The boys' basketball team opened the second half of their Section Two schedule with a home game against Conestoga Valley Friday, January 20. After falling to the second place Bucks by just 13 points back on December 16, head coach Anthony Hall was hoping to return the favor on Friday but single digit scoring in the second and fourth quarters favored the visitors who pulled away with a 47-34 road win.

Noah Baber's eight point effort sparked a 13-10 first quarter lead but the Bucks opened the second with a 7-3 run, held the hosts to five points, and took a 24-18 lead to the locker room.

"We play hard. There is no doubt about that," said head coach Anthony Hall. "We're just going against teams that have better shooters than we do. We scored five in the second quarter and just two in the fourth. One quarter like that is difficult enough, but two? That makes it difficult. And we're still without our starting point guard. Yet another challenge.

"Overall, though, you have to look very hard at the stats that are causing us to fall short because we are competing," he continued. "CV had 11 second chance points and scored seven more off of turnovers. And we had 18 turnovers to their 12.

"It's just growing pains," the coach said. "We're learning a new offense and we're still teaching basketball. One of these games we're going to put it all together."

Solanco cut the lead to 30-27 on a Baber jumper with 3:00 left in the third but could get no closer. And when Jaydon Yoder, who tossed in a team-best 12, scored a baseline jumper with less than four minutes remaining, it was still a close game, 40-34. The Bucks, however, closed with a 7-0 run to pull away.

Baber and Noah Bailey bucketed ten points each and Austin Wenger backed Yoder's team-high eight rebounds with six.

Griffen Rishell canned four treys en route to a game-high 15 points for the Bucks.

"We finished with 11 assists, so we're sharing the basketball," added Hall. "We just need to score a little more often. If we go .500 over our last six games, I will be ecstatic."

Looking to snap a five game losing streak, the Mules faced Warwick in Lititz Tuesday, Jan. 23 and were dealt another setback, 59-43. A 19-5 first quarter run, and a 24-for-28 free throw shooting performance by the hosts were enough to get head coach Chris Christensen his 100th career win.

The Mules did outscore the Warriors 16-14 in the third, but it wasn't enough.

Baber, with six in the fourth, bucketed a game-high 15 points. Warwick placed three players in double figures, two with 14. Bailey netted nine, seven in the third and Yoder added eight, all in the second half.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team competed in the Northern Lebanon duals on Saturday, January 21 and brought home one win in three attempts. They opened with a thriller, edging past Susquenita 37-36 on criteria but then lost to Saucon Valley (47-24) and N. Lebanon (45-18).

"You always go in wanting to win the match as a team but at this point in the season getting individual matches and mat time is crucial," said head coach Tony Mendez. "We have two more losses on our record, but individually we got stronger because of the matches."

The Susquenita match opened with Jamar's 5-3 decision at heavyweight and forfeit for a 9-0 lead. Susquenita responded with three straight falls to pull ahead 18-9 before Solanco rallied. Andrew Smith (133) pinned in 47 seconds, Jared Fulton won by forfeit, Ben Williams pinned in 1:39 and Justin McCauley worked a 6-0 decision at 152 to push back in front, 30-18.

Susquenita won three of the last four bouts, with a fall and two forfeits, opposite Blaine Plastino's forfeit win at 172 to tie the score. Solanco gained the criteria point by winning more bouts, 7 of the 13 wrestled.

A forfeit to Caden Rutt and Bradeon Bickford's 55 second fall at 114 gave Solanco another early lead, this time over Saucon Valley. The Mules, however, managed just three more wins, Fulton's 9-3 decision, a 7-0 final by Williams and Plastino's 5:59 fall.

In their last match of the day, the Mules fell behind N. Lebanon 15-0 before tying the score on Smith's major decision, Fulton's fall and a tech fall by Williams. But the Vikings finished strong, winning six of the last seven bouts. Plastino's 7-0 capped Solanco's scoring.

"Blaine, Ben and Jared all went 3-0 on the day," Mendez pointed out. "And our heavyweight, Jamar Moore, basically a first-year wrestler, did a nice job getting a win against Susquenita and going the distance in another match. That going the distance happened for a couple of individuals. We'd rather lose by decision than getting pinned."

Wednesday the Mules dropped a tight one in Lititz, falling 39-32 against Warwick even with two forfeits and one starter out of the lineup. Complete results were not available at press time.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

Jenna Ehlers hit a layup and drew a foul at the buzzer, sinking the game-winning free throw with no time left on the clock and pushing Solanco past CV on the road, 37-36, on Friday, Jan. 20. The Bucks crushed Solanco 62-45 in their first Section Two meeting of the season.

Ehlers netted of her team-high points in the first quarter as Solanco sprinted to a 14-8 lead early. Paige Althoff netted half of her eight points in the second frame and the visitors held a 22-13 lead at the break.

CV closed the gap after that. The visitors missed six free throws in the third quarter (4-for-12 for the game) while the Bucks started dropping treys, netting two in the third and three more in the fourth, to spark a comeback. Gabrielle Moore led that charge, finishing with 16 points on five treys and a free throw.

"Those three pointers got them back in the game quickly," said interim head coach Jeff McCardell. "I thought we played some tough defense and shut down two of their leaders but in the second half we had to change up which players we were guarding to slow their offense down in the fourth.

"They hit a three with 16 seconds left and we turned it over, so we needed to foul," McCardell explained. "They missed both, Arianna (Seiberlich) drove the length of the floor and put up a good shot. Jenna rebounded twice, scoring on the second attempt, and was fouled as the horn blew. They cleared the lane and she hit the game-winning free throw."

Seiberlich finished with nine points and six steals. Josie Janssen (5 points), Kara Peace (4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals), and Sarah Landis (5 rebounds) also contributed.

Solanco split the series with Warwick as well, using a strong first quarter to spark a 48-31 Tuesday, Jan. 24 home win over the Warriors, who defeated the hosts 41-33 in their first half meeting.

Ehlers fueled the fire in this one as well, knocking down nine of her career and game-high 24 points in the first quarter. Add Althoff (11 points) canning a pair of threes and the hosts made a convincing 19-6 first quarter run. Warwick twice cut the lead to ten, including 27-17 at the half, but could get no closer.

Peace was also among the scoring leaders with eight points.