varsity won their contest by a 33-27 margin with Paige Phillips leading the way with 11 points. Ang Cylc added seven and Sammi Jackson six. The Mules ended the Conestoga Valley Lady Buckskins (2-1) unbeaten string with a 50-39 win at home on Wednesday, December 13. “The first half was a very competitive half of basketball,” wrote McDowell. “We held the lead 13-10 after the first quarter and led 23-17 at halftime.” In the third quarter CV had a run and took a 31-28 lead entering the final quarter of play. “Feeling a momentum swing in CV’s favor, we made a few defensive adjustments and quickly created a few turnovers, which led to some easy baskets in transition,” McDowell said. Solanco regained the momentum with some defensive stops and foul shooting going 11 for 14 in the final quarter, which sparked a 22 – 8 run to end the game. “We knew coming into the game that CV would look to pound the ball inside to their post player or rotate the ball out to their shooters,” added McDowell. “Our game plan was to limit their shooters’ chances and to take away thei r high/low game in the post.” All five of Solanco’s guards did a great job knowing where CV shooters were stationed on the court, the coach said. Kreider, Cabrera, Dombach, Burger, and Hanna Phillips continually contested the opposition’s shots and forced the CV shooters out of any kind of shooting rhythm. “Kenzie Gladfelter, Kara McClune and Liz Mower did an outstanding job minimizing the amount of touches their post players got,” said McDowell. “They limited their opportunities.” Kreider led the way with 20 points, six steals, three rebounds and one assist. Cabrera canned 10 points, four steals, four rebounds and three assists. Burger netted eight points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists. Dombach scored seven points, Liz Mowrer three. McClune cleared the boards on seven occasions and scored two points. The Mules enter the Section II fray with a record of 3-1. The junior varsity, led by Kara Lane (seven points), defeated the Lady Bucks by a 34-20 score. Both Gabi Dolan and Cylc added six points to the total. Comments are closed.
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