Vikings roll into Annville-Cleona girls final

ANNVILLE - It's no big secret at this point. The Northern Lebanon girls basketball team is simply having its best season in school history.

The undefeated Vikings collected their 10th win Monday with a methodical 44-20 victory over Halifax in the opening game of the Annville-Cleona Lady Dutchmen Holiday tournament.

NL's pair of standout juniors, Megan Brandt and Zoe Zerman, recorded double-doubles with 30 points and 22 rebounds between them as the Vikes jumped out to an 18-6 first-quarter lead and never faltered.

"It feels great to be 10-0, the coolest feeling ever," said Brandt, who led the way with 16 points and 12 boards. "If anybody would have told us last year at this point that we'd be 10-0 this year, I never would have believed them."

With the win came the opportunity to claim their second trophy of the season, following their triumph over Palmyra in their tip-off tournament at NL.

The Vikings will meet Littlestown, a 31-13 winner over host Annville-Cleona, in today's title game at 6 p.m. The Thunderbolts, who shut out A-C in the first and and third quarters and held it to a single field goal in the second half, moved to 4-4 on the year.

The Bolts made the final of the season-opening Northern York Tip-Off tournament, only to lose to Hershey 41-5 in the title game.

A-C, which slipped to 2-7, will meet Halifax (5-4) in the A-C consolation game today at 4 p.m.

Against Halifax, which entered the game with a 4-0 record in the Tri-Valley East Division, the Vikes owned the boards early, with four offensive rebounds in the opening two minutes. Brandt's third layup of the quarter opened an 8-2 lead. A 10-0 run to close the quarter created the 18-6 lead.

NL was out-scored 7-4 in the second period, but held the Wildcats to one point in the third while pulling away.

Unlike their record, the Vikings are not yet perfect.

"We're still very young. We make mistakes," said coach Ken Battistelli, who has no seniors on his team. "These girls are still learning, but I have a lot of faith in the ones who play most of the time. I'm not sure how deep we are. I'm not real good at going too deep into my bench to find out."

Sophomore Lizzie Voight complemented Brandt and Zerman with 10 points. Starter Amber Kintzer, another junior, did not score, but she defended well before fouling out with 5:07 left in the game. NL's other starter is sophomore guard Cassiah Ray.

Halifax's top scorer, guard Brynn Miller (12 ppg), was held to four points.

Littlestown will have its hands full trying to contain Brandt and Zerman, both of whom are averaging 15 ppg after starting for NL since their freshman years.

"Zoe and I know each other so well," Brandt said. "We've been playing together forever. We always seem to know where each other is."

Brandt said the possibility of winning another trophy is still very new for this team.

"We're very excited about possibly winning another trophy," she said. "We want to keep this winning streak going as long as we can."

In the nightcap, neither team could score in the first quarter, with Littlestown taking an improbable 1-0 lead after eight minutes. A-C found its best stride in the second quarter as Morgan Zimmerman scored all five of her team-high points to create a 14-10 halftime lead for the Bolts.

After intermission, the Dutchmen scored their only field goal with 4:20 left to play when senior Meredith Bachman hit a 10-footer. Maddison Luciotti added a free throw in the final minutes for A-C's only other point of the half.

Northern Lebanon 44, Halifax 20 

Northern Lebanon (44)

Megan Brandt 6 4-8 16, Zoe Zerman 6 1-3 14, Lizzie Voight 4 2-4 10, Amber Kintzer 0 0-0 0, Cassiah Ray 1 1-4 3, Jenna Wentling 0 1-2 1, Brianna Seip 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Mauser 0 0-0 0, Charis Gatoura 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 9-21 44.

Halifax (20)

Mallori Bingaman 0 0-0 0, Brynn Miller 2 0-0 4, Lucy Spicher 1 0-0 2, Kendall Lehman 0 0-0 0. Kassidy Sorichetti 3 0-0 7, Melody Davis 1 1-2 3, Brianna Turner 2 0-0 4, Julia Hoon 0 0-0 0. Totals — 9 1-2 20.

N. Lebanon _ 18 _ 4 _ 13 _ 9 _ — _ 44

Halifax _ 6 _ 7 _ 1 _ 6 _ — _ 20

3-point goals — NL 1 (Zerman), Hal 1 (Sorichetti).

Littlestown 31, Annville-Cleona 13 

Littlestown (31)

Janelle Kress 1 0-1 2, Jill Gauthier 3 0-0 6, Micheala Yealy 0 2-2 2, Aley Abate 2 2-7 6, Alexa Morgan 2 0-0 4, Erica Noel 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Snyder 1 0-0 3,  Emily Lanahan 3 2-3 8. Totals — 12 6-13 31.

Annville-Cleona (13)

Lauren Schrader 0 0-0 0, Morgan Zimmerman 2 0-2 5, Liane Lech 0 0-0 0, Hannah Fischer 0 0-0 0, Micheala Singer 0 0-0 0, Katie Shaak 0 0-0 0, Malin Hermanson 0 0-0 0, Harper Sellers 0 0-0 0, Meredith Bachman 1 0-0 2, Destinee Loy 0 0-0 0, Addison Hayes 1 0-0 2, Chloe Inman 0 0-0 0, Stephanie Inman 1 1-1 3, Alyssa Felty 0 0-0 0, Madison Luciotti 0 1-2 1. Totals — 5 2-5 13.

Littlestown _ 1 _ 13 _ 9 _ 8 _ — _ 31

Annville-Cleona _ 0 _ 10 _ 0 _ 3 _ — _ 13

3-point goals — A-C 1 (Zimmerman).