Anyone that follows high school basketball knows there are highs and lows. One game you are hot and riding high, the next you go cold and things go sideways. The high/low or hot/cold scenario played out for the E-town girl's bball team as they kicked off what the Elizabethtown faithful hope is a long postseason run.

The high for the Lady Bears came on February 22nd with a trip to Denver to tangle with Ephrata in a one-game battle to represent Section Two in the L-L playoffs. E-town used an Ainsley Raybold led fourth quarter charge to turn a nine-point, 34-25, deficit into a 47-43 victory, securing Elizabethtown's place in the L-L quarterfinals.

Raybold picked up all of her team high 16 in the second half with 10 coming during E-town's 22-9 fourth quarter dash to the buzzer. The need for the junior guard's heroics can be traced back to the first half where Ephrata clamped down on defense. That limited E-town to single digit scoring in each quarter and allowed the Lady Mountaineers to open a 10-point halftime cushion. A back-and-forth third stanza led into Elizabethtown's monster fourth and the four-point win. Elise Hassinger and Carly Sedun provided backup to Raybold with matching nine-point efforts.

That quarterfinal victory had the Lady Bears back to Denver one night later where Section Three champ Cocalico was waiting. This time it was Elizabethtown controlling the early flow only to falter down the stretch and end up on the low side of the final. The Lady Bears controlled the opening three frames and built a 35-27 lead heading into the home stretch. From there the Lady Eagles ripped off a 17-6 run to flip the final and bounce E-town from the L-L playoffs courtesy of a 44-41 final. Hassinger paced Elizabethtown with 14 points while Jade Love-Morris added 10 points.

Before the Lady Bears could entertain any postseason thoughts, they had to finish the regular season. That clean-up started with a 52-43 win over Penn Manor on February 19th. Once again, a fourth quarter push secured the win. Macy Seaman lead the charge with eight of her game and career high 21 coming during the 17-7 fourth quarter surge.

The Penn Manor win provided a nice springboard to Elizabethtown's strangest game day of the season, February 20th. An early season COVID outbreak on Conestoga Valley's squad halted the two teams' January 14th game at intermission. Add in some winter weather fun and the two sides decided to finish that game early on the 20th, then after a short break tip off for game two between the teams.

Despite a 37-day pause, the Lady Bears picked up where they left off in game one. E-town enjoyed a 33-16 lead when the game was paused then used a 29-14 second half to cruise to a 62-30 win. Hassinger and Love-Morris shared team high honors with 12 points each.

The quick turn to game two clearly had an effect on Elizabethtown as CV was able to hang around leaving the Bears with a slim 43-38 win. E-town outscored the Lady Buckskins 24-15 in the second and fourth quarters. Sedun dropped 16 to secure team high honors.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

Second half surges were all the rage on February 19th. Not only did the Lady Bears top Penn Manor with a surge the boys were able to slip by the Comets 49-47 with a second half surge of their own. Elizabethtown found themselves in a 35-23 halftime hole after Penn Manor ripped through the second quarter on a 22-9 run. The Bears went to work on that 12-point deficit with a 15-7 edge coming out of the break. Elizabethtown finished the comeback with an 11-5 final frame for that win. Patrick Gilhool (15 points) and Luke Pierson (12 points) topped the scoring chart for E-town.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team's season came to an abrupt halt on February 20th with a trip to Hempfield where nine Bears took part in the sectional round of the District 3-3A championship. E-town put two grapplers on the podium and in a normal year both Bobby Walters and Aiden Robinson would have advanced to the D-3-3A championships. However, in a COVID year, only the top two in each weight class advanced meaning their third and fourth place finishes were not quite enough.

Walters picked up his bronze at 172, starting with a pinfall win over Manheim Central's Rocco Daugherty. Walters' lone setback came in the semifinals opposite Central Dauphin's Ethan Pea. The senior rebounded with wins over Solanco's Blaine Plastino and Donegal's Joel Grillo to grab third.

Robinson followed a similar path in the 145-pound bracket. He started with a 15-0 tech fall win over Lampeter-Strasburg's Alex Cardwell. A semifinal loss to Reagan Lefevre (Hempfield) pushed Robinson into the consolation bracket. There he took out Solanco's Justin McCauley before falling to Andrew McClune of Warwick in the consolation finals, securing fourth place in the process.

Also qualifying for the tournament was Austin Reitmeyer (106), Nathan Thomas (126), Ryan Findley (132), Nick Smith (138), Jake Rudy (152), Wyatt Mummau and Hayden Haver (160) all bowed out after back-to-back losses.

BOWLING

The Elizabethtown bowling team opened their postseason journey on February 17th with a trip to Rocky Springs Entertainment Center for the Lancaster-Lebanon League team championship. The Bears stay was quick as they dropped their opening match opposite Penn Manor by a 4-3 final.

E-town, paced by strong opening games from Alaina Telenko (228) and Daniel Eberle (222) jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Comets stormed back to take games two and three and lock up the victory. Buoyed by their 1012-914 game one win, the Bears claimed the overall pin count 2808-2744, picking up the final team point and setting the 4-3 final.

Telenko was the lone 600-bowler, adding games of 187 and 196 for a 611 series. Eberle followed with a 578 series while Zach Wentzel (558), Eryn Moore (537) and Zach Deardorff (558) rounded out five scorers.

There is an old saying about second place being first loser, but that phrase isn't used in Elizabethtown, especially on the bowling team. The reason, Eberle picked up his second straight runner-up finish at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Boys Singles Championships on February 24th.

The junior fell short against Warwick's Tyler Miller 269-187 in the championship match. Eberle advanced with stepladder final wins over Wentzel (244-194), Conestoga Valley's Robbie Jack (197-191) and Cedar Crest's Darren Zombro III (269-200). He earned his place in the stepladder finals largely on his work in the six-game opening round where his 1014 was good enough for fourth. Eberle struggled a bit in the second round, slipping a few spots to seventh but still well inside the stepladder final cut, setting up his run to silver.

Wentzel finished ninth in the opening round with a 961 but a came on in the second round, finishing sixth. That finish combined with Eberle's second round slide set up the all-Elizabethtown match that went to Eberle. Deardorff's opening round 885 had him just inside the top 20, in 17th place while a strong second round pushed him to 14th in the final standings, a mere 84 pins outside the finals.