Girls Basketball
Defense rallies East to tournament victory
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

A diving Allie Ahern (21) feeds Corrin Genovese a pass during first round action of the Williamsville East Girls Basketball Tournament held Thursday and Friday at East. Ahern and Genovese scored 12 of the team’s first 14 points as North rolled to a 47-33 first round win. North lost to East, 37-19, in the finals. Also pictured is South’s Heather Caputi. South fell, 48-32, to Sweet Home in the consolation.

Williamsville East shrugged off slow starts in both games of its own girls basketball tournament to claim top honors for the third straight year.

Down, 13-10, to Sweet Home in the first round and, 8-4, to Williamsville North in the Williamsville East Girls Basketball Tournament finals, the Lady Flames tightened up its defense to win, 65-41, and, 37-19, respectively.

Sweet Home beat Williamsville South, 48-32, in the consolation.

North especially gave East fits in the first half, taking away the Lady Flames’ passing lanes with aggressive man to man defense. A Corrin Genovese three-pointer with five seconds left in the first half cut East’s lead to 15-13 by halftime.

Williamsville South’s Cassiana Hyppolite passes under Williamsville North’s Jen Piaggione during first half action. Photos by Joe Eberle

“We watched them play against (Williamsville) South a day before and I think our kids took them very lightly,” said East coach Chris Durr. “North knew it was a good opportunity to compete and they just hustled all over the floor in the first half, really taking us out of what we wanted to do offensively. They were in our passing lanes, up on the ball, and pressuring the ball. We turned over the ball seven times in the first quarter and didn’t come to play in that quarter.”

East finished with 18 turnovers.

Megan Klansky scored North’s only basket from the floor in the second half in the third quarter as the Lady Spartans were outscored 13-1 in the fourth.

“By pressuring them more, running our plays and maybe taking advantage of their aggressiveness with making free throws and looking for backdoor passes, the belief they were going to win the game diminished in the third quarter,” said Durr.

Durr also credited his guards, Neha Bakhai, Jessica Kowalski, Molly Bojanek, Bridget Steele and Christa Morgante for holding North to five three-point basket opportunities.

“In the second half, they tightened up their defense intensity and kept us from

getting good looks at the basket,” said North coach Mike DelValle. “We were in the game (20-18) until the last minute of the third when they had a quick steal and two free throws. Then everything started to unravel. (In the fourth), we lost our composure and once we lost it, we lost it.”

East finished 15-of-22 from the foul line and had 11 attempts in the second quarter. North was 6-of-12, 4-of-10 in the fourth quarter.

Thirty fouls were called between both teams. North’s foul troubles resulted in their best defensive player, Jill Piaggione and rebounder, Katie Kubala, as well as Allie Ahern and Klansky, sitting on the bench at times.

“We have to learn the difference between a good foul, an acceptable foul, and a bad foul, and right now, we’re committing a lot of bad fouls,” said DelValle.

Molly Bojanek led East with nine points, five rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Taylor Klun had eight points and four blocks. Kaitlin Roseti added eight points and seven rebounds. Morgante (three points), Bakhai, Kowalski, Steele and Anna Stolzenburg (two points each) and Aleece Burgio (one point) also chipped in for East.

Ahern (nine points) and Genovese (five points), both eighth graders, scored 14 of the team’s 19 points.

In the consolation, a big second half led Sweet Home to victory over South. Up 19-14 at halftime, the Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Billies, 29-18.

“I thought we played better basketball for four full quarters and was pleased with our second half efforts,” said Sweet Home coach Matt LaRoach. “I still think we have a lot to work on as we move into January and February and get ready for league play.”

With South’s Katie Ostroot (nine points, seven rebounds) in foul trouble, Sweet Home’s Kiaya Burks scored eight of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter, all off of offensive rebounds. Burks also grabbed 18 rebounds.

“Their pressure defense caused us a lot of problems plus once Katie got into foul trouble, we had no answer underneath for Burks,” said South coach Duke McGuire.

Ellie Allen added nine points, eight rebounds and five assists and Coretta Davis had seven points and 14 rebounds for Sweet Home.

