Oh, brother.

Just when you thought the Lancaster-Lebanon League girls' basketball section races couldn't get any wackier, along came Monday night.

The Section 2 race took a funky turn, when Solanco snapped Lebanon's 14-game winning streak, jumped ½-game ahead of the Cedars in the race, and can clinch the section championship outright with a win Tuesday night at Garden Spot.

"Wow," Solanco's Mackenzie Keys said, "good, good win for us. We knew we had to win this one."

Lebanon would have clinched the Section 2 title outright with a victory.

Instead, Solanco, which hadn't played a game since Feb. 8 and hadn't practiced since Feb. 9, opened up some breathing room with a 15-6 second-quarter run, and then held the host Cedars off down the stretch with some clutch foul shots and defensive rebounds.

Solanco is 13-2 in league games and 16-5 overall.

Lebanon finished its regular-season slate 13-3 in league games and 17-4 overall.

Solanco's scenario is simple:

Beat Garden Spot (2-12, 4-15) in New Holland and the Section 2 trophy is heading to Quarryville — and Solanco has never won a section championship in L-L League history.

"All the pressure is on us," Solanco coach Tom McDonald said. "We have to win. Garden Spot is going to bring its 'A' game. They're not going to give up. They can play spoiler. And if we don't win, then we have to play (Lebanon) again. And I know I don't want to play again.

"We'll go into Garden Spot business as usual. We're only thinking about that game."

Meanwhile, the Section 3 race will need an extra game to crown its champion.

And Elco and Manheim Central, who were tied for the lead coming into Monday, both took losing routes to the 1-game playoff.

Elco fell to rampaging Northern Lebanon 39-35, while Manheim Central fell to Lampeter-Strasburg 46-44 in overtime.

Since Manheim Central's game against L-S tipped at 5:30 p.m., Elco knew it would clinch Section 3 outright with a win before the Raiders tipped at Northern Lebanon.

Instead, the Vikings won their eighth game in a row and forced a 1-game playoff between the Raiders and the Barons.

Elco and Manheim Central finished the regular season with identical 11-5 marks in league play, and will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Annville-Cleona for all the Section 3 marbles.

And don't forget: Manheim Township and Cedar Crest will clash for the outright Section 1 championship on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Elizabethtown.

So there are three monster games on Tuesday's slate — including Solanco's tilt at Garden Spot.

"Feels good — really good," said Solanco's Taylor Kreider, who scored 11 points Monday.

"We wanted to get this game over with. We knew we could do it if we could come back and just play our game."

Here's the kicker about Solanco's team: McDonald hadn't seen his crew since the end of practice last Tuesday.

All the snow basically closed down Quarryville, and McDonald barely communicated with his players the last five-plus days.

"We were discussing game plans on the bus ride here," McDonald said, smiling.

"I think Mackenzie made it to the YMCA to shoot a little bit," Kreider said. "But I didn't do anything. When we got here tonight I was like, 'Wow … I can't even dribble.'"

"We haven't practiced since last Tuesday," said Keys, who scored a team-high 12 points against Lebanon.

"We shot around before the game a little bit at the high school, but that was it. We haven't practiced at all. But we were able to come together as a team and we knew we had it in us. And we came out ready to go."

Even though Lebanon got the quick jump, taking a 9-8 lead after the first quarter.

But Solanco turned up its press in the second quarter, forcing Lebanon to turn the ball over six times and grabbing a 23-15 lead at the break after a 15-6 spurt.

Kreider's bucket at the buzzer gave Solanco some serious momentum heading into the locker room.

Plus, the Mares' press was giving the Cedars fits.

"I thought the first time we played them we did an excellent job with their press," said Lebanon coach Carlos Sanchez, whose team defeated Solanco 55-51 in overtime on Jan. 11 in Quarryville.

"But tonight we were in push, push, push mode, and we didn't handle their press well. We turned the ball over too many times, especially in the second quarter."

"Give Solanco credit," Sanchez added. "They hustled, they did an outstanding job rebounding the ball, and they finished plays."

Like the play Keys made late in the third quarter, when she took an outlet feed from Kreider, who plucked seven rebounds, went coast-to-coast, made an acrobatic layup and was fouled.

She finished off the three-point play to give Solanco a 38-27 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

Undaunted, Lebanon made a couple of runs, closing to within 40-34 with 5:01 to go when Brittany Padillas, who scored a game-high 13 points, splashed a 3-pointer.

The closest Lebanon would get the rest of the way was 44-40, when Malia Harris stuck a wing 3-pointer with 1:55 to go.

"When they made it 44-40, I'm thinking, 'Man, is this clock ever going to wind down,'" McDonald said. "It seemed like an eternity."

Emily Allport hit four foul shots down the stretch to ice it for Solanco.

"This place was packed and I thought our kids did a fantastic job handling the pressure," McDonald said. "We've been in some games like this before, which helped. But we played as a team. We're all in this together. We won this game, which is great. But now we have to worry about Garden Spot."

Lebanon still has a shot; it needs the Spartans to knock off Solanco to force a tie - and a 1-game playoff, which would push the league playoffs back another day.

Goofier things have happened.

"Our kids are pretty heart-broken," Sanchez said. "It's tough because there was so much on the line. The hardest part now as a coach is getting them back up and seeing where their resiliency is because we have two postseason tournaments to go with the league and district playoffs."

And the Cedars are the No. 2 seed in the District 3 Quad-A bracket.

Solanco is the No. 9 seed in the Quad-A bracket, and will take on No. 8 Central Dauphin in the first round.

But the Mares have bigger fish to fry at the moment, namely winning the Section 2 crown outright.

NOTES — In a game dotted with missed shots, Solanco out-rebounded Lebanon 55-45. … Solanco turned the ball over 16 times; Lebanon 13 — but the six turnovers in the second quarter were particularly hurtful. … Gillian Glackin grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked four shots for Solanco. She's a freshman, by the way. … Gemiqua Benjamin scored 10 points, plucked 14 rebounds and blocked three shots for Lebanon. … Liz Rios chipped in with 7 boards and 8 points for Lebanon, including three foul shots that sliced Solanco's lead to 42-37 with 3:17 to go in the fourth. … Solanco has won three games in a row.

Also Monday …

SECTION 3

Lampeter-Strasburg 46, Manheim Central 44 — Kelsey Souders pumped in 29 points, the Pioneers (7-9, 8-14) outscored the Barons 2-0 in overtime, and L-S played spoiler, knocking Manheim Central into a 1-game playoff against Elco for the Section 3 title.

Lexie Lantz added 8 points for L-S, which led 19-17 at the half after a 12-5 second-quarter spurt.

But the Barons (11-5, 14-8) forced OT after outscoring the Pioneers 14-12 in the fourth quarter.

Carly Leitzel scored 16 points for Manheim Central, which played minus two starters — sisters Rachelle and Renee Wiegand are out of town playing in a volleyball tournament.

They are expected to rejoin the team Tuesday, when the Barons play Elco for the outright section championship.

Northern Lebanon 39, Elco 35 — Courtney Hess (12 points) and Liz Houser (10 points) paced a balanced attack for the scorching-hot Vikings, who won their eighth game in a row and played major spoiler, forcing the Raiders into a 1-game playoff against Manheim Central for the section title.

Northern Lebanon (10-6, 12-10) jumped out to an early 11-8 lead and led 18-13 at the break.

Kala Yoders scored 16 points for Elco (11-5, 13-9).

Sports writer Jeffrey Reinhart can be reached at jreinhart@LNPnews.com or 291-8777.