JEFF REINHART | Sports WriterFREDERICKSBURG — For years and years, Lancaster Catholic’s calling card has been defense.
Full-court, pressing, trapping, aggressive, in-your-face defense.
The Crusaders turned it up another notch on Wednesday night, playing physical defense and crashing the boards with authority while snapping a losing skid against their rivals.
Kiki Jefferson bucketed 22 points — 11 in a decisive third-quarter blitz — and she plucked 10 rebounds, Lancaster Catholic won the battle on the boards and forced 22 turnovers, and the Crusaders picked off Northern Lebanon 51-25 to remain undefeated and take over sole possession of first place in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three race.
“Outstanding,” Lancaster Catholic coach Charlie Detz said of his team’s defensive effort. “We came out played our normal full-court defense back into our half-court defense, and our kids gave it everything they had. They didn’t leave anything on the court.”
Lancaster Catholic, back on the court just 24 hours after beating reigning PIAA Class 1A state champ Lebanon Catholic on Tuesday — and just three days after surviving District One Class 6A power Upper Dublin in triple-OT on Sunday — improved to 6-0 in league games and to 11-0 overall.
The Crusaders also snapped a four-game losing skid against Northern Lebanon, dating back to a state-playoff game in 2016.
“Coming in here we knew they wanted to beat us again, so it feels great to finally beat them,” Jefferson said. “They played with a lot of heart. We played with a lot of heart. And we were able to get the win.”
Northern Lebanon, which had its nine-game winning streak snapped, dipped to 5-1 in the league and to 10-2 overall.
The difference was Lancaster Catholic’s blitzkrieg defensive effort; the Crusaders, employing aggressive full-court and particularly physical half-court schemes, held Northern Lebanon to a single first-quarter bucket and to nine points in the first half, when Lancaster Catholic grabbed an 18-9 lead at the break.
Jefferson helped the Crusaders pull away for good with a spirited third-quarter effort, when she owned the glass. The 6-foot junior had two stick-back layups, a three-point play and another post bucket during Lancaster Catholic’s 20-11 run. The last bucket stretched the Crusaders’ lead to 31-17 late in the third, and Lancaster Catholic led comfortably, 38-20, heading into the fourth.
Lauren Mills, one night after joining the 1,000-point club, scored seven third-quarter points, including a 3-pointer that upped the Crusaders’ lead to 32-19. And Mills and Kenzi Misel had back-to-back post hoops early in the fourth, helping Lancaster Catholic go ahead 42-20. Jefferson iced it with stick-back-and-one, plus two more foul shots, as the Crusaders out-rebounded the Vikings 28-17.
“They got us the last four times, and that was in the back of our heads,” Detz said. “So we wanted to come up here and play our game and get out of here with a win.”
In the half-court, the Crusaders did an outstanding job pinching off driving lanes, forcing Northern Lebanon to settle for jumpers. Vikings’ leading scorer Liz Voight was held to 11 points, but seven of those came at the foul line. Zara Zerman shook free for three 3-pointers and she also scored 11 points.
But Lancaster Catholic bottled up everything else.
“I think it was equal parts their athleticism, their physicality and their speed,” Northern Lebanon coach Ken Battistelli said, “and then mentally, we didn’t adapt and deal with that as well as we could. We definitely were uncomfortable.”
L-L League standings, scoring leaders
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