“Coretta was our most consistent player in both tournament games,” said LaRoach. “I really felt like she gave 110 percent in both games and that was really evident by her efforts on the offensive and defensive boards. She just did a great job for us.”

South’s Claire Licata had an all-around great game with eight points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Sarah Marcus only made three free throws but played excellent defense, said McGuire.

East and North advanced to the finals with tournament victories on Thursday. East trailed Sweet Home but won, 65-41, while North used a red-hot first half from the floor to knock off South, 47-33.

Sweet Home led East, 13-10, after the first quarter, but only hit two baskets in the second quarter to trail, 22-19, at halftime.. They were outscored, 43-22, in the second half.

“The most frustrating part of the second half was our defense,” said LaRoach. “We just didn’t get stops when we needed to. To get outscored, 43-22, is disappointing to me because we know that our defense is better than that.”

Steele scored 10 of her 12 points in the third quarter as the Lady Flames, with a tight pressure defense, outscored Sweet Home, 20-9. Steele shot 6-for-7 from the floor along with three assists and two steals.

“She started to get to the basket a couple times and hit a few jump shots in the lane,” said Durr. “With the points that we lost last year to graduating players, we’ve needed everyone to step up. It seems like every game outside of Roseti, we have someone else stepping up.”

Roseti led all scorers with 18 points, eight rebounds, five steals, and five blocks. Roseti and Burgio scored 10 of East’s 12 points in the second quarter to establish an inside presence. Burgio finished with eight points and nine rebounds.

Klun (eight points), Morgante (seven), Bojanek (five), Bakhai (three) and Scheidemann and Stolzenburg (two each) also chipped in for East.

Davis led Sweet Home with 12 points and five assists. Nadia Durno added eight points. Allen and Burks, two of Sweet Home’s usual top scorers, was held to seven and three points, respectively. Amanda Cannizzo chipped in seven points.

“I felt that Coretta Davis stepped up again and played well for us on both ends of the floor,” said LaRoach. “She was a huge part of our success especially in the first half. I also am pleased with the efforts of Amanda Cannizzo. She did a nice job on East’s guards, playing great on the ball defense, and chipping in seven points.”

“As a team, we still struggle with putting four strong quarters of basketball together and that is what we need to work on in practice and make sure we carry into games,” he added.

Sweet Home only hit half of their free throws, 13-of-25, to East’s 12-of-19 performance. Thirty-five fouls were called between both teams in the game.

Against South, North, led by Genovese and Ahern, scored 12 of the team’s first 14 points, jumped out to a 17-7 first quarter lead and were ahead 32-15 by halftime.

“In the first half, we were able to use our speed defensively and get into transition,” said DelValle. “They were obviously bigger, especially when Katie Kubala went out (in foul trouble) so we had to use transition and speed. That’s why we picked up full court and tried to get them into a 94-foot game, which we did. Every time there was a turnover we tried to push it up before they could set up.”

In the first quarter, Genovese had 11 points. Ahern had seven points. Genovese finished with 18 points and two three’s.

“The eight graders stepped up defensively and offensively,” said DelValle. “They’ve been the catalyst. They’re the scorers.”

South outscored North, 10-3, in the third quarter, to cut it to a 10-point deficit, 35-25, but that was as close as they would get.

“They played good defense but nobody on our team was moving without the ball,” said McGuire. “We never got into a good flow offensively. In the second half, we started moving the ball little bit, got a few backdoor cuts but made one then missed one. At least we got some good opportunities.”

Kubala had eight points. Senior Kaitlyn McNally came off the bench in the second quarter to hit two three’s and finish with eight points.

Ostroot, who was coming off a knee injury, scored 11 points but missed a bunch of easy looks inside and hit only 5-of-10 free throws. She also grabbed nine rebounds.

Licata had eight points and three blocks.

East, North, Sweet Home and South all return to the league schedule at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. East (8-2, 4-1), is at Lake Shore, North (4-7, 2-3) hosts Orchard Park, Sweet Home (4-6, 3-2) travels to Lancaster, and South (3-6, 1-3) goes to West Seneca East. North also plays Maryvale at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com