Page 10—SUSQUEHANNA TIMES
Swish /
Look out Lancaster County:
Indian girls on warpath
Tanya Merchant (#52, at left) and
Butch Kolp (#50, at
center) grab a rebound from the clutches of a Columbia
girl. The Indians don’t have a lot of height, but they
The Donegal girls’ bas-
ketball team is so good, it’s
embarassing. The Indian
second string is capable of
running circles around
most opponents’ starters.
The girls score more
points in an average game
than the boys’ squad scores
— the girls have been
averaging over 70 points
per game since New Year's
Day, and their opponents
have averaged about 30
points.
Only one team in the
section has a good chance
of challenging Donegal for
the championship. As we
go to press Tuesday even-
ing, undefeated Hempfield
is battling undefeated Don-
egal for possession of the
lead in section 3. That
game will not settle the
issue, since Donegal and
Hempfield are slated to
meet again at the end of
the season. That final
Hempfield-Donegal meet-
ing promises to be the
most exciting athletic con-
test of the winter at DHS.
Hempfield’s most for-
midable asset is a six-foot
tall center. On a girls’
team, a six-footer stands
out the way Lebanon’s
6’-11"’ Sam Bowie stands
out on a boys’ team. The
tallest girl on the Donegal
squad is 5’-8’’ Beth Keffer,
a slender freshman who
played on the starting team
for the first time last week.
In spite of her inexperience
Beth moved the ball well
and played hustling,
aggressive defense.
“We don’t have height,”
says coach Bill Earhart.
‘““We have to rely on team-
work.’
On set plays, the
Donegal girls perform ex-
pertly. The only defense
they can’t penetrate is the
kind of sagging zone
defense which leaves plen-
ty of room for outside
shots.
Outside shots are an
Indian specialty. The girls
hit the basket with amazing
consistency. We don’t have
any statistics on their
free-throw performance,
but judging by the shooting
the girls displayed against
Columbia last week, we
wouldn’t be surprised if
they are outscoring most
boys’ teams from the foul
line.
The best shooter on the
team is Pam ‘‘Butch”’
Kolp, who has been
averaging twenty points a
game. Play-maker Sherri
Kinsey is next in line with
a 12 points-per-game aver-
age.
In spite of the team’s
overall excellence, the girls
have a handful of weak
points which are due to the
January 18, 1978
have plenty of bounce, and they outciass most
opponents under the boards. Darla Kelly (#54, at right)
watches the show.
fact that girls’ basketball is
not stressed in the elemen-
tary schools. For example:
the girls are having trouble
developing their fast break
because most of them
never learned to throw
overhand. You can’t throw
a long bomb downcourt by
pushing the ball away from
your chest with both hands,
which is the way most girls
have been taught to throw.
The overhead throw
seems instinctive to boys,
who are taught the motion
almost as soon as they can
walk, but the Donegal girls
are spending hours of
practice to learn it.
Generally speaking, its
hard to spot any difference
between the Donegal girls’
style of play and the
motions of a good boys’
team. Not only is their
teamwork polished; the
girls individual moves are
as smooth as the hardwood
floor they play on.
This excellence is almost
incredible when you consi-
der the fact that the girls’
basketball program at Don-
egal is only three years old.
That first year was no fun
for the fans. It was pretty
rough on the team, too.
Sighs and snickers issued
from the stands more often
than applause, and photo-
graphers assigned to cover
the girls used to complain
that it was almost impos-
sible to take exciting
pictures of the games,
which consisted mostly of
foul shots, toss-ups, penal-
ty turnovers and passes
that went into the stands.
The team had to put up
with a lot of ridicule in
those days, but the girls
didn’t become discouraged.
“It’s incredible how hard
these girls have worked at
learning the game,” says
coach Earhart. ‘“That’s the
explanation for our success;
hard work. We practice six
days a week, and most of
the girls practice on their
own, too. Over the vacation
some of them drove to the
boys’ tournaments to watch
the boys play, just so they
could study the game.
That’s real dedication, and
it pays off.”
With a strong bench, and
plenty of underclassmen on
the varsity, the girls’
winning ways promise to
be the start of a Donegal
tradition.
“Until the end of this
season,’’ says coach
Earhart, ‘‘we won’t know
whether Donegal or Hemp-
field is going to win the
section title. But the
Hempfield team is mostly
seniors. Next year, they
shouldn’t give us any
trouble.”
Sharon Hershey (#24) moves the ball. This is the first
year in which the Indians have consistently handled the
ball well.
Beth Keffer (#14) lung
lap ‘down a Columbia
guard’s pass. She got her hand on the ball. Beth, a
freshman, started for the first time against Columbia last
week. She showed plenty of graceful skill, in spite of her
inexperience. With 5’-8”’ of height, she may do a lot for
the Indian defense.
Indian mat men
defeated by
Penn Manor
Penn Manor wrestlers
beat Donegal last week at a
match in Millersville. The
score was 32-13.
It was the first time Penn
Manor beat Donegal in four
years.
The teams traded victor-
ies in the first two weight
classes, and then Donegal
lost three in a row: 112,
119, and 126.
Indian Cliff Sweigart
pinned his opponent, but
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Penn Manor came back in
the next two classes with
decisions.
The 155-1b. match with
Arlen Mummau wrestling
for Donegal was exciting.
Mummau reversed his
point lag at the last second
to win 7-4.
Penn Manor won again
in the 167 and 185 classes,
and the heavyweight bout
ended in a tie.
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