Cedars Keep Up Pace

LEBANON — Don’t look now, but what Lebanon’s girls basketball team is doing this season isn’t a cute little side story anymore.

The Cedars are legit. And they put another stamp on their success Saturday afternoon with a gut-check 50-39 victory over Ephrata in an intriguing nonleague matchup between the two teams that shared the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two championship last winter.

Now in separate sections, Lebanon and Ephrata squared off in a key game for District Three Class 6A power points, and the Cedars used a couple of game-changing runs to subdue the Mountaineers.

Lebanon, at No. 2 in the 6A ratings, improved to 13-0 overall — one of just five teams in all of District Three with an unscathed record at the mid-January checkpoint. The Cedars are the frontrunners in the Section One race, and they remained red-hot after surviving Hempfield 52-50 in a hotly contested section game on Thursday.

Ephrata tossed everything but the kitchen sink at the Cedars here Saturday. Lebanon took the Mounts’ best punch and delivered. Again.

“Our expectations going into every game now is that we’re going to get everyone’s best game,” Lebanon coach Jaime Walborn said. “The target is on our backs. We know teams are going to come at us and try and be spoilers. We know every game is going to be tough. That’s why I can’t say enough about our kids. They continue to be a team unit. And that’s really neat to see because they all truly believe in each other.”

Ephrata, at No. 10 and safely inside the district bubble, dipped to 10-3 overall. The Mounts are a game behind Manheim Central in the Section Two hunt, and Ephrata’s three losses are against the Barons, undefeated Lancaster Catholic and unbeaten Lebanon — the latter two on the road.

Lancaster Catholic roared to 13-0 on Saturday, compliments of a 70-26 romp over Bishop McDevitt in the annual Catholic Showcase. Rylee Kraft (16 points), Mary Bolesky (14 points), Autumn Lipson (12 points) and Lily Lehman (10 points) all scored in double figures for the host Crusaders, who used a 30-6 second-quarter spree for a 42-9 lead at the half.

As for the Cedars, they kept taking body shots from Ephrata, which rebounded and defended well at times, and Jasmine Griffin was superb, pouring in a game-high 26 points to spark the Mounts’ offense. But two scoring spurts spurred on Lebanon, one just before the half and the other in the third quarter.

Ephrata took a 17-15 lead when Cara Tiesi drilled a wing 3-pointer with 6:27 to go in the second quarter. But Lebanon ace sophomore scorer Kailah Correa came up with three clutch buckets. She had back-to-back transition layups for a 22-17 lead, capping a 7-0 clip. Later, Correa’s baseline drive helped the Cedars grab a 24-20 lead at the half.

Correa, who scored 20 points, and freshman Olive Brandt spearheaded Lebanon’s third-quarter surge. Brandt canned a 3-pointer for a 28-20 lead, and then Correa and Brandt both exploded in transition, as the Cedars took advantage of five turnovers in the quarter. Twice, Correa went to coast-to coast off steals, and when Brandt drove the lane and banked in a scoop shot on yet another fast break, Lebanon was up 36-26 and sailing.

Jae Burrus, who came up big off the bench for the Cedars, beat the third-quarter horn with a 3-pointer and Lebanon had a 39-29 cushion. Griffin found another gear in the fourth quarter. She had consecutive transition layups, the latter cutting Lebanon’s lead down to 43-37 with 4:44 to play.

But the Cedars closed it out. In one smooth motion, lefty whirling dervish Zari-yah Whigham blocked a shot, corralled the rebound and made a perfect outlet pass to Correa, who zoomed in alone for a layup and a 47-37 lead. And Whigham (8 rebounds) and Liliana Harrison (11 points, 8 boards) had stick-back buckets to help Lebanon ice it late.

“Lebanon is a really good team,” Ephrata coach Brian Cerullo said. “They’re undefeated for a reason, and they’re super talented. But there are a lot of positives we can take away. We didn’t finish shots and we had too many live-ball turnovers. The good thing is that we know we can get better by protecting the ball and finishing shots. Overall today, we competed. We just have to clean up some little things here and there.”

Leah Caldwell had 12 rebounds and Lydia Ehst had nine boards for Ephrata, which outrebounded Lebanon 32-26. But the Cedars forced 19 turnovers, cashing in on a lot of those the other way, while only turning the ball over nine times.

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