South girls hoops enters sectionals on win streak
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South's girls basketball team heads into the Section VI Class A-1 Tournament on a roll.

Winners of its last five of six games, the Lady Billies (10-10, 6-6), seeded ninth, played at eighth-seed Iroquois on Tuesday but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. The winner plays at top-seed Hamburg at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Last Thursday, South's Allison Couche sank two free throws with less than 20 seconds remaining to lift the Lady Billies to a 54-50 home win over Iroquois.

"It was a tight game down the stretch," said South coach Duke McGuire. "Besides the beginning of the game, I don't think any anybody outscored anybody by four or five points the rest of the way."

Iroquois led, 15-14, after the first period, but South tied it at 24-24 by halftime. South was ahead, 40-39, after the third quarter.

Sarah Marcus paced the Lady Billies with 24 points, 19 coming in the second half.

"She did a good job switching the ball in the zone and getting out when we ran our offense," said McGuire.

Katie Ostroot scored only six points but grabbed 15 rebounds, stole four passes, and dished three assists.

Heather Caputi came off the bench in the second quarter and hit 4 of 4 free throws.

South outscored Niagara Catholic, 16-8, in the third quarter en route to a 54-41 non-league home win on Friday to close out the regular season.

Cassiana Hyppolite scored six of her eight points in the third quarter, including a four-point play to jump start the team.

Ostroot scored six of her 16 points in the third. She had 12 rebounds and three assists. Marcus added 14 points.

Williamsville North

The Lady Spartans led ECIC I powerhouse Lancaster, 16-15, at halftime on Feb. 13 but poor shooting in the second half ended any hopes of a late-season road upset.

North was outscored, 27-12, in the second half, including 17-1 in the third quarter as Lancaster went on to win, 42-28.

"No matter what we shot in the third quarter didn't go in," said North coach Mike DelValle. "We had some good looks that didn't drop. It wasn't so much as them shutting us down as much as we were off."

Corrin Genovese led North with six points. Jill Piaggione and Katie Kubala each scored five. Allie Ahern added four points.

Lancaster's Barb Kiliszek led all scorers with 21 points. She hit four threes.

North (6-14, 4-10), seeded 12th in the Section VI Class AA prequarterfinals, played at fifth-seed Clarence (11-9) on Tuesday but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. The winner plays 12th-seed West Seneca West or fourth-seed Orchard Park at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com