Box Score (Stat Crew) | Box Score (SIDEARM)
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — Thompson Gymnasium has always been home for head coach Yvonne Kauffman. Tuesday night her 2011-12 team gave her the best retirement gift possible: a win in her home finale. Senior Stephanie Ellwood and sophomore Taylor Kreider both collected double-doubles and E-town employed a stingy defense to take control in a 55-41 Commonwealth Conference triumph over Lycoming.
Guards scored the first 11 points for the Blue Jays (16-7, 9-4 CC), with Kendra Beittel, Ellwood and Nadine Yunginger all knocking down open looks from beyond the arc in the first 6:28. The Warriors, aiming to finish their season at .500, and needing wins in each of their last two games to do it, answered back with a basket and free throw from Rachael Scheller, a foul shot from Janelle Ziminski and a layup by Ephrata High School grad Kat Andriani to cut the defensive battle to 13-10 with 7:44 left before halftime.
E-town got three hoops the rest of the way, but still maintained a 21-19 margin at the break. Anticipation for this game rose with each passing day and both teams needed to shake off their first half cobwebs. The Blue Jays and Warriors combined to hit just 14-of-54 field goal attempts in the half and the 40 total points were the lowest by E-town and its opponent in an opening half this season.
Kreider, who collected 10 points and 12 rebounds on the evening for her ninth double-double of the season, started the second half scoring with a jumper as Elizabethtown opened up a seven-point lead, 26-19, in the first 150 seconds of the period.
An outside shot from Lycoming's (10-13, 5-8 CC) Kylee Sutton edged the Warriors back within two possessions, 28-24, but a 13-4 run highlighted by four points from Jayci Scannapieco and Ellwood's fourth and final 3-pointer of the game, put the game out of reach for the visitors. The Warriors were held under 50 points for the eighth time this season.
All 12 of Ellwood's points, which was tops on the team, came from behind the 3-point line. The senior was 4-of-6 there and grabbed 10 of her 11 rebounds at the defensive end for her sixth career double-double and first this season. Both seniors would end up in double figures on this night, Scannapieco going 5-of-12 from the floor for 11 points. She was one of many that helped the Jays up their shooting percentage to a 44 percent clip (11-of-25) in the second half. The Eastern York product also pulled down seven rebounds.
Lycoming's Scheller led all scorers with 14 points, but was just 4-of-17 shooting and 1-of-10 from 3-point range. Andriani had eight rebounds and Ziminski seven to give the Warriors a 41-39 rebounding edge.
Kauffman, who started her career in 1970-71 with a win at home, put win No. 689 on her career docket Tuesday night. She has won 355 of those games at Thompson Gymnasium.
Elizabethtown wraps up the regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. game at Messiah.