Manheim Township Powers Up Defensively To Push Past Cedar Crest And Win First L-L League Title In Over A Decade (Article By Kyle Morgan)

Written by: Andy Herr on February 14, 2026

(Photos courtesy of Mark Palczewski)

By Kyle Morgan

Devonne Pinkard’s basketball journey has been anything but predictable.

From a decorated high-school career at McCaskey and Lancaster Catholic where he scored 1,000 points and earned All-State honors. To a respectable collegiate tenure at Delaware and a pro excursion into Mexico. Then back to Lancaster County to coach at the high-school level, first for McCaskey’s JV boys’ team, then as the head coach for the Lancaster Country Day girls, where the Cougars made the District 3 semifinals twice.

Now, Pinkard is in his third season as head coach at Manheim Township, guiding the Blue Streak girls back to prominence. It culminated Friday night with a 35-31 victory over Section One rival Cedar Crest in the L-L League finals, the team’s first title since 2014.

“It’s crazy, man,” Pinkard said. “I’m just so grateful for the opportunities. At McCaskey, I had coaches and administrators who believed in me. I never thought I’d coach girls until a buddy of mine at Country Day asked me to come on over and coach there at 27 years old. Now I’m here (at Manheim Township). I appreciate our athletic director, Tim Hollenback, for believing in me and giving me the keys. It’s been a fun journey. These girls make everything worth it.”

After back-to-back second-place nods in Section Two for the L-L League, including finishing as the runner-up in the league finals to Lebanon last season, Manheim Township shared the section title with the Falcons this year after splitting both regular-season contests.

The Blue Streaks have had to fight through a tough schedule and some injuries, including a season-ender to senior Liv Parmer. Thankfully for them, they’ve had a ton of underclassmen step up as the season rolled on, including their leading scorer in sophomore Ciniya Robinson, and a trio of freshmen in Emiline Brandt, Grace Dumser and Naomi Trayers, alongside their mainstays: senior Toby Bergstrom, junior Julia Weaver, junior Aniyah Williams and junior Bella Stern.

“They’re tough, gritty kids who come from good families,” Pinkard said. “There’s no excuses with them. They find a way to problem-solve. When they tasted a bit of that success last year, they wanted to stay competitive. It’s been a fun ride. Hopefully, we find a way to keep building. We’re only in year three, and we’re young. Winning is hard, so we have to keep working and don’t get content. There’s no guarantee you’ll be back here next year.”

As for the finals, Cedar Crest got off to a better start. An errant Manheim Township pass right after tipoff led to a steal-and-score from Falcons’ sophomore Olivia Young, who scored again on their next possession. Weaver immediately answered with a corner 3 for the Blue Streaks, but from there, the first quarter, and really the rest of the game, was a defensive slugfest.

In what was emblematic of what was to come, Manheim Township had one possession that took over a minute off the clock, thanks to multiple offensive rebounds but also multiple missed shots. The two teams traded a handful of buckets from there, with Robinson nailing a deep 3-pointer late in the first to tie the game at 8-8.

That held through the start of the second. Cedar Crest got an early 3 from sophomore Elli Malinoski before Manheim Township took the lead off a driving layup from Dumser and a putback and-one from Robinson.

Senior Kalia Francis, a Colgate women’s basketball commit, scored the rest of the Falcons’ first-half points off assists from Young, but both times, the Blue Streaks had responses: first with another Robinson 3, then with a fastbreak layup from Weaver off a steal. They went into halftime up 18-15.

Sophomore Ryan Stopper tied the game up for Cedar Crest early in the second half with a putback and one-of-two foul shots before the two sides went quiet offensively, turning the ball over multiple times. Francis briefly put the Falcons in front with a pull-up jumper off a pick-and-roll, but Robinson would then tie it back up on a putback jump-shot off her own miss. Dumser gave the Blue Streaks a 22-20 lead just before the final minute of the third quarter.

