After an early season that kept getting stalled by quarantines and delays, the latter half of the CV girls basketball season has barely spared a moment for the team to catch their breath.

Last Wednesday's hosting of Manheim Township resulted in a 51-43 loss to the Blue Streaks, the Buck's fifth in a stretch of six days.

Ashley Cirilo stepped up to lead the Buckskin attack with 14 points, and the Bucks had a 14-8 edge after eight minutes of play, but Township caught fire in the second frame and poured in 23 points to push the Streaks ahead 31-18 by the half.

CV continued to claw their way back into the contest, outscoring Township in both of the second half quarters, but the damage done in the second period proved to be insurmountable before the clock expired.

Taylor Hehnly and Yazmeen Norris were influential in the Buckskin efforts, netting eight points apiece.

Part of their overwhelming schedule was due to an unprecedented double-header against Elizabethtown on Saturday the 20th.

The teams spent two quarters on the hardwood finishing up their suspended game from January, which went 62-30 in favor of the Bears, and after a brief break they got right back into action for a full game.

While the Bears took the second contest as well, the Lady Bucks came out stronger in the second showing of the evening. Despite having an extremely limited roster of only eight athletes, the tenacious club came within five points of the Bears in a 43-38 final.

Hehnly netted 15 CV points including seven-of-nine from the line.

Hehnly also led the team with eight points in a rough 60-13 loss at Warwick on the 19th.

On the 22nd, the team hosted Hempfield for 62-37 contest that went to the Black Knights, and this time it was Laela Robinson who paced the Bucks with 13 points, and a supporting trio of Hehnly, Rebecca Hartranft, and Camdyn Mahler who chipped in five apiece.

"This season has been like no other," noted head coach Bill Moore. "They have stayed positive and fought through it all."

WRESTLING

Keeping the post-season exciting, CV wrestling sent three grapplers to the Sectional tournament on February 20th and all three placed, taking first, second, and third place finishes in their respective brackets, and giving the team a collective finish of seventh out of 16 teams participating.

Freshman Luke Morley made a name for himself at 113, entering his class seeded fourth, and winning the District III Sectional title, the first freshman to do so for CV wrestling in over 25 years.

Morley took down his first opponent, Bryson Gingrich of Conrad Weiser, by fall at 1:23 and then was pitted against the top seeded Hunter Goff from Twin Valley. Morley overcame the sophomore with an 11-5 decision win to earn a spot in the final where he triumphed over Caden Herb of Wilson by a 13-6 decision to grab gold.

Trent Ruble, the defending champ at 106, worked his way to a second-place finish collecting an event resume of a fall over Edwin Rebeiro of Muhlenberg and a major decision (9-0) over Dean Houser of Daniel Boone before experiencing his first setback while dualling for the title which went to James Garcia of Wilson.

Ruble's work was not quite done, and he went on to overcome Adam Hahn of Garden Spot to claim a true second place finish and will advance along with Morley to the District III Tournament.

Keaton Fischer was CV's third representative of the day and finished in third in the 138-pound division. Though he succumbed to a first-round loss to eventual second place finisher Aiden Swann, Fischer refused to stay down and battled his way up the rankings with three consecutive wins to take third.

"Keaton lost a heart breaker to a quality opponent in the opening round, but showed true grit and character by coming back and winning three consecutive matches," praised head coach Trent Turner.

Due to an altered post-season this year that only advances the top two of each division, Fischer will not move on with his teammates who will head to Spring Grove for the District Tournament.

"We were certainly proud with the way that these three represented themselves and the program," credited Turner.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

CV registered three athletes in double digits in a recent trip to Hempfield but came up just short in the 81-63 loss to the Knights.

Luke Rumbaugh netted 21, Austin Wertz 17, and Cameron Swinton added 10.

Both teams rocketed out to their highest scoring quarter in the first, with Hempfield gaining a slight 24-22 advantage, and both teams also took advantage of the long-range shot, with CV draining 10 three-pointers and Hempfield answering with nine.

The Knights stretched their lead by just a few points each quarter and finalized the contest with a 20-11 fourth quarter run.

CV didn't make it easy, capitalizing on their 21 trips to the line by converting 17 of them.