Girls hoops
Big first half deficit too much for East to overcome in tourney finals
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Lockport went on a 23-4 run to close out the first half en route to defeating Williamsville East, 54-41, in the finals of the 25th Kiwanis Tournament on Saturday at Lockport High School.

"I thought we started great," said East coach Chris Durr. "We were ahead 9-8 with two minutes to go in the first half. Lockport called a timeout and after the timeout, they went on their run."

Durr said Lockport used an aggressive man to man defense to take his team out of their offensive rhythm, causing four straight turnovers in the second quarter alone.

"We had seven possessions from the end of the first quarter to the second where we didn't even get off a shot," Durr added.

Tournament MVP Lindsay Burke of Lockport scored 14 of her game-high 22 points in the first half. Her sister, Bridget, scored 15.

Durr said when his team started to run its offense in the first half, they missed five straight wide open layups. East trailed, 31-13, at halftime.

"That's a big ten points right there," said Durr. "If we make them, the score is 31-23 at halftime instead of 31-13."

Lockport, ranked third among Western New York large schools, led, East, ranked tenth, 40-24, after the third quarter but Durr felt his team played with a lot more enthusiasm in the second half.

"It was just too big of a deficit to come back," he added.

East finished 16 for 40 from the floor, had 12 empties (shots inside the lane), and only grabbed four rebounds.

Bridget Steele led East with nine points. All-tournament selection Kaitlin Roseti (seven points), Courtney Hawkins (six), Christa Morgante and Aleece Burgio (five each), Ally Kotz (three), Jessica Kowalski and Taylor Klun (two each) and Neha and Pooja Bakhai (one each) also scored.

East beat a depleted Nardin team, 35-24, on Friday. All Nardin seniors, including Kendra Brim, who is headed to Colgate University, were on a senior trip.

"I think there was kind of a letdown because we weren't playing as good a team as we should have been playing," said Durr. "I also think we took them lightly."

East led, 8-5, after the first quarter, 18-8, at halftime and, 27-17, after the third quarter.

The Lady Flames won despite shooting 28 percent (15 for 55) from the floor and 20 empties.

Meghan Schiedemann had her best game of the season with eight points and nine rebounds. Roseti only scored three points but hauled a career-high 16 rebounds and blocked five shots. Steele, recipient of the tournament's all-hustle award, scored six points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Morgante (three points, six rebounds) Molly Bojanek (six points), Kowalski and Klun (four points each) and Anna Stolzenburg (one point) also contributed.

The East JV came in second at the Lockport tournament, finishing the season with a 17-3 record. They went 12-0 in the league for the sixth consecutive year.

East, who hadn't played in a Section VI prequarterfinal game in five years, hosted West Seneca East on Tuesday. Results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. If East (16-4, 10-2), seeded fifth, wins, they play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at McKinley (15-5).

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com