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Spot Battles L-S , Falls Short in the Fourth

BY ARA GRIGORIAN

The Garden Spot and Lampeter-Strasburg girls’ basketball teams measure up pretty well with one another. The two schools currently vying for second place in the Section Three standings met at LampeterStrasburg on Saturday, January 15 for an afternoon Lancaster-Lebanon League clash.

The Pioneers took advantage of fourth quarter turnovers and took this game by a 47-35 score, improving to 5-2 in league play while the Spartans fell to 2-3.

“For three quarters we played excellent team basketball,” stated head coach Kevin Gensemer. “In the fourth quarter we had too many turnovers.”

Heading into that final period the two teams were tied 30-30. The Pioneers outscored the Spartans 17-5 in the fourth.

“We were leading by three at halftime and were tied after three quarters,” Gensemer pointed out. “We went away from our offense. We had to foul them down the stretch, and they went 9-for10 from the foul line in the fourth. They’re probably one of the best foul-shooting teams in the league.”

The Pioneers made 15-of18 foul shots in the game.

“Taylor Soehner had a double-double,” Gensemer pointed out. “She had 13 points and 14 rebounds.”

Erin Gonzalez and Morgan Pavelik each added nine points.

Incidentally, Gonzalez was coming off a 20-point game at Muhlenberg the previous night where the Spartans posted a 50-32 non-league win. Soehner added 14.

The Spartans went on to split their next two games - a 54-26 loss at Berks Catholic on Monday and a big 46-43 win at home over league rival Northern Lebanon on Tuesday, January 18.

Soehner was the scoring leader against the Saints, putting up 14 points. The Saints blew the game open with an 18-6 run in the third quarter.

The Vikings pillaged their way back in Tuesday’s game at New Holland. With the Spartans up 28-19 at the half, Northern Lebanon outscored the home team 24-18 in the second half.

Soehner paced the Spartans with 13 points. Pavelik, Syanna Duval and Nicole Zeiset each scored eight.

WRESTLING

The Spartans won all three matches at the Patriot Duals held at Red Land High School on Saturday, January 15. They defeated Columbia 5416 in the opening round, escaped with a 45-27 score against Lower Dauphin and concluded by outlasting Red Land 39-33.

In that Red Land match, it was an all-out pin fest. In fact, the Patriots out pinned the Spartans 5-4 in terms of bouts with said result. The Spartans took advantage of two forfeits and a critical 5-3 decision by Adam Hahn (113) in the final contest of the match.

“It came down to his match,” Spartan’s coach Adam Bunting explained. “It was one I expected him to win. It was 5-0 going into the final period. He had to fight for the final 20 seconds to not get turned. He did a nice job.”

Josiah Smucker (120) and Garrett Gehr (138) worked two first period pins for the Spartans early in the Red Land match.

The Patriots, who were coming off a 57-9 defeat of Columbia, had three pins wrapped around one of their two forfeits - the 152-pound class where Spot’s Jeremy Schilling picked up six uncontested points.

With the scored tied at 2424, Blake Weaver (189) pinned A.J. Rogers only 27 seconds into the battle and Mason Musser (285) responded to a Red Land pin at the 215-pound bout by dispensing with Ethan Eisner in the heavyweight tussle.

Coming down to the final two weight classes, the Spartans led 36-30. Though they lost a 7-2 decision at 106, Hahn came through at 113 to preserve the lead.

Smucker (120) registered a pin 1:14 into his bout against Lower Dauphin. Hahn (113) had a 4-0 decision prior to Smucker’s match.

“Josiah had a good day,” Bunting said. “He was a guy I was looking to see take a step forward this year. He put in a lot of time in the off-season. He is a hard worker and continues to improve.”

The Rams registered two falls, a major decision, and a technical fall to keep pace. Schilling’s pin took only 49 seconds in the 152-pound weight class and Weaver (189) pinned in 5:32.

Musser sealed the victory with a pin 47 seconds into the heavyweight bout.

Gehr and Schilling notched pins at 138 and 152, respectively, in the defeat of Columbia. Diego Portales (126) pinned his opponent while fellow sophomore Dominick Griffy pinned at 172. Tyler Hurst bolted out to six team points by pinning Joel Ober (215) in 19 seconds.

The Spartans took four of the weight classes on Tide forfeits.

AIR RIFLE

The Spartans improved to 52 with a 493-491 defeat of Wilson on Thursday, January 13.

Leksi Bender, Matthew Sauder and Tegan Tshudy all came through in the clutch, each recording a score of 99. Every target counted in this L-L League air rifle match because the Bulldogs were led by Catherine Wolf’s perfect score of 100 followed by three 98’s among the leading shooters.

Veronica Fox and Curtis Nolt helped secure a Spartans victory by shooting 98’s in the match.

On a busy night of league matches, the Spartans edged Conestoga Valley 489-486 Tuesday, January 18.

Bender led the team by shooting 100 while Nolt and Sauder each finished at 98. Tshudy finished with a 97 and Magadalene Martin scored 96.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

The Spartans outscored Octorara down the stretch on Friday night, January 14, winning the L-L League boys’ basketball game in New Holland by a narrow 51-50 margin.

By outscoring the Braves 20-14 in the fourth quarter, the Spartans’ league record improved to 4-1.

Octorara (4-5, 2-4 league) held a two -point lead at the half and increased that to five points after the third quarter. The Braves were led by Elijah Hamilton, who scored 20 points.

Garden Spot’s tenacious teamwork included contributions from Ryan Conrad, who poured in 13 points, as well as Michael Hiesley and George Rohrbaugh, who tallied 10 points each.

Playing host to Section Three’s first-place squad on Saturday, January 15, the Spartans were unable to hold an early lead and fell to the Pioneers 69-41. L-S stayed unbeaten at 12-0 (7-0 league).

Ty Burton was virtually unstoppable, pouring in 31 points, including three treys.

Conrad came away with 15 points for the Spartans while Brendan Weaver scored seven.

The Spartans came up short in their league game at Northern Lebanon on Tuesday. Trailing by 10 points at the half, the Spartans closed to gap to 38-33 by the end of the third. The Vikings regained momentum in the fourth quarter for a 51-42 win as Garden Spot fell to 6-9 overall.

Luke Steiner and Tyler Martin each finished with 10 points for Spot.

photo by Mona Steinhauer

Garden Spot’s Morgan Pavelik puts up a shot over Lampeter’s Kiersten Hostetter on Saturday afternoon, January 15.

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R080279 photo by Mona Steinhauer

Garden Spot’s Taylor Soehner contests a shot by the Pioneers’ Ella Horst in the Spartans’ 47-35 loss at L-S Saturday, January 15.

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