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Lily Hare Leads Poised Lynx into Top Spot in Berks IV with Win Over Brandywine Heights

Ever since the Berks Girls League expanded from three to four divisions in 2020, Berks IV has been a battle between Oley Valley and Brandywine Heights.


Two seasons ago, the Bullets narrowly edged the Lynx for the division crown and the Lynx returned the favor last year.


This season is more of the same. The Bullets made the first statement with a 12-point victory over the Lynx in Oley two weeks ago.


Lily Hare and the Lynx responded Tuesday with a 48-40 victory over the Bullets in Mertztown to move into first place in Berks IV with two and a half weeks to go until the BCIAA playoffs begin.

Oley Valley junior Lily Hare.
Oley Valley junior gearing up for a 3 Tuesday night against Brandywine Heights. (PhilMarPhoto)

"It's a big win for us," Hare said. "We have more big games coming up that we need to focus on, but it's really exciting because we lost to them last time."


The Lynx now sit at 6-1 and the Bullets at 6-2 in Berks IV. Each team has league games against Antietam, Kutztown, and Tulpehocken remaining plus a league crossover against Wyomissing. Oley has a league crossover against Schuylkill Valley.


If Oley and Brandywine finish with the same divisional record, the Berks IV title will be awarded to the team with the highest District 3 power ranking since they've now split their head-to-head games. As of late Tuesday night, the Lynx had a .577360 rating and the Bullets were at .507581.


Oley Valley lost over 60-percent of its scoring from last season's BCIAA and District 3 playoff qualifier, and has found a variety of scoring options throughout this season. Six different players have finished a game as the team's leading scorer; the Lynx are fine with that.


"We know that each player has a different skill set, so we're able to use every single player on our team to score," said Hare, who is No. 3 on the team with a 7.2 scoring average. "We don't really have a main scorer. We just use everybody to our advantage and work the ball around."


Hare assumed the role of primary scorer Tuesday as the junior finished with a game-high 17 points, 10 of which crucially occurred in the first half as the Lynx withstood the Bullets' hot shooting in the first quarter.

Oley Valley junior Lily Hare goes up against Brandywine Heights senior Addison Benner.
Oley Valley's Lily Hare goes up against Brandywine Heights' Addison Benner. (PhilMarPhoto)

The Bullets came out on fire shooting 7-for-8 and leading 19-13 with sisters Addison (nine points) and Sophia Benner (eight points) making every single shot they took. Jenna Crist nailed a 3 to start the second quarter and the Bullets (8-8) had an early nine-point lead.


Oley Valley, which didn't practice Monday due to the inclement weather, then woke up and progressly got stronger on the defensive side of the ball while playing more efficiently on offense.


Kadyn Rhoads provided a big spark off the bench for the Lynx hitting a 3 and making a putback to cut the lead to four midway through the second quarter.


After Crist answered with another 3 for Brandywine around the 3:00 mark, the Lynx went on a 10-0 run behind another Rhoads 3, Izzy Buehler's putback after Hare's steal, Hare's 3 off a Julia Wagner assist, and another Buehler bucket off a Hare assist.


The Lynx claimed their first lead of the game and never relinquished it.


"We had off on Monday so I expected the first quarter might be a little rough," said Buehler, a senior post who had 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and four steals. "But we found our groove. No matter what the score, we're always there for each other.


"We could be losing by 20 and we're still like whatever it's the first quarter, let's get the next one. We really got the ball rolling. I think one of our main things this year is how positive we've been with each other and how together we are."


After missing 11 3s in the first half, the Lynx (11-6) made a concerted effort to get Buehler — Oley Valley's leading scorer at 10.5 points per game — involved in the paint to get better shots and ball movement, and ultimately break the Bullets' zone defense.

Oley Valley senior Isabella Buehler.
Oley Valley senior Izzy Buehler. (PhilMarPhoto)

"Last year we had a main scorer in Morgan Snyder," Buehler said of her former teammate who scored 1,000 points and is now playing field hockey at Penn State. "This year we don't have that so we use all use our different strengths. Lily's a good outside shooter, but I'm good on the inside. That helps our team because you have to defend all of us."


Wagner, the Lynx's second-leading scorer with a 10.4 average, had an off shooting night so she channeled her energy in defending Brandywine Heights' 1K scorer Addison Benner from baseline to baseline.


Alyson Magee took on the difficult assignment of guarding Brandywine's freshman sensation Sophia Benner, who leads Berks with 51 3s, and held her to three points in the second half.


The Lynx only mustered six points in the third quarter, but held the Bullets to eight to preserve their lead headed to the final quarter.


Six different players scored in the final quarter for the Lynx as they pulled away.



Photo Gallery by PhilMarPhoto.



1

2

3

4

Final

Oley Valley

13

15

6

14

48

Brandywine Heights

19

6

8

7

40


Lynx (6-1, 11-6)

FG

FT

3’s

A

R

Points

Magee

0-4

2-2

0-2

2

8

2

Hare

6-18

3-5

2-6

1

4

17

Schlegel

0-0

0-0

0-0

0

0

0

Myers

1-1

1-2

0-0

0

1

3

Wagner

2-8

0-0

0-6

2

3

4

Buehler

5-7

0-0

0-0

2

8

10

Walters

1-1

0-0

0-0

0

0

2

Bauer

0-0

0-0

0-0

0

0

0

Rhoads

4-10

0-0

2-4

2

7

10

Totals

19-49

6-9

4-18

9

31/37

48


Bullets (6-2, 8-8)

FG

FT

3’s

A

R

Points

S. Benner

4-11

0-0

3-8

3

6

11

Stoudt

1-1

0-2

0-0

3

1

2

Henry

0-3

0-0

0-0

0

9

0

A. Benner

5-14

4-6

2-5

1

6

16

Crist

4-14

1-1

2-5

0

2

11

Tomaine

0-3

0-0

0-1

0

2

0

Potteiger

0-1

0-0

0-0

0

0

0

Totals

14-47

5-9

7-19

7

26/30

40

Turnovers: Brandywine Heights 16, Oley Valley 14. Team rebounds: Brandywine Heights 4, Oley Valley 6.


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