The Hempfield girls' basketball team has maintained its hold of first place in the Section One standings. The Black Knights improved to 10-4 with a win over Warwick while continuing to hold a 7-1 mark in league play.

Hempfield survived a second-quarter drought in its victory over Warwick on Wednesday night. The Warriors allowed only two points in the second stanza after trailing the Knights 18-3 following the first period.

Hempfield regained momentum in the second half of the 43-25 victory.

In the relatively low-scoring contest, Cook and Moffatt led Hempfield in scoring with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Kira Mattes made two three-point baskets and finished with eight total points.

In an afternoon contest at Elizabethtown on Saturday, February 13, Hempfield faced the second-place team from Section Two. The Bears used a third-quarter run to overcome a one-point halftime deficit, going on to beat the Black Knights 46-36. The Knights were outscored 29-18 in the second half.

The Knights were led in points by Lauren Moffatt, who finished with eight. Autumn Cook and Ava Baer each tallied seven points.

Jade Love-Morris and Elise Hassinger led E-town with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

WRESTLING

Thanks to five of their wrestlers earning the top three places of their weight classes, the Black Knights claimed second place as a team in the L-L League Wrestling Championships.

In the L-L's, which were held on Saturday, February 13 at Manheim Township, the Knights compiled 115 points - second only to Township's 125.

In both the 145- and 160-pound weight classes, the Knights were represented with first-place results. Reagan LeFevre started his day by registering a fall against Conestoga Valley's Luke Needham. In the semifinals of the 145 brackets, he took Northern Lebanon's Kayden Clark in an 11-3 major decision before topping Michael Trainor of Octorara 10-8 in the finale.

"Reagan LeFevre is undefeated and has beaten some good kids this year," Hempfield coach Shane Mack remarked. "He's ranked number one in the district. In practice, we have to switch people out because not everyone can keep up with his pace."

Dylan Bard did post a first-period pin in the 160 class. With finesse and tenacity he earned first place, beating Mason Ober of Donegal 8-5 in the semis and Dylan Coleman of Penn Manor by a slim 3-2 margin in the title match.

"He has been wrestling mainly at 152 this year and is having a great year," said Mack. "His training partner is Reagan. The time those two have gone at it in practice has shown great results."

Gio Luciano came away with the second spot in the 113-pound class. He dominated in a 16-6 major against Noah Hinkel of Donegal and worked a 7-3 decision against Warwick's Nico Tocci.

In the title bout, Township's Kamdyn Williams notched a pin to earn first.

Seamus Mack took third in the 120 class. He battled back nicely after a very close 5-4 loss in the semis.

Mack posted a first-period pin against Landon Keller of Donegal, but lost the one-point decision to Eric Howe of Lancaster Catholic.

Determined to not lose again, in the consolation semis he pinned Zach Zimmerman of Warwick in only 34 seconds. That put him into the third-place match, which he promptly won with a 3-2 defeat of Solanco's Weston Bare.

Russ Hanes and Gordy Hoover each earned third in their respective weight classes of 189 and 215.

Hanes earned third despite losing his opening match to Township's Cade Clancy - a 9-3 decision.

He proceeded to pin Elco's John Bell in only 45 seconds. His 7-4 semifinal victory was followed by a an even closer win in the third-place match. He edged Ben Bearinger of Cocalico 7-6 in sudden victory.

Hoover opend with a first-period pin but suffered a 4-0 loss to Jose Garcia of McCaskey.

In his battle back through the consis, he pinned Lebanon's Jaden Deitzler as well as Jacob Humphrey of Cocalico - the latter in the battle for third.

In a classic semifinal bout in the heavyweight brackets, Caleb Mussmon lost to Dustin Swanson of Garden Spot. He did earn a consolation semifinal win only to come up short in the third-place match, facing Nate Miller of Pequea.

Clay Gainer's quest in the 132-pound class began with a major decision defeat to eventual champ Garrett Gehr of Garden Spot. Gainer did eke out a 4-3 win in the first consolation match. He would advance no further as Lampeter-Strasburg's Arik Hamish notched a pin in the following round.

Kam Fickes had a close victory only to suffer a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in the next round.

In the consolations of the 138-pound class, Fickes defeated a formidable opponent in Garden Spot's Jeremy Schilling by a 10-8 decision. He came up short to Trenton Brubaker of Elco in the 1-0 final, however.

Sophomore Braden Edwards demonstrated tenacity in the 126 weight class.

Following a loss to eventual champ Aliazer Alicea, he pinned Annville-Cleona's Ethan Missimer. However, Mason Casey of Garden Spot claimed a close 7-4 victory.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hempfield fell to 8-3 on the year with a 66-45 loss at Warwick on Wednesday, February 17. In their chase for the Section One crown, as of Wednesday's slate of games, the Knights (5-2, league) trailed McCaskey by half a game in the standings.

The Warriors outscored the Knights in all four quarters as they improved to 11-2 on the year. Kai Cipalla drained 28 points, including four treys for Warwick.

Ryan Hilton came away with a team-leading 15 for the Kngihts. Brandon Hagel added eight points, six of which came on his two three-point baskets.

In their previous game - a Saturday evening game at home against Elizabethtown- the Knights lit up the scoreboard with 24 fourth-quarter points alone. The final result: 60-43 triumph over the Bears.

The Knights' dominance, which included a game-high 18 by Hilton, began with a 17-8 run in the opening period. Hempfield still held a 10-point lead before pouring in the two dozen points in the final period.

In addition to Hilton's 18 points, Miguel Pena scored 13 for the Knights, connecting three times from three-point range.Patrick Gilhool scored 14 for the Warriors.