Photos and story by CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
BATH — Whenever an all-out defensive war between two foes breaks out, the contest itself now breaks down into a battle of wits. The most minute details matter the most in the endgame stages. On Saturday at the 7th Annual Dan Barkley Showcase, both Avoca/Prattsburgh and Fillmore were tasked with that scenario that stemmed right from beginning to the very end.
With both teams trading back and forth barbs across all 32 minutes of play in the Showcase’s third and final girls contest of the slate, it was only appropriate for the defensive battle to carry onward into extra time to settle the score.
The pace that was established by both teams was no different come overtime. It was a case of who wanted it more down the stretch. After some crucial turnovers in the waning seconds of the only extra session in the contest, it came down to the most minute of details: free throw shooting.
Marissa Reid stepped up to the plate and delivered big time.
The Lady Titans junior faced the overexuberant amount of pressure with 2.3 seconds remaining on the clock, with ease, as she pulverized two massive free throws with a one-point lead already in hand, extending Avoca/Prattsburgh’s lead just enough over the Lady Eagles to secure win No. 5 overall for Steuben County by a 40-37 count in overtime.
“It was a battle, and Avoca/Prattsburgh is a good team,” Lady Eagles coach Tom Parks said. “They’re bigger than us, everyone was bigger than us, but we knew that we were going to be in for a battle like this. We have players with lots of game experience, but they haven’t been in a lot of tense end-of-game situations, yet let alone an overtime game. I thought they did some good things in certain regards, and were a little nervous in others. This game was good for us to have to show us how to be better in big moments.”
The largest lead held by either team over the course of the contest was six points. That was awarded to Avoca/Prattsburgh at the end of the first half, where they had to fight stride for stride with Fillmore (6-3) through an opening quarter that saw their early lead decrease with the help of a pair of nifty fingerrolls up to the basket from Hope Russell.
The defenses would work into a defensive groove come the second quarter, when multiple miscues were forced on each side to create chances that neither team was able to provide punctuations for, especially in the last 2:30 of the opening half. Later on, the battle worked its way towards a 16-16 tie after a three-point play by Preslee Miller for the Lady Eagles. That, before the Lady Titans (7-6) ended the opening half with a buzzer-beating bucket from Reid to finish with a 6-0 run.
In exchange for Avoca/Prattsburgh’s end to the first half, Fillmore would come along with a strong third quarter which ultimately saw their first outright lead of the game come with under a minute left in the frame. With Mattie McCumiskey finishing off a massive three-point play, and then a quick steal-and-go from Hope Russell to add more to the fire, the Lady Eagles soared to the top with possession of the defensive battle going into the fourth quarter, up by two.
For the remaining eight minutes, each team would trade back and forth spurts on offense, including a huge game-tying basket from Emma Carlton from just inside the arc, knocking one down with ease inside the left wing to tie the game at 33 going into overtime.
Despite some early hiccups, the Lady Titans were able to finish the job, as they survived one final defensive battle with the Lady Eagles to secure the win in overtime.
Avoca/Prattsburgh was led by Reid, who had 15 game-high points for the Lady Titans. Kamryn Edwards concluded with nine points, while Diane Hakes and Emma Carlton each recorded six. On the other side, Fillmore was led by Hope Russell’s 11 points. Grace Russell and Mattie McCumiskey followed with six, while Madi Geertman had six points.
The Lady Titans are now off until Wednesday night back on the road, as they visit Jasper-Troupsburg for a 6 p.m. visit. As for the Lady Eagles, they’re back on their home floor one day earlier, on Tuesday, when they host the Houghton Academy Lady Panthers in a 4:30 p.m. contest on Tuesday.
Avoca/Prattsburgh 10 12 5 6 7 — 40
Fillmore 9 7 13 4 4 — 37
AVOCA-PRATTSBURGH: D’Mariannah Hinson-Pike 0 1-2 1, Diane Hakes 3 0-0 6, Emma Carlton 3 0-0 6, Makenna Schlesing 1 1-4 3, Kamryn Edwards 4 1-4 9, Marissa Reid 5 5-6 15. Totals 16 8-16 40.
FILLMORE: Hope Russell 5 1-2 11, Grace Russell 3 1-1 7, Amelia ROse 1 0-2 2, Mattie McCumiskey 3 1-3 7, Preslee Miller 1 2-3 4, Madi Geertman 3 0-0 6. Totals: 16 5-11 37
3-point goals: None
Total Fouls: A/P 15, F 15 Fouled Out: none
CANISTEO-GREENWOOD vs. ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: In battle of neighboring local elites, C-G’s 1st half defense holds And/Whi, as juggernaut offense sets table for 63-47 win to record Showcase win for Steuben County
BATH — To say that the Canisteo-Greenwood Lady Redskins are on an absolute roll, that would be one of the biggest understatements through the midseason. With enormous and exceptional wins over opponents like Wellsville, Hornell, Addison and a last second victory over Dansville in the wagon, Canisteo-Greenwood has been untouchable.
