Mounts Keep Season Alive

The Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs are probably all that’s left for Ephrata’s girls basketball team.

The Mounts pushed the ride a step further Friday with a 36-33 win over Manheim Central in a league quarterfinal game at Doe Run Elementary School, which is Central’s home gym this winter.

“We’re just happy to be playing in these playoffs,’’ said Ephrata coach Brian Cerullo. “We dug such a big hole for ourselves early (this season).’’

The Mounts shared the L-L Section Two title last season and had four starters back, but scheduled ambitiously (Governor Mifflin, Red Lions, Lancaster Catholic), got caught in the emergence of Lebanon in Section Two, and won just two of their first seven games. They were 5-8 in January.

They’ve now won nine of 10, but will apparently not make the District Three playoffs. They came into Saturday’s game ranked 13th in the Class 6A power rankings. And 12 make it.

“We were hoping that, eventually, playing those tough teams would pay off,’’ Cerullo said.

Jobs one and two Saturday were to defend Maddy Knier and rebound.

Knier is a 6-foot Central junior who’s averaging 22.5 points a game. Rebounding is a problem for the Mounts. It was solved most often, a year ago, by the one starter they did lose, low-post player Olivia Fedorshak.

Knier scored 14, but just two in the second half. Rebounds were a modest, and unofficial, 24-22 edge for the Barons.

“In general, we just tried to put as many bodies around Maddy Knier as possible, to make sure every time she touched the ball, it wasn’t just one-on-one,’’ Cerullo said.

Knier’s only second-half points came when the Barons found her inside, leading to two free throws that gave Central a 33-31 lead with two minutes left.

Then came the biggest of Ephrata’s six 3-pointers, by reserve senior forward Kamryn Andes, to put her team ahead for good with 1:32 left.

The Barons got multiple decent shots over their next two possessions, but couldn’t get one to fall.

Cara Tiesi’s clutch free throws with :11.3 left made the final margin.

In addition to Knier’s 14, Central (17-5) got 12 points from Rachel Nolt.

Brynn Adams led Ephrata with nine points.

The Barons are comfortably in districts in 5A. Ephrata gets one more win-or-die challenge in Tuesday’s semifinals against L-L Section One champ Penn Manor, which edged Lampeter-Strasburg in a quarterfinal Saturday.

Ephrata took Penn Manor to the wire in a 31-28 loss Jan. 14.

“It’s playoff basketball,’’ Cerullo said. “Just keep grinding it out.’’