A drive to the hoop from Williams and another Robinson jumper had Manheim Township cruising to start the fourth. The Blue Streaks defense, in particular, carried them in the second half; Cedar Crest was scoreless for nearly a full quarter of play between the third and fourth.

The Falcons refused to give in, however. They quickly cut to 26-25 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation with a pair of free throws from sophomore Ali Groff and a 3-ball from Francis.

That would be as close as they’d get. Coming out of a timeout, the Blue Streaks inbounded to Weaver, who passed to Robinson on the right wing. The sophomore proceeded to shake off Groff with an amazing pump-fake and bury a clutch 3 to swing momentum back to Manheim Township. Another Francis 3 to put the score at 31-28 briefly gave the Falcons one more chance in the final minute, but the Blue Streaks did enough from the foul line to come away with the win.

“Coming into it, we knew (Cedar Crest) would throw the press on if we took the lead there,” Pinkard said. “I wasn’t worried, but I felt like we had opportunities in the fourth quarter to put them away, and we didn’t. But that’s a phenomenal team that’s had a tough schedule with some really impressive wins. Ashli (Shay) is one of the best coaches in our league.”

Robinson finished with a game-high 18 points, over half of her team’s points. It capped a monster week where she shared the team lead in scoring at 12 with Weaver in the quarterfinals against Lampeter-Strasburg on Monday, followed by a whopping 27 vs. Warwick in the semifinals Wednesday.

“(Cedar Crest) made her work for it, but she stuck to her game,” Pinkard said. “She’s so competitive and has the mentality to stay poised. It was like Steph Curry out. The growth I’ve seen from her has been great. This has been her week. We’re not here without Ciniya. Being
this good so young already means the sky’s the limit. To do this as a sophomore… I’m just proud of her.”

With Robinson dominating the points column, the only other notable Manheim Township scorer was Weaver, who had 7. Still, it was a true team effort on defense for the Blue Streaks, who outrebounded Cedar Crest 20 to 17, forced 10 steals (3 each from Robinson and Weaver) and won the turnover battle 19 to 12.

Bergstrom and Brandt did yeoman’s work in the post to try and limit Francis, who managed 12 points. The latter had 5 rebounds in comparison to 9 from Bergstrom and 7 off the bench from Brandt. Malinoski, who came into the game with 40 makes from 3-point range, finished with just one from downtown.

“We wanted to take Malinoski off the 3-point line and put it on the floor,” Pinkard said. “We trusted Julia to keep her front and chase her off. With Francis, we went with the two bigs with one on the back side; she ended up getting us for those 3-pointers. Toby did a great job on her; she does so much for us. She’s a D1 athlete, man.”

The Falcons got contributions from Young (6 points, 4 assists), Groff (5 points) and Stopper (5 points, 7 rebounds). They’ll be in a tough out in the Class 6A playoffs for District 3, which start Monday. Cedar Crest is the 14th seed, going on the road to third-seeded Dallastown.
Meanwhile, Manheim Township is seeded 10th, with a first-round trip to No. 7 Central York up next. One win equals a berth in the state playoffs. A loss means the end of the season for both teams.

“We’ll enjoy this for tonight and get back to work tomorrow,” Pinkard said. “We’ll reflect on this win and hang the banner after the season. We still have unfinished business. I’d love for the freshmen to get a taste of states. If we want to take this program to the next level and compete for districts, we gotta get them a win on Monday.”

Whatever happens for the Blue Streaks the rest of the way is a bonus. They’ve made the climb back up the L-L League mountain. For the 2026-27 season and beyond, they’ll have to dig deeper to stay on top.

“I hope we’re contending for section titles every year,” Pinkard said. “That’s the goal. We’re not gonna count wins or guarantee anything, but I do think this program is in a great position to move forward. This is something that can catapult us into another gear. We’re buying in spring, summer and fall, working hard to get to the next goal.”