The swim teams made the short trip to Millersville Tuesday, December 6 to take on Penn Manor in the season opener. In an afternoon of closely contested races, they came home with a pair of wins. The girls' won all but four events to win 96-73 while the boys were just as strong, winning 80-61.

Zara Paisley, who qualified for states in the 50 free last year, won both the 50 and the 100 and anchored the 200 and 400 free relays with Kylie Gerhardt, Ashley Prouse and Kara Scranton opening the action.

Gerhardt went on the win the 100 backstroke, Scranton was tops in the 100 butterfly and Krista Lambert held off Bella Fulmer to win the 500 free.

The boys won six of 11 events, including two relays, to pull away. Ryan Smecker and Kyle Spaulding each won two events and swam on two relays to lead the scoring. Smecker anchored the 200 free and 400 free relays with Christian Rota, Matt Rota, and Spaulding joining in. He also posted top times in the 200 free and 100 back while Spaulding dominated the 500 free and took the 200 IM as well.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

The boys' basketball team delivered the most successful season in school history last year, going 27-1 with section, league, and district crowns. But that was last year. Time to reload.

The team opened the season Friday, December 2 with a 45-44 thriller over Northeastern York. After fighting off a 13-0 deficit to start the game and despite being down 26-17 at the break, L-S kept at it. Down eight points heading into the fourth quarter, L-S turned the tide, outscoring the hosts 11-2 over the final eight minutes to pull out the win.

"We had a little bit of a nervous start," said head coach Ed Berryman. "But they kept at it."

Trent Wagner came up with a late defensive stop and Ben Wert made one-of-two free throws with 17 seconds left to give L-S its first lead of the night.

"They did get off a final shot, but it was contested," Berryman noted. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't the shot they were looking for."

Wert, a returning starter, poured in a career-high 32 points, including all five of Lampeter's three-pointers, four coming in the third quarter, to lead all scorers. Brady Grau (5), Chase Smucker (4), Yasin Abdi (3), and Luke Hines (1) also contributed.

"Ben really carried us," said Berryman. "Brady, a freshman, was 2-for-3 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the foul line in his first varsity game and did a nice job. Chase struggled a little on offense but did a great job rebounding and playing defense."

On Saturday, that fourth quarter rally never came and the Pioneers, who were outscored in three of four quarters, suffered a 54-40 loss to Eastern York.

"They are projected as one of the top two teams in York County," Berryman noted. "They were bigger and wore us down on the boards. They were knocking down second chance points and then kicked it out for a handful of threes.

"We didn't execute offensively, and it showed," he added. "Ben struggled with foul trouble, but Luke played well, Dean Herr hit a pair of threes and Yasin Abdi had a nice game too with four points and four assists. He's a junior and has really worked hard on his game."

Wert dropped in 12 points and Hines finished with 10 as Lampeter's double digit scorers.

"We don't have four guys sitting on the perimeter that can shoot the three this year, so we need to be patient on offense," said Berryman. "And we need to keep working on the little things."

Down 21-17 in the first half, Hempfield charged out of halftime with a 17-7 quarter to grab a 34-28 lead over the Pioneers on Wednesday. Not to be out done, L-S returned the favor with a 17-4 fourth quarter and finished on top 45-38. Herr (11 points) hit back-to-back three's and Wert (12 points) dropped in seven points to fuel a 17-2 Pioneer run. Smucker also netted 12.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The Lady Pioneers advanced to the championship round of the Comet Classic Tip-off tournament with a 46-22 win over the hosts, Friday, December 2, but came up short in bringing home the trophy, falling 62-20 against Central York one day later.

Consistent scoring led to a convincing victory over the Comets. Despite falling behind 11-10 in the first quarter, L-S scored ten points in the second frame, six by Katie Ranck, and finished with 13 points in each of the next two quarters in addition to holding the Comets scoreless in the fourth.

Ranck, the only senior on the team, hit eight-of-13 free throws and finished with a game-high 16 points. Kelsey McTagart chipped in with 11 points, six in the second half and sophomore Ava Vaugh was right behind, netting nine points.

"Katie was dominant," said first year head coach Steve Villbrandt. The former PV JV coach and varsity assistant is looking at this season as a "get to know us" season. "We have a new coaching staff and one returning starter. We don't know our identity yet," Villbrandt said. "But we expect to compete.

"We controlled the boards against Penn Manor. Leigha Saurbaugh provided a ton of on ball pressure which created problems for Manor's offense. Kelsey is a spark plug. She can do a lot of things well and I think she has the potential to load the stat sheets this season."

Saturday afternoon, however, the Pioneers fell behind early and never regrouped. Central York exploded for 29 first quarter points, held L-S to nine and led 47-15 at the half. CY also netted ten three pointers on the night while holding the Pioneers to one.

"Their experience and skill showed," said Villbrandt. "They have a lot of seniors that have chemistry. We are still developing our chemistry and identity. We struggled. I was really proud of Anna Horner who is getting her first varsity minutes this season. They administered a ton of pressure, and she showed a lot of heart in continuing to fight all game."

Ranck led the way with nine points and Saurbaugh finished with seven, including that lone three pointer.