Girls Basketball
Sacred Heart overcomes early shooting woes, improves to 10-0
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sacred Heart couldn't buy a basket in the first half at Nichols last Monday but that all changed in the second half.

The Sharks, who shot just 17 percent in the first half, made 57 percent of their attempts in the second half to defeat Nichols, 58-50.

"It was really tough," said Sacred Heart coach Sister Maria Pares. "In the first half, we couldn't buy a bucket. In the second half, we made a couple adjustments on our press, took some good shots, hit three's and grabbed weak side rebounds."

Natalie Coppola (16 points) and Katie Keller (13 points) combined for seven of Sacred Heart's eight three-pointers in the game. They hit two three's each in a 23-10 Shark third quarter to overcome a 24-19 Nichols halftime advantage. Keller also had six steals.

"The good thing is they didn't get down on themselves," said Pares. "They stayed with the game plan."

Krystal Watson scored seven points inside despite battling the flu. Meaghan Daley added seven points for the Sharks.

Moriah Camp scored 14 to lead Nichols.

The Sharks (10-0, 2-0) played at Starpoint on Tuesday but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press.

Williamsville North

North coach Mike DelValle said his team has played one bad quarter in almost every game this season and it continued in a home game with Lancaster last Tuesday.

The Lady Redskins outscored the Lady Spartans, 22-7, in the first quarter en route to a 49-37 victory. DelValle said at least 14 of Lancaster's first quarter points came off of North turnovers that led to layups.

"We came out flat and they came out aggressive and before we knew it, it was 10-2 them," said DelValle. "We made a couple of adjustments but it took a little while for them to catch on."

Besides the first quarter, North outscored Lancaster, 30-27, the rest of the game. Lancaster led, 27-12, at halftime and, 46-27, after the third quarter.

Corrin Genovese scored half of North's points with 20. She hit three three-pointers in the second half, scored 10 points in the third quarter and another six in the fourth.

Katie Kubala added eight points.

Barb Kiliszek (10 points), Melissa Markut (16 points) and Danielle Martzolf (14 points) scored 40 of Lancaster's 49 points.

Lancaster was also better from the free throw line, making 11-of-15 attempts to North's 6-of-13.

The Lady Spartans (4-9, 2-6) play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Frontier. One of North's two ECIC Division I wins came over Frontier earlier in the season.

"We have to play a solid game," said DelValle. "In almost every game we play one bad quarter and it usually costs us the game. But we never quit. We come out at you."

Williamsville South

The Lady Billies fell to 2-4 in ECIC Division II and 4-7 overall in a 54-45 road loss at Iroquois last Tuesday.

South never led and trailed, 26-23, at halftime and, 38-36, after the third quarter.

South couldn't buy a basket, said Lady Billies coach Duke McGuire.

"I wasn't disappointed at all," he added. "We did what we could."

Sarah Marcus paced South with 17 points. Claire Licata (12 points) and Katie Ostroot (eight points) also scored for South.

The Lady Billies return to action at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Williamsville East.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com