Pioneers edge Lady Mounts

Lampeter-Strasburg had good results in Ephrata's Holiday Tournament, despite committing a couple of the same old mistakes.

Erasing the sting of 26 turnovers with a tenacious, second-half defensive effort, L-S (5-2) battled past Ephrata for a 35-27 victory in the opening round of the Ephrata Holiday Tournament Tuesday night.
 

Taking advantage of 15 of those L-S giveaways in the first two quarters, and a solid performance from freshman point guard Kelly Liebl -- who scored all of her team-high nine points in the first half -- the Mountaineers built an 18-15 lead at halftime.

But the momentum took a sudden swing when the Pioneers -- powered by 11 points from junior center Lexie Lantz (game-high 21 points, game-high 15 rebounds) -- embarked on a 13-1 run to start the third quarter, giving them a 28-19 lead.

Interestingly enough, that run was aided by seven Ephrata turnovers in the period. The Mounts (2-4) were also hurt by Liebl picking up her third foul early in the period.

"We were a little more active defensively (in the second half)," L-S coach Matt Wieand said.

The result was nine second-half points for Ephrata, which, after cutting the lead to 28-23 on a Joelisa Harvest jumper with 7:23 left to play, never got closer the rest of the way.

Blame the Mounts' 12-for-44 shooting by game's end for some of that.

"We had looks," Ephrata coach Mike Garman said. "But we have to learn at critical times in games we have to make a shot and we can't turn the ball over."