The time tested saying, "life isn't always fair" surely did not come about as a basketball reference but it would apply to the Elizabethtown girl's hoops season. Need proof, the Lady Bears saw their slide increase to six straight and 10 of 11 with losses to Manheim Central, Lampeter-Strasburg and Garden Spot.

That three-game run kicked off on January 20th with a 56-23 loss to Central. Despite the final being heavily slanted towards Manheim, Elizabethtown enjoyed a 12-9 advantage through the opening quarter. The Lady Barons started to take control in the second thanks to a 10-2 run that pushed Central in front at the break, 19-14. It was all Manheim from there as the Lady Barons ripped through the second half with a 37-9 edge to set that 56-33 final. Taryn Hummer topped the Lady Bear scorers with eight points.

Elizabethtown found themselves on the wrong end of a different type of heartbreaker one day later, falling to Lampeter-Strasburg in overtime by a 36-30 final. Once again E-town started fast, jumping out to a 9-5 lead after the opening frame. The Lady Pioneers flipped momentum to their side through the middle two frames, with a 23-11 edge making it a 28-20. Elizabethtown regained their first quarter composure leading to a 10-2 run and a 30-30 affair at the end of regulation.

L-S stole the extra session via a 6-0 run, cementing the 36-30 final. Hummer led a quartet of Lady Bear scorers with 17 points. Jadyn Lloyd (eight points), Olivia Martin (three points) and Annabelle Price (two points) rounded out that quartet.

Elizabethtown had another overtime setback on the 24th, falling to Garden Spot by a 38-35 final. This time it was a sluggish first half that put E-town in a hole. The Lady Spartans worked an 18-11 cushion out of that opening half, putting the Lady Bears in a seven-point hole. E-town began to work back with a slim 10-9 edge in the third before forcing OT with a 9-3 fourth quarter surge.

Spot was able to regain control in the extra session leading to the 38-35 final. Lloyd took top spot in the scoring department, collecting 12 points. Chloe Wilkinson scored all five of Elizabethtown's OT points on her way to 11 for the game.

BOWLING

After rolling through the opening half of their schedule, the Elizabethtown bowling team has hit a rough patch, suffering a four match slide that started on January 11th and has stretched to January 23rd thanks to a 4-3 loss to McCaskey. Even with the loss, E-town still tallied 3215 pins but that was not enough to overcome a rough third game that gave the win to McCaskey. Derek Deardorff posted a scorching 267 game two, pushing him to a team leading 704 series. The four remaining Bear bowlers all broke the 600-series threshold, led by Zach Wentzel and his 649. Declan Lentz added a 637 while Ella Eberle checked in with a 622 and Mason Moore a 603.

RIFLE

The rifle team found success on the range, topping Manheim Central 498-493 on January 24th. The Bears enjoyed three perfect 100s thanks to the work of Kylie Mummau, Parker Bryant and Branden Rain. Rachel Gerberich and Daniel Reigner completed the top five with matching scores of 99.

That victory provided much needed relief for the rifle team with a 784-783 loss to Ephrata on the 19th making it three losses in a row. Luke Turner posted the lone 100 for E-town with Bryant and Adilynn Ginder just missing with their 99s. Kate Kroft checked in with a 98 while Gianni Formica rounded out the top five with a 97. With the match tied at 493 the teams went to extra shooters. Rain and Mummau matched the 97 posted by Formica while Jonathan Koser was the final shooter to count with a 96.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

Wins have been difficult to come by for the boys' basketball team with their 7-11 overall mark standing as evidence. However, when the Bears do win they have come in pairs with victories over Manheim Central and Garden Spot being the most recent set.

Elizabethtown needed an extra session to dispatch Central on the 20th. A 9-3 run in that extra session secured a 69-63 win. E-town started hot leading to a 20-6 lead after one. Manheim began the slow climb back starting in the second, cutting the E-town lead to 29-23 at intermission. Another Central run, this one 18-13, inched the Barons closer, making it a 42-41 game. Manheim Central used a 19-18 edge in that final frame to complete the comeback and force overtime. E-town was able to regain that opening quarter mojo to secure the six-point OT win.

Brenden Lehman topped a quartet of double-digit scorers with 21 points. Braden Cummings (17 points), Noah Locke (15 points) and Caiden Zeager (11 points) also contributed.

No extra basketball was needed in Elizabethtown's January 24th win over Garden Spot with the Bears using a strong second half to secure a 45-35 win. E-town needed that strong second half thanks to Spot's 22-13 lead at halftime. The Bears erased the bulk of that deficit in the third with a 16-8 run which led into a 16-5 fourth quarter edge and the 10-point victory.

Cummings netted 17 in the win, including 12 in the second half. Zeager scored 11 of his 12 points in the second half.

SWIMMING

It was a light week for the E-town swim teams with just one meet on the schedule. The boys won 126-43 over Lampeter-Strasburg while the Lady Bears posted a 98-72 victory.

The boys' team swept the three relay events starting with the 200-medley relay and ending with a 400-freestyle relay win. Everett Rachael and Reid Gilmore rounded out their meet with two individual wins. Rachael claimed the 100-backstroke and the 200-freestyle while Gilmore took the 100-butterfly and the 500-freestyle. Ketchum in the 200 IM, Yohn in the 50-free and Nolan in the 100-breatstroke rounded out the wins.

The Lady Bears were not able to capture as many events with one relay win added to six solo wins for their 98-72 final. Morgan Conway and Ali Fink collected two solo wins each with Conway doing her work in the 100-breastroke and the 200-freestyle while Fink claimed the 100-butterfly and the 200 IM. Fink was joined by Olivia Hirst, Julia Garber and Genna McDonald for a 200-medley relay win. McDonald added a solo win in the 50-freestyle with Tessa Cronin rounding out the wins with a 6:03.21 in the 500-freestyle.

WRESTLING

The Elizabethtown wrestling team bounced back from their Manheim Central loss, topping Donegal 37-25 on January 18th. The Bears enjoyed three forfeits with Austin Reitmeyer (127), Hayden Best (114) and Trenton Smith (107) picking up the easy wins. Additional bonus points came at 189 and 215 where Collin Huggins and Bradley Candy posted pinfall wins. Nathan Thomas added a standard decision at 145 while Aiden Robinson earned a major decision at 160.

The bounce back continued on the 25th with a 42-22 win over Ephrata. Smith (107) and Ryan Hottenstein (285) enjoyed quick forfeit wins and the 12 team points that came with them. Best (114), Francis Burke (121), Reitmeyer (127) and Robinson (160) also collected six team points each thanks to pinfalls. Thomas (139) and Kai Laszakovits (145) added decision victories.