Defense helps Sweet Home girls defeat East
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East's Neha Bakhai dribbles past Lake Shore's Kaileigh Hubbard last Friday during the Lady Flames' 49-15 home win. Also pictured is East's Anna Stolzenburg, far right. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Sweet Home's defense, combined with Williamsville East's poor shooting, led the Lady Panthers to a huge 46-38 ECIC Division II league win last Tuesday at East.

"This was a nice league win for us," said Sweet Home coach Matt LaRoach. "The key for us was our defense and being able to play four quarters of basketball."

"They played great and we didn't," added East coach Chris Durr.

Durr said his team shot 15 for 50 from the floor in the game and missed 12 empties, balls in the lane within five feet from the basket that he feels his team should score.

"When you lose by eight points and you miss 12 shots that should go in and you shoot 30 percent from the floor, that will really kill you," said Durr.

Sweet Home opened the game with a 6-0 run, but East closed out the first quarter on a 14-3 run to lead 14-9. The Lady Flames extended the score to 20-12 in the second quarter, but Sweet Home went on a 13-2 run to go ahead, 25-22, at halftime.

Sweet Home's Gleniesha Ferby fires a shot between Iroquois' Andrea Sauers (32) and Jaclyn Lawrence (23) last Friday during the Lady Panthers' 50-42 home win. Sweet Home is 5-1 overall, 3-0 in ECIC Division II. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

"The last four minutes of the first half was brutal," said Durr. "To allow a team to go on a 13-2 run to take a three-point lead is tough."

Sweet Home tightened up its defense and extended the lead to eight and 10 points in the second half. Sweet Home was ahead, 38-30, after three quarters.

"Whenever we could get stops, we would cut their lead to six, but then they would score and push it to eight," said Durr. "Sweet Home also made some key stops on us."

"I really thought our defensive ball pressure was better down the stretch to help us pick up the win," added LaRoach. "Our guards (Ellie Allen, Gleniesha Ferby and Amanda Cannizzo) did a nice job defensively, and our forwards (Nadia Durno, Bianca Smiley, Laura Nerber and Heather Kolbas) were battling with their constant high-low game."

Sweet Home had nice balance on offense. Allen, Ferby and Smiley each scored 12 points. Allen also had nine rebounds and seven assists. Smiley grabbed seven rebounds.

LaRoach said Cannizzo (eight points, six in second half) stepped up big for the team and made some key shots when needed.

Aleece Burgio and Taylor Klun each scored eight points to lead East. Burgio also hauled in eight rebounds. Anna Stolzenburg (six points, six rebounds), Neha Bakhai (six points, hit a three), Jessica Kowalski and Bridget Steele (five points each) also scored for East.

"It's nice to have six players score, but we need players in double-digits to beat better teams," said Durr.

Durr wanted his team to play with more passion and intensity on Friday at home against Lake Shore, and the Lady Flames responded by walloping them, 49-15.

East built a 16-2 first-quarter lead, extended it to 20-7 at halftime and was ahead, 37-11, after three quarters.

The Lady Flames actually shot worse against Lake Shore, shooting 19 of 66 (29 percent) but made 20 steals and committed only 11 turnovers compared to six steals and 22 turnovers against Sweet Home. East also had 10 empties.

"I felt we defended better, which gave us a lot more opportunities to score," said Durr. "We also rebounded better."

No East player was in double figures but 10 Lady Flames scored. Jessica Kowalski led with eight points followed by Stolzenburg (seven points, seven rebounds), Burgio (six points), Becca Rumschik (five points), Klun (five points), Steele (five points, four steals, four assists), Bakhai (four points, nine rebounds, five steals), Ally Kotz (four points), Sarah Dipofi(three points) and Courtney Hawkins (two points).

East (4-2, 1-1), ranked tied for seventh among Western New York large schools, played at Clarence on Tuesday, but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They travel to Hamburg for a 7:30 p.m. game on Thursday. Hamburg beat East twice in the regular season, but the Lady Flames beat them in the playoffs.

Sweet Home, ranked sixth among Western New York large schools, improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in league play with a 50-42 home win last Friday over Iroquois.

LaRoach said his team had to battle from horn to horn to win. Sweet Home led, 13-7, after the first quarter but got into foul trouble in the second quarter and had a few defensive breakdowns that allowed Iroquois to outscore the Lady Panthers, 21-9, to lead 28-22 by halftime.

"I was not happy with that quarter," said LaRoach. "We cannot give up that many points in one quarter and expect to be in a position to win."

After halftime, Sweet Home picked up its defense and outscored Iroquois, 15-8, in the third to take a 37-36 advantage. The Lady Panthers had a 13-6 run in the fourth to outscore the Lady Chiefs, 28-14, in the second half.

Allen led all scorers with 19 points. She also had 10 rebounds and five assists. Nerber and Ferby each added seven points.

"Allen was big for us," said LaRoach. "She had four strong quarters of basketball on both ends of the court. I was also very happy with the guard play of Rachel Cimerman and Gleniesha Ferby. Cimerman stepped up, played a lot of minutes and helped us be in a position to win the ball game. Our forwards, Bianca Smiley, Nadia Durno, and Laura Nerber, did a nice job of being physical on the interior game."

Iroquois was led by Grace Cunningham's 14 points and Rachel Sluberski's 10 points.

Sweet Home travels to Lake Shore at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com