Crusaders coast past Ephrata

Before Tuesday night, the last time Lancaster Catholic and Ephrata tangled on the basketball court was in the Lancaster-Lebanon League girls championship game last February.

The rematch was in a much-anticipated first-round meeting in the Crusaders’ holiday tournament. And just like last February, Catholic picked up the win.

Mary Bolesky poured in 26 points, the Crusaders cashed in time and time again in transition, and Catholic topped Ephrata 66-34 to improve to 6-0 this season. After a 6-0 start, the Mountaineers suffered their first loss this season and dipped to 6-1.

This contest featured a bizarre start, including a technical foul and three very early free throws, giving the Mounts a 3-0 lead. And then the Crusaders sprang to life.

Bolesky keyed Catholic’s early run with a transition bucket and the Crusaders went from down 3-0 to up 22-4. Autumn Lipson had a pair of buckets, including a 3-pointer, and Stella Higgins had a breakaway bucket and a jumper during the blitz for a 17-4 lead.

Jasmine Griffin scored seven of her 17 points in the second quarter, when Ephrata hung in there. But Bolesky had a pair of buckets, Lilly Lehman – who sang the National Anthem before the game – hit a trey and Catholic was up 28-19 at the break.

Lehman and Rylee Kraft each had transition layups and 3-pointers, and Bolesky scored eight third-quarter points, when the Crusaders extended their lead to 48-32. Bolesky helped ice it with 12 fourth-quarter points, when Catholic pulled away for good.

“We were able to get into our transition game and play good defense,” Bolesky said. “We were able to pressure them and we played with a lot of energy, especially on the defensive end. We were able to go on some runs because of our transition off our defense.”

Ephrata will take on Holy Redeemer (6-2) in the third-place game at 6 p.m.

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