Ephrata’s girls basketball team got a little redemption on Friday night.
One year after a toughluck 0-6 finish to go from first place to completely out of the postseason, the Mountaineers finished the job.
Gabi Gerola-Hill scored 14 points, Jocelyn Umana chipped in with 11 points, and she and Carly Holochuck had clutch fourth-quarter buckets as host Ephrata rallied past Warwick 4843 to wrap up a spot in the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs.
Ephrata did not hold a lead in its Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two girls basketball game at Garden Spot until the final minute of play, when sophomore Gabbie Gerola-Hill nailed a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left.
Yet, that lead lasted just 12 seconds, until the Spartans’ Olivia Usner drilled a triple of her own.
The Mountaineers got the ball back, and with a tie game, Kandice Liebl was fouled with nine seconds to play. The junior’s first shot at the line went off the rim, but she calmly sank the second, and Ephrata held on for an exciting 34-33 victory.
Last year, Penn Manor won its first boys bowling state team championship in school history.
It’s now two in a row for the Comets.
Penn Manor defeated Ephrata, 2-0, in the Baker Game finals of the state tournament on Saturday afternoon at 222 Dutch Lanes in Ephrata to defend its crown.
Ephrata has found its new head boys basketball coach in former Muhlenberg coach Jonathan Treese, who has been approved by the district’s school board.
The move comes just a month after Charlie Fisher resigned from the Ephrata post in order to become the new Manheim Central coach. The quick turnaround by Ephrata likely came about because the 201718 season is less than two months away.
Mired in foul trouble, Lampeter-Strasburg junior guard Jordan Swegar sat the bench for most of Monday’s District Three Class 5A boys basketball firstround playoff game against visiting Ephrata.
Didn’t matter. He made up for it by re-entering the game in the fourth quarter and coming up with the gamedeciding plays.
After host L-S came back from down 11 points in the second half only to fall behind by three, a Swegar free throw followed by a layup tied the game with 1:50 left.
Later, a Swegar offensive board —and the smarts to call a timeout as he was falling out of bounds — gave his team a shot down two with 39.6 left. Finally, on the ensuing inbounds play, Swegar’s assist to teammate Ben Sandberg for the game-tying layup and ensuing go-ahead free-throw with 36.8 left was the gamewinner, as No. 7 L-S escaped with a 38-37 victory over No. 10 Ephrata.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.