Girls Basketball
East returns to winning ways; South wins two of three
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East bounced back from its first ECIC Division II loss of the 2006-07 season with a convincing 57-42 win over Iroquois at home on Thursday.

The Lady Flames lost, 38-36, to Hamburg on Dec. 14.

“It was huge to win the game but win or lose, it was important to get back on track and play well,” said East coach Chris Durr. “We only had seven turnovers and Iroquois’ a tough defensive team. They switched up defenses and played a 2-3-zone, man to man, 1-3-1, and 2-2-1 half court trap. For us to only turn over the ball seven times was pretty impressive.”

Tied at 16-16 after the first quarter, East led 31-26 by halftime then picked up their defense and got fast-break baskets to outscore Iroquois, 18-10, in the third quarter to go ahead, 49-36.

“It might have been our best quarter overall of the year,” said Durr of the third quarter. “We scored 18 points and held them to 10 which included two baskets and five free throws.”

Kaitlin Roseti led East with 11 points and nine rebounds. Christa Morgante and Molly Bojanek each scored 10 points each. Jessica Kowalski (eight points, five steals, four assists), Bridget Steele (five points), Aleece Burgio (four points, eight rebounds), Meghan Scheidemann (four points, six rebounds), Taylor Klun (three points) and Anna Stolzenburg (two points) also contributed for the Lady Flames, who improved to 4-1 in league play, 5-2 overall.

East shot 26-for-62 overall.

The Lady Flames return to action this week in its own tournament. East faces Sweet Home at 6 p.m. on Thursday following Williamsville North and Williamsville South. The consolation and finals are set for 4 and 6 p.m. on Friday.

“It’s nice to have four teams from one town play against each other,” said Durr. “There are natural rivalries so it’s a good competitive tournament every year. Plus all four coaches get along and the kids know each other.”

East returns to league action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4 at Lake Shore.

Williamsville South

The Lady Billies (3-4, 1-3) proved last week they are not a one-person team.

Without Katie Ostroot, who is nursing a knee injury, South went 2-1, defeating daVinci, 59-23, last Tuesday and Lake Shore, 57-36, on Thursday. They also had a 26-23 halftime lead on Amherst on Monday before falling, 49-39.

“If Katie comes back healthy with the way these other girls are playing, we’ll have some options,” said South coach Duke McGuire. “Before, everyone relied on Katie. But Cassiana Hyppolite has stepped up and Sarah Marcus is playing outstanding so I think we’ll have more offensive threats.”

Hyppolite scored 13 of her career-high 27 points in the third quarter as South outscored Lake Shore, 23-14, to go ahead 38-25.

“In the second half, she came out smoking,” said McGuire. “We started to run the ball pretty good and she got a couple fast-break baskets. She got a steal for a layup. She hit two three’s and once she got fouled on a three and hit three free throws.”

Marcus added 11 points despite missing the first half with the flu.

Center Alison Marcus added a career high 10 points. Alison Couche chipped in four points, seven assists and four steals. Heather Caputi had five points.

South scored the first basket of the third quarter against Amherst but only made one bucket the rest of the quarter to trail, 38-30.

“It was a good game,” said McGuire. “I was proud of the kids. Without Katie, I didn’t know what to expect and the kids really stepped up and did a great job. They went on a run in the third quarter and we just didn’t have the firepower to come back without Katie in there.”

Marcus led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points. Hyppolite (seven points), Licata (six points) and Couche (five points) also scored for the Lady Billies.

“It was good because we didn’t rely on just one person,” McGuire said. “We moved the ball around pretty good and got some balanced scoring.”

Liz Reid led Amherst with 14 points and was 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Jodi Battaglia added 13 points and was 11-of-17 from the line. Duke’s daughter, Shannon, added seven points.

Ten South players scored against daVinci, including eight points each from Marcus, Heather Caputi, Licata and Lashay Moore. South was ahead 35-9 at halftime.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com