Mounts bumped in semifinals
- 13 February 2009
The drive and desire to never settle is what separates good teams from the middle of the pack. And it's what sent Lancaster Mennonite back to the drawing board after a lackluster opening quarter in a win over Cedar Crest Tuesday.But instead of changing game strategy, the Blazers just altered their pregame warm up for Thursday's L-L semifinal against Ephrata.
The move seemed to pay off as they jumped out to a 9-0 lead and rolled past the Mountaineers 62-30 in Lititz.
The win puts the Blazers (22-2) back in the league final, where they'll face Manheim Township, a 43-35 semifinal winner over Lampeter-Strasburg.
"We were disappointed with how we started (Tuesday) and we talked about that," Mennonite head coach Sherri Gorman said. "(We said) we can't afford to come out and not be ready to play.
"We added a couple of minutes (in warmups) and talked about doing some running and getting up to speed so that when the whistle goes, we would be ready to go."
The Blazers were ready from the start, with Erin LaVenice tapping the opening tip to Katelyn Vanderhoff. Vanderhoff's pass found Sarah Mentzer underneath the hoop and she scored to give Mennonite a 2-0 lead just seven seconds in.
A quick Ephrata turnover at the other end gave Mennonite the ball back and LaVenice dribbled and scored inside for a 4-0 lead, forcing an Ephrata timeout with just 46 seconds elapsed.
"We did not do a good job of taking care of the basketball," Ephrata head coach Mike Garman said. "You try to rationalize why and I really don't know ... I wish I had a reason for it other than the fact that it's just really concentration."
Turnovers were a problem all night for Ephrata (14-10). They committed 28 in the game, including nine in the first quarter.
"They're a very good defensive team. They're fairly physical and they play the passing lanes really well," Garman said. "We just didn't get open and we probably could have done a better job of setting screens."
With the Ephrata offense struggling to get going, Mennonite held an 18-8 lead with 4:10 to go in the first half. The Blazers went on a 17-4 run to close out the half, blowing the game wide open. Junior Stephanie Rheinheimer (8 points) jump-started the run with 3-pointers on conesecutive Mennonite possessions to make it 24-9.
"Steph is an unbelievable shooter. She's a very pure shooter so we need her to look for her shot," Gorman said.
The production from role players, like Steph Rheinheimer, was another change from Tuesday for Mennonite. The Blazers' role players scored 23 points Thursday, opposed to just 12 in the quarterfinals.
"We needed more people to take shots," Gorman said. "That's important to us, to continue to get more people to look for their buckets and opportunities. Because if you have to play us all, it gets tough then."
It's tough, too, for opposing teams when Vanderhoff and LaVenice are performing. Vanderhoff scored 13 of her game-high 26 points in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Blazers a 23-point halftime lead.
Offensively, Ephrata's struggles continued in the third quarter, when they managed just one field goal and four points. That was a shot by senior Aly Goodman, who finished with a team-high 15 points for Ephrata.
"(Mennonite is) a very good defensive team. They're fairly physical and they play the passing lanes really well," Garman said. "We just didn't get open."
And while Mennonite was shutting down the Mounts in the third, LaVenice and Vanderhoff just kept rolling. LaVenice hit four field goals and scored nine points in the quarter. Vanderhoff scored the Blazers' other eight, to help extend the lead to 52-16 after three.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.