No place like home, right?
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Good luck getting that past Lance Wagner.
"We are such a different team on the road," Manheim Township's girls' basketball coach said Monday night. "I would gladly give up my last two games at home to play teams on the road.
"We're just so much more focused, to the point where I'm tempted to see if we can't get on a bus (prior to today's home game against McCaskey), drive around a little bit and then play. We're just so much better on the road."
As Hempfield discovered the hard way Monday night.
Bolting out to a 16-3 after one quarter, Manheim Township kept itself in the Section One title chase with a 39-19 drubbing of Hempfield in Landisville.
The result kept both Township (14-6 overall, 10-4 L-L) and Hempfield (12-9, 10-5) within a game of section leader Penn Manor (16-5, 11-4), which kept pace with a 45-39 win over Warwick Monday.
Cedar Crest (15-5, 10-4), which dismantled McCaskey 63-26 Monday night, is also a game off the pace.
All that said, should the Blue Streaks win their final two regular-season games at home against McCaskey and Warwick, and should Crest beat Warwick and Penn Manor in its final two games, there could be a three-way tie for the section lead at the end of the regular season.
"It's just motivation to stay in first," said Township senior forward Lisbet Byler, who joined Jordan Brewer and Kiersten Green with a game-high eight points in Monday's win.
"And if it comes down to a playoff game in the end for the section (title), we're going to do it. It's exciting to have it come down to that."
There was no such drama or suspense Monday night in Landisville.
Getting five points from Abby Zielinski and four more from Byler, Township started the game with a 13-0 run to take control for good.
Hempfield, meanwhile, didn't hit a shot in the first quarter, going 0-for-10 from the floor.
In fact, the Black Knights didn't even get on the board until Ali Hartman hit the front end of a two-shot foul with 1:36 left in the opening period, by which time Township had a 13-1 lead.
"I think our mental approach to start the game just wasn't there, and Township's was," Hempfield coach Lenny Groft said. "I think Township came out, was pretty much ready to play and beat us in every facet of the game. I can't see one area where we were a little better than they were."
Despite trimming their deficit to 26-15 by halftime, things didn't get any better for the Knights the rest of the way.
In fact, when the Streaks opened the second half with an 8-2 run, giving them a 34-17 advantage with 2:06 left in the third quarter, the writing was on the wall.
Especially considering Hempfield was on its way to a 6-for-34 shooting night as a team.
"We probably should have lost by 40 given those stats," Groft smirked.
A simple win was good enough for Township, which had recently fallen out of the section lead it held for most of the year after losing two of its last three section games — the killer being a 52-39 home loss to Penn Manor last Tuesday.
"We went back to the woodshed (last Wednesday)," Wagner said, "and we were as physical as we have been all year in practice.
"I think we really got (the Streaks') attention. They knew the season wasn't over if they didn't want the season to be over."
Seems like it's only beginning now.
Elco 41, Manheim Central 29: Powered by a game-high 15 points from Kala Yoders and 14 more from Taylor Shaak, the Raiders forged a tie with the Barons for the Section Three lead in Myerstown.
