Caroline Scarff scores 1,000th, Lanc. Catholic wins
LANCASTER — It wasn’t perfect, but it was typical of the hard work and effort Lancaster Catholic senior Caroline Scarff has been putting into it for four years.
With her team leading Elco 17-5 to open the second quarter, Scarff took an entry pass from Julia Breit at the right of the basket, and pushed her shot up into the rim. She fought two Elco players for her own rebound, however, and her second shot off the backboard was true.
On a micro-level, it was simply a 19-5 lead. But on the larger scale it meant point numbers 1,000 and 1,001 for the Lady Crusaders’ four-year starter, providing the heart of the story culminated by the Crusaders’ 70-27 rout of the visiting Raiders in another L-L girls’ basketball crossover.
“At first I shot it, I thought it was going in but it didn’t,” Scarff said of her milestone-maker. “But then I got the rebound and when I put it in I was just ‘finally’ — it was just kind of a relief and I just turned to all my teammates.”
Scarff, the 20th Catholic player to reach the 1,000 career points, was also quick to credit all her teammates over the course of her career, as well as family, friends, classmates, and a pair of coaches who have supported her.
“Especially times like this it really makes you look at your teammates,” Scarff explained. “Julia Breit, she saw me, she passed it. It was just kind of little things like that, especially when they help me reach milestones like this, I’m thinking, ‘you got me here.’ Not only the team I have now, but all the girls I’ve played with ever since freshman year.”
Despite the best effort of the Lady Raiders (3-1 overall, 2-1 Section Three), who suffered their first loss of the season. Lancaster Catholic (5-0, 3-0 L-L Section Four) just had too much to offer when combining Scarff (7 points), Breit (12 points), and game-high scorers Lauren Mills (13 points) and Kiki Jefferson (13 points, 11 rebounds).
Ryelle Shuey paced the Raiders in the paint with 7 points and 4 first-half rebounds. Taylor Bossert scored 5 points in the second half to go along with a trio of Elco players with 4 points apiece, as the team finished 12-of-13 from the free-throw line.
But Catholic forced 17 first-half turnovers, while battling the pressure of the impending milestone.
“The girls were more focused on it than me,” said second-year Crusaders’ head coach Charlie Detz, who took over for longtime coach Lamar Kauffman after Scarff’s sophomore season. “I think we had two to three turnovers early that were forced passes trying to get it to Caroline. It’s a great moment and special moment so we’re going to live with those turnovers. Our defense, I don’t know what else to say about it, it’s really good right now.”
Catholic led 37-9 at the half and 58-19 after three as Breit and Annaliese Schreder combined for 13 points in the third quarter. From there, the starters were able to rest easy with the milestone reached, although the grind of Section Four play is set to begin Friday.
“We obviously see what we’re capable of doing,” Scarff said. “We see what can happen when we all work together so I think that’s just going to fuel us for the rest of the season.”
Much the way Scarff and her teammates have fueled each other over the course of the last four seasons.
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Lancaster Catholic 70, Elco 27
Elco (27)
Ryelle Shuey 1 5-5 7, T. Bossert 2 0-0 5, C. Keller 1 2-2 4, J. Nelson 1 2-2 4, J. Oliviero 1 2-2 4, E. Bidelspach 1 0-0 2, A. Thomas 0 1-2 1, Z. McGee 0 0-0 0, J. Nolt 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 12-13 27.
Lancaster Catholic (70)
L. Mills 5 1-2 13, K. Jefferson 5 3-4 13, J. Breit 4 4-6 12, C. Scarff 3 1-3 7, A. Schreder 3 1-2 7, L. Fritz 2 1-2 6, C. Rivera 1 2-6 4, P. Jaquis 1 1-2 3, C. Ricci 1 0-2 3, H. Ramos 0 2-2 2, M. Hackman 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 16-31 70.
Elco _ 05 _ 06 _ 08 _ 08 _ — _ 27
LC _ 17 _ 20 _ 21 _ 12 _ — _ 68
3-Point Goals — Elco 1 (T. Bossert); LC 4 (L. Mills 2, L. Fritz, C. Ricci)
JV Score — Lancaster Catholic 42, Elco 30