Sweet Home girls play complete game, beat East
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Williamsville East girls basketball team played a good first, second and fourth quarter in its home game against Sweet Home last Tuesday. It was the third quarter where they faltered and the Lady Panthers seized the lead for good.

Ahead, 20-19, at halftime, East was outscored by Sweet Home, 17-6, in the third quarter. Sweet Home went on to win, 50-44.

"I thought we were playing well and they went on an 11-0 run to open the second half," said East coach Chris Durr. "They had three straight layups to Bianca Smiley, Gleniesha Ferby got a layup and Ellen Allen hit a shot.... Our defense in the post in the third quarter was horrendous. We cut it to four with three and a half minutes left in the game but that third quarter was brutal."

"They deserved to beat us," he added. "They played a complete four quarters."

"I thought we did a better job playing with intensity and passion on the defensive end (in the second half), which, in turn, got our offense going," said Sweet Home coach Matt LaRoach. "Defensively, I thought we did a better job of limiting possessions in the third quarter."

Free throws down the stretch helped Sweet Home protect the lead. The Lady Panthers were in the bonus midway through the third quarter. They finished 12 of 24. East went 4 of 7 from the line but Durr said all of his team's free throws came late in the fourth quarter.

"When you don't go to the free throw line in the first three quarters, that doesn't bode well for you for the rest of the game," said Durr.

Smiley was huge for the Lady Panthers. She scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked four shots.

"She continues to show great progress day after day," said LaRoach.

Ellie Allen added 15 points and was clutch down the stretch from the free throw line, shooting 5 of 6 in the fourth quarter. She also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists.

Smiley and Allen combined for 16 of Sweet Home's 19 points in the first half.

LaRoach also liked the guard play of Rachel Cimerman (four points) and Ferby (nine points).

"Both of them, along with Allen, did a nice job," said LaRoach.

East's Taylor Klun scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. Klun also grabbed nine rebounds.

Neha Bakhai (eight points), Anna Stolzenburg (six points), Bridget Steele (five points), Jordan Kowalski (four points) and Jessica Kowalski, Sarah Dipofiand Becca Rumschik (two points each) rounded out the Lady Flames' scoring.

East shot 19 of 62 from the field. Durr said his team missed a ton of layups, especially in the first half. There were also beaten on the boards, hauling in only seven on offense and 21 overall. They also only had one steal.

The win improved Sweet Home to 8-0 in ECIC II and 12-3 overall. East fell to 10-6, 6-3.

"We picked another important league win but the mood in the locker room is that we are not satisfied," said LaRoach. "We know we can play better basketball, now it's a matter of continuing the hard work in practice to get us where we want to be as we get into February."

Sweet Home is ranked fourth in Western New York large schools; East is 10th.

Sweet Home played at Iroquois on Tuesday but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Lake Shore at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

East followed up the Sweet Home loss with a 44-27 win last Thursday at Lake Shore.

To shake up the lineup, Durr started Dipofi, Ostanski, Rumschik, Burgio and Jordan Kowalski.

The Lady Flames were in control the entire way. They led, 8-2, after the first quarter, 23-13, at halftime, and 31-21, after the third quarter.

"Losing the way we did against Sweet Home, it was important that we played well," said Durr. "We got good contributions from some of the younger kids and some of the subs."

Steele led East with 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 2 for 2 from threes. She also dished out five assists.

Steele was followed by Klun (nine points), Aleece Burgio (seven points, seven rebounds), Rumschik and Stolzenberg (four points each; Rumschik hit a three); Kristen Ostanski (three-pointer), Courtney Hawkins, Ally Kotz and Jessica Kowalski (two points each) and Jordan Kowalski (one point).

East shot 18 for 50 and 4 of 5 from three-point range.

East (10-6, 6-3) hosts Hamburg at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and travels to Williamsville South at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.