After securing their historic section title crown, the girls' basketball team competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs. They opened the post-season with a home game against the Section Three co-champs' Pioneers on Saturday, Feb. 12. L-S was coming off a Thursday play-in victory over Pequea Valley. The Comets had a week layoff and were ready to be back in action. They defeated the Pioneers by 18 points back in December. But that was December.

February's clash was much closer as the Comets pulled out a 40-34 thriller. After an even first quarter, Lily Sugra's six points and a pair of treys by Morgan Miller, ignited a 12-2 run and a 17-7 Comet lead. The Pioneers responded, outscoring the hosts 11-3 down the stretch and cutting the lead to 20-18 at the break.

The third quarter was nip-and-tuck with both teams knocking down six points each.

L-S cut it to 31-30 with 3:10 remaining but could not get closer. Sugra scored on back-to-back possession to push the lead to five, 35-30 with 1:24 left. They hit three-of-four free throws and Izzy Kligge, set up by a steal and assist from Sydney Shepos, scored at the buzzer for the victory.

Sugra led all scorers with 17 points, including 7-of-8 free throws. Miller added 11, including both ends of a one-and-one with 12.1 seconds remaining. Kligge netted five, Shepos added a three to start the fourth quarter and Emily Riggs and Kamia Goodley each added a bucket.

Three nights later, the Comets looked to sweep the series against Ephrata in the semifinals at Hempfield. They defeated the Mounts 31-28 on January 14 when Shepos dropped a triple with four seconds remaining.

A similar scenario played out Tuesday night. This time it was Ephrata's Brynn Adams canning a trey at the end of regulation to tie the game at 35-35 and force overtime.

Over the extra four minutes just two points were scored. Ephrata's Kamryn Andes banked a jumper with 13.2 remaining. The Comets got to the free throw line twice after that but came up empty on three attempts, leaving Ephrata with the 37-35 win and a trip to the finals.

The Comets got off to a slow start, falling behind 10-7 in the first quarter but came back stronger in the second, winning the frame 12-9 for a 19-19 tie at the break. Shepos opened with a triple and Miller closed with another, leading to a 19-17 edge before Jasmine Griffin, who knocked down a game-high 17 points and went over the 1,000 career points plateau with 2:59 left in the half, beat the buzzer.

Ephrata hit back-to-back threes midway through the third for a 27-21 lead and went 4-for-6 at the foul line down the stretch for the biggest lead of the night, 31-24.

With Griffin in foul trouble, the Mounts tried to milk the clock. The Comets buckled down. Sugra was fouled on a putback and hit two free throws, Goodley dropped a triple then picked a steal and fed Miller for a layup and Shepos swished a baseline 'J' for a 33-32 lead with 3:20 left. A Kligge steal led to two more free throws by Sugra and a 35-32 Comet lead with 23.7 remaining. Manor did miss the front end of a one-and-one prior to Ephrata's Adams stealing the show.

"After being down seven to start the fourth, I really thought we would pull it out," said head coach Megan Collins. "Obviously there are things we need to work on. But one thing I can't take away from them is that they fought until the bitter end. They never gave up. We are lucky we have districts next to bounce back and move forward."

SWIMMING

At Wilson High School on February 11 and 12, the swimmers competed at the Roy G. Snyder Natatorium where they secured a handful of top eight medals. Jayden Sanchez was Manor's highest place-winner, securing a fourth-place medal in the 100 fly on Friday. His 54.35 edged out CV's Dan Ivanchikow (54.91).

The sophomore also competed with Barry Spencer, Colton Garber, and Noah Reen in the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay where they secured a pair of seventh place medals.

Leading the girls' team was Grace Bresch. The junior tied Columbia's Emily Gambler for fifth place in the 50 free. Bresch also anchored the seventh place 200 medley relay team with Avery Groff, Kari Anderson, and Catherine Repko. That same group settled for an eighth-place medal in the 200 free relay.

On Saturday, Groff earned a sixth-place finish in the 500 free.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

Trying to end a difficult season on a positive note, the boys' basketball team traveled to Quarryville Monday, Feb. 14, for a non-league clash with Solanco (2-19), another struggling squad. After trailing most of the first half and down 24-21 at the break, the Comets rallied for a 58-54 victory, their third of the year.

Six players contributed to a balanced third quarter and the Comets erased that halftime deficit, tied the game at 27-27, and held a 41-34 lead heading into the final quarter. They never trailed in the fourth and survived Solanco's 20-17 comeback attempt.

"We held a nice lead 8-10 point lead and then a double-technical, which led to free throws and a possession, gave them momentum and the game got closer quickly," said head coach Larry Bellew.

Randy Short's free throw with just over six seconds remaining iced the victory.

"It was nice to see the senior contribute in a win in their final game," said Bellew. "Randy iced the game late, Cameron School scored seven points and made all five of his free throws, Noe Perez added four points in our third quarter run, and Kamrin Carroll added eight points.

"A three-win season is not what we desired but I'm proud of the guys," he continued. "They played with great effort, practiced hard and loved being in the gym with each other. I only wish I was able to help them secure a couple more victories this season."

Ethan Benne led the way with 18 points, Dhamir Wesley (7), DeShawn Stanley (6) and Nathan Schmidke (2) capped the scoring.

BOWLING

The L-L League team and individual bowling results will appear in the March 2 edition.