HANOVER — The leprechaun got the last laugh on Wednesday night during Lebanon High’s 39-34 defeat of Hanover in girls basketball.

Little luck was involved when the Raiders, without sick point guard Nora Burns and with leading scorer Summer Crowell held to only five points, turned to Lucy Eshbaugh. The forward scored a game-high 16 points to help Lebanon improve to 9-6 and remain in the hunt to host an NHIAA Division II first-round playoff game.

Hanover, down in numbers and experience this season, fell to 3-13 and will miss the playoffs for the first time in recent memory. The Bears have reached nine state title games during the past three decades, winning seven of them. Their most recent crown came only three years ago.

Hanover’s Adeline Tullar and Beatrix Bornholdt-Collins each had nine points, and teammates Dylan Simpkins and Harper Lewis each had six. Cathryn Bachelder scored 12 points for Lebanon, which made 26% of its field-goal attempts. The Bears were 32% from the floor.

Eshbaugh doesn’t typically score in double digits. She does, however, consistently agitate opponents who quickly become tired of her brash, physical style. Don’t pursue a rebound or loose ball against Lebanon unless you’re willing to exchange elbows and engage in a tug-of-war over the rock with No. 10.

“It’s good to throw their players off because it helps us,” said Eshbaugh, a red-haired senior who’s also a soccer and lacrosse defender. “But people get mean sometimes. I’ve been called a leprechaun and worse. It’s brutal, but I just laugh it off.”

Said second-year Lebanon coach Jeff Sowa: “Lucy makes other people uncomfortable on the court. She’s a game-changer with her aggressive style and rebounding. Nobody likes to go against someone who’s not afraid of contact.”

Lebanon led, 15-8, at halftime, but the Bears trailed only 23-21 after three quarters. Two minutes into the final stanza and the hosts pulled within 24-23 and put their archrivals on upset alert.

Hanover lost the teams’ first meeting of the season by 15 points on Jan. 3.

“We put ourselves in a position to win, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said 24th-year Hanover coach Dan O’Rourke, whose team committed 22 turnovers to Lebanon’s nine. “I was very proud of how we played.”

One of those Hanover giveaways led to an Eshbaugh breakaway layup that put the Raiders ahead, 26-23, with 5 minutes, 10 seconds remaining. She followed that with a 3-point bucket a minute later for a 29-23 advantage.

Hanover only once got back within two points down the stretch, and Tullar’s line-drive 3-pointer at the buzzer made the final score a bit deceiving.

Sowa said Eshbaugh’s star turn was timely for a team that wants a diversified offense but often relies on Crowell’s scoring. Opponents have recognized the sophomore guard’s talents and plan for her more and more often.

“We’ve never designed our offense around one person,” Sowa said. “There are going to be nights where Summer is off, but teams still have to guard her. She just has to keep her confidence up.”

Eshbaugh said she was hesitant on offense during recent seasons but that cohesiveness and a lack of finger-pointing on her current squad have made her more comfortable. A missed shot or a turnover isn’t likely to spark loud sighs or eye rolls from her teammates.

“We hype each other up even on bad days in practice,” Eshbaugh said. “There’s no negativity.”

Sowa, who was the Raiders’ fourth coach in five years when he was hired in 2023, is a health teacher at the Lebanon Middle School. He’s hoping to keep his players’ focus on their remaining three regular-season games before enjoying the postseason after a two-year absence.

“We’ve always talked about being a playoff team, but we need to build momentum these last two weeks,” said Sowa, whose team was 9-of-25 on free throws. “If we can win two of our last three games, we have that possibility of a home playoff game.”

Lebanon’s last regular-season games are at John Stark (3-12) and Kennett (1-14) and home against Bow (10-5).

Notes: Sowa is married to former Lebanon multi-sport standout and girls basketball coach Emily (Kehoe) Sowa. She is a health teacher at her alma mater. Her father, Tim Kehoe, is a physical education teacher there who coached the girls basketball team for 29 years, reaching the state finals 11 times and winning five titles. … Hanover athletic director Megan Sobel will once again take roughly a dozen students to New Orleans during spring break. They’ll focus on service and sports management, volunteering at city schools and getting an inside look at the staging of Tulane University baseball and New Orleans Pelicans games. … Sobel’s oldest son, Beckett, is a Hanover senior and basketball player who plans to attend the University of Richmond (Va.) later this year and serve as a student manager for the Spiders’ men’s hoops team.

Tris Wykes can be reached at ctwykes@aol.com.