By CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
PORTVILLE — Although the Lions of Wellsville fell behind rather quickly against host Portville on Friday, they made up for lost time even quicker as time passed.
With the help of Xavier Scott on the relentless attack, Wellsville turned the ship back around in the right direction and mounted a humongous comeback in the last three sets to complete a four-set triumph, scoring the 14-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-20 win to enter the holiday freeze on a positive note.
Scott led all attackers on the frontlines for the Lions (5-2) with his 10 team-high kills, pairing them with six blocks and three aces. Terrence Benz added more fuel to the fire with five kills of his own to go with two aces, while Brody Heaney chipped in with five aces from the service line, four more kills and two blocks.
Wellsville will look to pick up where they now leave off when they return to action on January 2, hosting the Eagles of Fillmore in a 6 p.m. first serve.
Franklinville girls down Cuba-Rushford in basketball
FRANKLINVILLE — On the final day of action before the Christmas break begins to settle in over the weekend, the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford were the last team in the County to hop back onto the hardwood to settle the score, Friday night.
Despite a strong start from host Franklinville to commence the game, they hung around going into the break, looking to regain their footing. But for the Lady Panthers, they had other plans as the fast start was the tip of the iceberg, as they posted a massive third quarter run against Cuba-Rushford to pull away and out of reach to claim a 50-23 home victory.
Almost immediately, the Lady Panthers made some noise with the assistance of McKenzie Chase, who scored 12 of the team’s 14 points right in the first quarter to deliver a 14-5 lead of Cuba-Rushford (2-6).
The margin would remain nine points crossing into the end of the first half, but would gradually increase over time behind Franklinville’s all-out offensive balance in the third, as they scampered off on a 21-3 run of the Lady Rebels with four different scorers propelling the team’s cause.
The Lady Rebels were paced by Lily Tompkins and her six points. Brynn Lavery chipped in with five points, while Aubrey Williams and Cloey Larabee sank a three-pointer each.
Cuba-Rushford is now off until January 3 when they return home to the Wighthouse to host Bolivar-Richburg in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Cuba-Rushford 5 7 3 8 – 23
Franklinville 14 7 21 8 – 50
CUBA-RUSHFORD: Aubrey Williams 1 0-1 3, Cloey Larabee 1 0-0 3, Lily Tompkins 3 0-0 6, Brynn Lavery 2 0-0 5, Lilly Farwell 2 0-0 4, Raegan Poore 0 2-2 2. Totals: 9 2-2 23.
FRANKLINVILLE: Taylor Chase 5 0-2 10, Sofia Bentley 2 6-8 10, Alayna Spittler 0 1-2 1, Grace Cornell 3 0-0 7, Olivia Frank 2 2-2 6, McKenzie Chase 8 0-0 16. Totals: 20 9-14 50.
3-point goals: C-R 3 (Williams, Larabee, Lavery), Franklinville 1 (Cornell).
Total Fouls: C-R 14, Franklinville 11. Fouled out: None.
Bonus girls coverage: Unbeaten Hornell girls down #1 in state Dansville
You know times are changing when a girls’ basketball game between Hornell and Dansville had more hype than the upcoming Buffalo Bills game tonight.
But the girls from both teams earned it.
Dansville came in ranked #1 in the state and Hornell, the defending Section V champions, came in ranked #4. Previews were posted, media coverage was intense, and so was the defense.
In the end, the Red Raiders of Hornell rode the wave of emotions from a great week of practice and never looked back, taking an early lead and winning at home, 75-51.
Payton Bentley and Jordyn Dyring each scored 22 points and each hit four three pointers in the win for Hornell (4-0).
“The girls had a great stretch of practices leading up to this game and it really paid off for us,” said Hornell coach Jim Dagon. “Lillian Hoyt showed great leadership in the days leading up to the game — they all worked hard, and deserve a lot of credit, but Lilly really took it upon herself to set the tone and led by example which was great to see. They committed to working hard defensively and they rebounded the ball as a team. They showed a lot of poise in a game that had a lot of hype surrounding it as well.”
Also for Hornell, Selena Maldonado scored 12 points, Lillian Hoyt had eight with two 3-pointers and Raegan Evingham scored eight.
While the stat sheet was stuffed for Hornell, Dagon said that did not matter to the Red Raiders.
“Offensively, they shared the ball extremely well; none of them care about the statistics, they just make selfless decisions to get the best shot possible,” Dagon said. “And the ones who don’t do the bulk of the scoring on certain nights commit to executing the details like defending and making hustle plays, and they don’t think twice about it.
“We’ve got the potential to have a different leading scorer each night which puts a lot of pressure on opposing defenses, and the girls do a fantastic job of playing team basketball,” Dagon continued “This was the first time this season that we put together 32 complete minutes of solid play, so as a coach I was very proud of that.”
For Dansville (7-1), Aynsley Belcher scored a game-high 29 points and ripped down 12 rebounds while
Kali Meyer had eight points, Megan Tyler scored five and Chelsie Tyler (six rebounds) had four points.
Dansville 12 10 15 14 — 51
Hornell 19 15 22 19 — 75