With a three-headed monster consisting of Lillian and Bailey Mullen, as well as the centerpiece to their electric offense in Brooke Burd, the trio has dominated the floor game in and game out, providing an overwhelming presence that has become a mainstay all throughout the season. One that has continued to render them untouchable.
Lady Redskins head coach Les York says after spending so much time together on the floor, when it be for their school or on the road partaking in travel basketball, watching his three offensive stalwarts grow into incredible basketball players has been absolutely compelling to witness during his time with the program.
“Bailey, Brooke and Lillian, they are maturing into basketball players. They are understanding the idea of basketball IQ,” he said. “They know the game, they play travel games. It’s been great, but the three of them together? They’ve grown up since starting to play together. They won a lot of games growing up, but now have the basketball IQ to see the floor really well. Lillian isn’t quite scoring as much as she normally does, but we spread the ball out so well so they can’t double team her. She’s handing out assists, she’s running the floor, she’s our ‘Team General’, and now I call her clutch because of the shot she had against Dansville,”
York added on, noting that “Brooke has played center like a center. She covered all the bigs from Dansville, Hornell, Cuba-Rushford, two girls from Arkport. She shut them all down. And she has learned offense and done so well with it. All three of them have learned so much, and have done so well.”
Saturday afternoon’s visit to the 7th Annual Dan Barkley Showcase in Bath would give them another opportunity to make some more noise against the defending Class D2 Champions, Andover/Whitesville, fronted by the brilliant play of Vanessa Hall.
The first order of business was pressure. Although at first glance Andover/Whitesville navigated their way through it to keep pace behind the Lady Redskins, it would ultimately reach a boiling point later on.
In the second quarter, the Lady Redskins would take over.
To close out the first half, Canisteo-Greenwood garnered contributions from almost every angle on the floor from their three dynamic scorers, as the team accounted for a 20-6 run through the second quarter to pull away towards victory, despite a late Andover/Whitesville spark in the second half, clinching the overall Showcase victory for Steuben County with their fourth win, as well as their 13th straight of the season by a 63-47 count.
“When a team can attack you from a bunch of different ways, scoring from the inside and outside, it’s going to hurt,” Andover/Whitesville co-coach Jake Bannerman said. “When you try to stop one thing, they dump it down to Burd. After the initial shock of playing them, I thought we did a good job. Fillmore was tough, but this team has a number of weapons. They are going to do well, and they’re undefeated for a reason. Despite today, we saw some positive things even though we were down a couple of players who average 30 minutes a game for us. Other girls stepped up and got a ton of minutes.”
Because of the pressure out of the gate, the Lady Redskins (13-0) were able to capitalize on the start they wanted to have against Andover/Whitesville, going forth to score eight of the first 10 points. The bulk of which were scored off turnovers forced from the pressure, and punctuated later by both Lillian and Bailey Mullen.
But despite some early trouble, Vanessa Hall was able to get Andover/Whitesville (7-2) back on their feet with a response, netting the next five herself to knock the deficit down to five. The deficit would ultimately wind up being six going into the second quarter, as the Lady Redskins wrapped up shop with a 16-10 lead.
The pressure being stacked against Andover/Whitesville by the Lady Redskins would see a drastic escalation come the second quarter, jump-starting another run in the process of it to eclipse double digit territory, led by their three main playmakers on offense. In all, a 20-6 half-ending run was gathered, as Canisteo-Greenwood closed out in complete command of a 36-16 lead.
“I preach every day in practice about working harder on defense, and we’ve done that in the last two weeks than we have all year,” said York. “Vanessa is a great player and she’s No. 2 out of thousands of players in Section V. We had to do something to stop her, and she still had 29 points. She’s just a great player. Another thing we did well, on offense, they moved the ball around so well. They played and shifted so fast, no one can pass or bounce like that. Hats off to those kids, they played beautiful basketball. I think we had 14 assists. That’s 28 big points off of that.”
After Canisteo-Greenwood started the second half red hot once more, Andover/Whitesville would navigate their way through rough waters to deliver a strong finish to the third quarter. Led by Hall and her back-to-back three-point spark, as well as a buzzer-beating shot from Graci Lewis-Ellison, the team would finish with 11 of the last 13 points to build a ball of momentum going into the last portion of time, trimming the deficit down in the process.
“I think we had 16 points at halftime, and then we ended up finishing with 47,” said Bannerman. “We did a much better job on offense. Missing Kennedy (Bledsoe) today, a starter, and then Zoe (Baert) goes down in the first three minutes, it was tough. We had Olivia Waters come up from JV to give us a ton of minutes, and the rest of the girls worked their tails off to keep us in it. We missed a few buckets early, but if we can have that effort going forward, we are going to do a lot of damage.”
But the spark was ultimately blown out by the Lady Redskins in the last eight minutes of play, as they created one final strong finish to the game to wrap up the Showcase in Steuben County’s favor with the fourth and final clinching victory of the kit and caboodle.
