Penn Manor showed Ephrata who was king of the mountain Monday.
The girls basketball game was a battle throughout the entire game, as it stayed close even with numerous lead changes. Both teams wanted to get some cushioning because they both knew it was going to be a close one.
Shots didn’t seem to be going their way as the Comets started to fall behind in the first quarter. Ephrata’s defense was playing well with a number of blocked shots and rebounds in the first quarter.
The second quarter was taken over by Penn Manor junior Megan Schlegelmilch. Drawing fouls, and scoring 10 points in the 2nd quarter alone, Manor spirited to the top by one point going into halftime.
The Comets came out in the third quarter a little off balanced. The team was committing turnovers that each player wanted to take back.
Coach Long wanted them back as well.
The Comets switched to a defense in the third quarter to try and confuse the Mountaineers. It worked for a while as the defense denied the Mountaineers. Until the fourth quarter.
Like both teams predicted after the first half, the game was a close one. Tied neck and neck, both teams fought to spring ahead to assure a win. Not until late in the fourth quarter did the Mountaineers start to pull ahead.
The Comets were down by five with two minutes left as Hannah Willet was wide open for a three. Swoosh.
Cutting the lead down to two, the Comets defense physically “stole” the game from Ephrata, forcing turnovers late in the fourth quarter. The Mountaineers couldn’t maintain the lead as the Comets went ahead by two with a couple seconds left.
Ephrata had a chance to end the game with a three-point shot put up, but it fell short.
The next game for the Penn Manor girls is at 8 p.m. and falls on December 23 at Lebanon. Lebanon is (1-1) on the season defeating Penn Manor’s rival, the Hempfield Black Knights on Monday.
The Comets won their first game Monday and plan on repeating against a tough non-league game.
By Ryan Mays