Highlights: Hanover, Dover girls to play for title

The Hanover and Dover girls' basketball teams took different paths, but both advanced to Friday's championship game of the Hanover Eagles Post 1406 girls' basketball holiday tournament. 

Hanover (5-3) will host Dover (7-1) at 6:30 pm., following the 3rd place game between Chambersburg and Susquenita. 

Hanover (5-3) earned its way into the championship with a resounding 52-29 win against Susquenita on Thursday night. Dover (7-1), meanwhile, battled through a rough-shooting first half before dispatching Chambersburg, 42-25. 

Hanover returns to its title game for the second year in a row.

"Last year, we took second to Susquenita, so coming out and beating them in the first game was pretty awesome," said Hanover junior Avery Martz, who led Hanover with 16 points.

Martz scored the first basket of the game a minute in, a layup following her own defensive deflection that secured possession. Hanover never trailed, taking a 10-2 lead after one quarter. The Nighthawks led 25-5 in the second. 

"(I'm really proud of) coming out of the gate jut playing defense and holding them to 2 points," Hanover head coach Denny Garman said. 

In the second game, Dover trailed Chambersburg, 16-13, after the first half. But Rayah Fink sank a 3-pointer, and her sister Rajah Fink followed with two more of her own to give Dover the lead for good 5:04 into the third quarter. 

"Chambersburg was prepared, and played some triangle-and-2 defense, and our execution was off," Dover head coach Kevin Glover said. 

The teams will face off at 6:30 p.m. Friday for the tournament title, following the 5 p.m. consolation game.

Garman's take on Dover? "They are one of the hottest teams in York County."

— George Marinos 

In other action Thursday night: 

• Dallastown's Will Barton hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 58-56 victory against Manheim Township. The Blue Streaks led for most of the game until Dallastown pulled ahead in the fourth quarter, taking a 47-42 lead with 5:13 left in regulation. But Manheim Township answered, and regulation ended in a 50-50 tie, setting up Barton's late theatrics. 
• The West York boys fell to Bishop McDevitt, 45-29, in the championship game of the Elizabethtown tournament. 
• The Kennard-Dale boys lost to Columbia, 53-36, in the final of the Santa Slam, hosted by the Rams. 
• The York Suburban girls fell in their tournament championship game, a 42-26 loss to Cedar Crest.