Both Lillian and Bailey Mullen earned Player of the Game nods for the Lady Redskins, with Bailey leading all scorers with her game-high 24 points and seven rebounds. Lillian followed behind with 16 points to go with 14 assists to record the first double-double for the team, while Burd followed with the next behind 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Hall led Andover/Whitesville with four of the team’s six three-pointers, on her way towards a game-high 29 point performance. Lewis-Ellison would finish with seven points, while Gabby Terhune had six. Andover/Whitesville will now take some time off to prepare for a 7:30 p.m. battle on Thursday on the road, visiting the Wellsville Lady Lions.
Canisteo-Greenwood will head back home come Wednesday night, as they get set to battle the Alfred-Almond Lady Eagles in a 6 p.m. tip-off.
Canisteo-Greenwood 16 20 17 10 — 63
Andover/Whitesville 10 6 19 12 — 47
CANISTEO-GREENWOOD: Bailey Mullen 9 6-8 24, Elaine Roach 1 0-0 2, Kennedy Richardson 1 0-0 2, Lillian Mullen 7 2-3 16, Payton Peters 1 0-2 2, Brooke Burd 8 1-2 17. Totals 27 9-15 63.
ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: Vanessa Hall 11 3-4 29, Graci Lewis-Ellison 3 0-0 7, Gabby Terhune 3 0-0 6, Gabbi Hall 1 0-0 3, Olivia Waters 1 0-1 2. Totals: 19 3-5 47.
3-point goals: A/W 6 (V. Hall 4, Lewis-Ellison, G. Hall).
Total Fouls: C-G 12, A/W 12. Fouled Out: None.
ADDISON and GV/BELFAST: Addison’s Ames catches fire from three-point land, nails 4 1st half treys to set tone in team’s 57-28 rolling of GV/Belfast to open Showcase’s 7th installment
BATH — Rebounding can become a crucial part to the game of basketball. With just one grab off the glass, it can also provide a swing of momentum along with it. For the Lady Knights of Addison, it was an aspect that they dominated from start to finish to open the 7th Annual Dan Barkley Showcase on Saturday in Bath.
And that momentum? — Jillian Ames swung for the fences.
After both the Lady Knights and Genesee Valley/Belfast battled through a quiet, defensive battle in the first quarter, the heat was turned up a notch by the team in maroon, as Ames caught fire from outside with four first half three-pointers to help set a powerful tone that was never lowered, giving Addison the ultimate 57-28 victory to open the five-game slate with Steuben County’s third win of the series.
“I think Jill stepped up big time and hit some big shots early on. She allowed us to get confident, and everyone leaned on her to come through,” said Lady Knights coach Corey Driskell. “She carried us and shot really well, although we lost a player early. Everyone stepped up, and one of our big focuses has been rebounding. We can’t allow other teams to get a second opportunity, and today we really crashed the boards. We have a tough game with Bath on Monday, so hopefully today’s game allowed us to set the tone and give them a run for their money.”
Right alongside Genesee Valley/Belfast, Addison (9-2) had to weave their way through a slow, defensive start in the opening eight minutes of play. A frame that saw them grab the upper hand behind some key offensive rebounds and transform them into points, garnering a 10-6 lead at the end of it.
The momentum shifted into the second where the Lady Knights began to dig a deep hole for Genesee Valley/Belfast (6-5), firing on all cylinders inside and out after their lead was trimmed down to a single basket, as they went on to score 12 straight points in the first three minutes to create a buffer zone that would remain intact from that point forward.
Ames had a hand in all of that first half success by finding her stroke from downtown, netting four first half three-pointers with the rest of the Lady Knights following her lead going into the break up by 15.
Addison would post one final run in the third quarter — their biggest stand of offense of the day, as they cashed in on a 20-7 jaunt of their opposition to help cement the third overall victory for Steuben County in the Showcase, moving them one step closer to record the overall series win for this year’s edition.
Ames earned Player of the Game honors behind her early sequence efforts, as she totaled a game-high 21 points to lead Addison. Kerrigan Driskell continued charging the offense with 10 points of her own, while Erin Terwilliger had eight to chip in.
Genesee Valley/Belfast was paced by Mary Hamer, who scored 18 team-high points.
Addison will return to Bath-Haverling on Monday, as they get set to face the host Lady Rams in a 7 p.m. tip-off, while Genesee Valley/Belfast now takes time away to regroup, returning to action on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. home battle in Belfast against Hinsdale.
Addison 10 19 20 10 – 57
Genesee Valley/Belfast 6 8 7 7 – 28
ADDISON: Makayla Miller 2 0-0 2, Kerrigan Driskell 5 0-0 10, Chiara Lai 2 0-0 4, Kendra McLean 2 1-2 3, Erin Terwilliger 3 2-2 8, Jillian Ames 8 0-0 21, Bailee Jackson 3 0-0 7, Bregan Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 3-4 57.
GV/BELFAST: Anna Drozdowski 1 3-6 6, Kendra Bigelow 2 0-0 4, Mary Hamer 7 4-5 18. Totals: 10 9-11 28.
3-point goals: Addison 6 (Ames 5, Jackson) GVB 1 (Hamer)
Total Fouls: Addison 11, GVB 9. Fouled out: None.
Photo gallery of the Barkley Showcase girls games from Saturday by Chris Brooks:
