Wellsville Lady Lions roll past Olean, 46-27, on the road

Coach Toney: Defense has been our calling card

From the Sports Desk, photo of #25 Jaden Dunbar by Ella Green

The Wellsville Lady Lions turned in a complete four-quarter performance Wednesday night, pulling away early and never looking back in a convincing 46-27 road win over Olean.

Wellsville set the tone from the opening tip, edging ahead 8-6 after the first quarter before tightening up defensively and expanding the gap to 16-9 at halftime. The Lady Lions delivered their biggest punch in the third quarter, outscoring Olean 16-11, then closed strong with a 14-7 fourth quarter to seal the win.

Balanced scoring leads the way

Wellsville’s offense was spread across the lineup, with several players contributing key points and effort on both ends:

• Caelyn. Stevens (#3) led the Lady Lions with 8 points, while also adding a strong all-around stat line including 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block.
• Addison Hennessy (#12) also scored 8 points, helping pace the Lions’ offensive push.
• Emily Stuck (#15) matched them with 8 points as Wellsville continued to get production from multiple positions.

Additional scoring came from Haley Cowburn (#4) with 6 points, Reagan Vogel (#23) with 5, and contributions from several others to keep the pressure on.

Defense and rebounding set the difference

Wellsville’s defensive intensity was a major factor, holding Olean to just 27 points and forcing 17 turnovers. The Lady Lions also made life difficult for Olean shooters throughout the night.

While Olean held the rebounding edge (36-24), Wellsville made the most of its chances, using ball movement and timely stops to control the game.

Coach Toney was very happy with the work on defense:

“Our defense has kind of been our calling card the last 4 or 5 games and I’m glad that we kept that going tonight. We hit some stretches where the ball doesn’t want to find the bucket, but with the energy and the effort on the defensive it hasn’t comeback to bite us that often. We are going to need to continue to build on that, and keep getting better, but it is nice to get a couple of wins in row. “