South plays inconsistent, splits nonleague games
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South's inconsistency showed in two nonleague girls basketball games last week at home.

Last Tuesday, the Lady Billies defeated Hutch-Tech, 54-34, and last Friday, fell to St. Mary's of Lancaster, 48-31.

"The inconsistency is driving me nuts," said South coach Erik Solomon. "We beat Hutch-Tech by 20 but we didn't play that great. Against St. Mary's, who I feel is team we're evenly matched up with, we collapsed."

The St. Mary's score is not indicative of how close the game was played. St. Mary's led, 8-6, after the first quarter, 23-16 at halftime and 27-22 after three quarters. The Lady Lancers outscored South, 21-8, in the fourth quarter.

"It seemed liked every shot that St. Mary's threw (up in the fourth quarter) went in," said Solomon.

While the Lady Lancers seemed to break out of their scoring slump, South couldn't. The Lady Billies shot 20 percent from two-point range, 7 percent from three-point range and 55 percent from the free throw line.

"I've never seen it happen for an entire game," said Solomon of shooting poorly. "Usually you can shoot yourself out of it. It got to the point where we couldn't even put in a layup."

South's two best shooters, sophomore Sarah Marcus and junior Cassiana Hyppolite, combined for seven points on 3-of-33 shooting (Marcus 1 of 17; Hyppolite 2 of 16).

"You don't win games when you shoot like that," said Solomon.

Freshman Joanna Ostroot came off the bench and scored 13 points. Junior Allison Couche and sophomore Heather Caputi each chipped in four points. Caputi's points helped South get back in the game in the third quarter.

St. Mary's outrebounded South on the offensive end, 9-3, in the first half. South held St. Mary's to three offensive boards in the second half but by then, St. Mary's was making shots.

"For an undersized team, they were fantastic rebounders," said Solomon.

Senior Claire Licata grabbed 10 rebounds followed by Hyppolite (seven), Marcus (five) and Ostroot (four).

South opened a 16-3 first-quarter advantage over Hutch-Tech to 24-12 at halftime and 36-22 after three quarters.

Hyppolite got off to a quick start, scoring seven of her 11 points in the first quarter. Marcus added a three-pointer in the first quarter and finished the game with 14. She had six in the third quarter.

Senior Molly Hofher (eight points), Caputi (seven points), Ostroot (six points, six rebounds) and Licata (nine rebounds) also contributed for the Lady Billies.

South (3-4, 2-2) will try to get off the losing skid at the Williamsville East Holiday Tournament this week at East. The Lady Billies face Williamsville North in the first round at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The winner faces either Williamsville East or Newfane at 4 p.m. (consolation) or 5:30 p.m. (final) on Friday.