East takes runner-up at Bloomfield Tournament
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

For the second year in a row, Williamsville East's girls basketball team was a bridesmaid at the Bloomfield Tournament.

The Lady Flames defeated Bloomfield, a Class C New York State finalist last year, 49-44, in the first round last Friday, but fell to Nazareth, 62-45, in Saturday's final. Both games were held at Bloomfield High School in Rochester.

East defeated Nazareth, 37-36, in the first round last year and lost to Bloomfield, 35-22, in the final.

The Lady Flames trailed Nazareth, 15-14, after the first quarter, but committed 10 of its 26 turnovers in the second quarter and was outscored 21-6. Eleven of the 21 points were scored by junior forward Megan Morell, who finished with 20. She hit three straight three-pointers in the second quarter and finished with four threes.

"You can't turn over the ball 26 times and give them 21 points in the second quarter," said East coach Chris Durr. "We want to hold teams to around 40 points because our offense is scoring by committee."

East held Nazareth's best player, 6-foot-2 center Nicole Jones, headed to Division I University of Massachusetts, to nine points. Guard Alyssa Santos added 11 points.

Nazareth led, 53-35, after the third quarter.

Senior forward Anna Stolzenburg scored a career-high 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor to lead East. She had 14 points by halftime. She also grabbed five rebounds.

"When she got it in the high post, she took a shot a couple of times or dribbled once and took it to the lane and put it up," said Durr.

Becca Rumschik (seven points), Courtney Hawkins (six points), Aleece Burgio (four points), Taylor Klun (four points, nine rebounds), and Neha Bakhai, Jessica Kowalski and Bridget Steele (two points each) also scored for the Lady Flames.

East made 21-of-41 shots but were beaten inside, shooting 0 for 3 at the free throw line to Nazareth's 7 for 20.

East overcame a horrible shooting day early to defeat Bloomfield.

The Lady Flames started the game 0 for 11 and trailed 10-2 at the end of the first quarter. They finished the quarter shooting 1 for 14.

"We were getting open looks - 12-foot jump shots, 15-footers from the wing - and nothing fell," said Durr.

Trailing 22-13 at halftime, East opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run and outscored Bloomfield, 18-6, to go up 31-28, by the end of the quarter.

"We finally started knocking down some threes that weren't there in the first half," said Durr. "Steele and Rumschik each hit threes in the third and fourth quarters."

The closest Bloomfield cut into East's lead in the fourth was three points. Bloomfield only made two baskets in the fourth but hit 13 of 14 free throws. Bloomfield was 22 of 28 from the foul line in the game. East went 10 for 21.

Bloomfield was led by Brittany White (24 points) and Sarah Hunt (17 points).

East's Jessica Kowalski scored seven of her nine points in the fourth. Klun (eight points, career high 13 rebounds), Steele (10 points), Rumschik (eight points), Burgio (eight points), Stolzenburg (four points) and Bakhai (two points, eight rebounds) also chipped in.

East opened its season with a 35-32 non-league home win last Wednesday against Lockport.

The Lady Flames led the entire game (11-4, first quarter; 17-12 halftime; 27-20 third quarter) but Lockport pressed and kept cutting into the deficit, eventually taking a 32-31 advantage with 50 seconds left on a five-foot jump shot by Kim Harrington.

Durr said his team got fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one, Lockport came down missed a shot, his team rebounded and Bakhai was fouled with 20 seconds left to play. Bakhai made both foul shots to put East ahead, 33-32.

After a Lockport timeout, its best player, Lindsey Burke, missed a 10-foot turnaround jumper. East rebounded, called a timeout and ran an inbounds play. Jessica Kowalski (seven points) was fouled with four seconds left and hit both free throws.

"I was proud of the way we handled having the lead, losing it and getting it back," said Durr. "You usually don't practice end of the game situations like that in the preseason. They didn't get flustered, especially when Steele fouled out. This will be a game that will pay dividends down the road."

Bakhai and Burgio each scored eight points to lead East. Rumschik (six points) ran the point after Steele fouled out with 2.5 minutes left. Steele was held scoreless and dished five assists.

Stolzenburg (three points, nine rebounds) and Klun (three points, eight rebounds) also scored for the Lady Flames.

Lockport's methodical man-to-man defense held East to 12 of 42 shooting. Durr said his team normally shoots 50 or 60 shots in a game.

East made 11 of 16 free throws and 4 of 5 in the fourth.

East (2-1) started a three-game homestand on Tuesday against West Seneca East. The result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Sweet Home at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com