Saturday Roundup: Lady Lions overcome slow start, build solid finish to knock off Letchworth; Late go-ahead three by Riley paces Lions toward rebound win at C-G

Wellsville sophomore Makenna Dunbar (24) splits the Letchworth defense on her way up to the basket during Saturday night’s home contest in Wellsville. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville junior Sara Reitz (22) goes up for the basket while under pressure from the Letchworth defense during Saturday night’s home contest in Wellsville. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville senior Emily Costello (12) provides a pass to a streaking Kaylee Coleman, far right, on her way to the basket during Saturday night’s home contest against Letchworth. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville senior Marley Adams (10) looks to work her way around the Letchworth defense down underneath the basket during Saturday night’s home contest in Wellsville. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville freshman Natalie Adams (14) pushes the pace down court with senior Marley Adams (10) racing back during Saturday night’s home contest against Letchworth. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

WELLSVILLE — After coming away empty-handed at the Coaches v. Cancer Tournament over the Christmas break, the Lady Lions of Wellsville looked to turn a corner going into the second half of their season.

It began with another tough battle to sweep their season series with Olean back on Thursday. Two days later, despite a slow start out of the gate, the team would use all the depth imaginable to power up their latest win — a 45-20 rolling of visiting Letchworth on Saturday to pick up their eighth win in their first 10 games.

Even though the Lady Lions (8-2) started the night on a slow note, they were able to outscore Letchworth across all four quarters of play, beginning with a 9-5 lead they garnered after a back-and-forth battle through the opening eight minute period, wrapping up with the frame’s last seven points.

The lead would grow to as much as nine when the first half closed up for Wellsville. After going up by a 13-10 count, the Lady Lions offense began to provide a spurt that would ultimately see them score nine of the last 12 points in a row before the run was ended by a long three from Phoebe Conklin, fueled by a runner from Makenna Dunbar and an Emily Costello three-pointer.

The momentum would carry into the second half where depth paid dividends, as the hosts in white and orange booted up a massive 19-7 sequence against Letchworth to pull away toward victory, scoring two more baskets in the fourth while shutting down the Lady Indians completely with a scoreless showing on defense.

Leading the balanced effort was Marley Adams, who scored a game-high 13 points to pair with five assists. Emily Costello and Makenna Dunbar each followed with eight points, with Dunbar grabbing seven rebounds along the way. Jaelyn Knapp had six points and six rebounds to chip in, while Kaylee Coleman grabbed seven more boards.

Wellsville is back on the floor over the road Tuesday evening, as they get set to visit the Canisteo-Greenwood Lady Redskins — winners of nine of their first 11 games, in a 6 p.m. battle.

Letchworth 5 8 7 0 – 20

Wellsville 9 13 19 4 – 45

LETCHWORTH: Phoebe Conklin 4 0-3 10, Morgan Brace 2 1-2 5, Jonelle Flitcroft 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Milillo 1 1-2 3. Totals: 8 2-7 20.
WELLSVILLE: Marley Adams 4 5-7 13, Jaylynn Mess 1 0-0 2, Emily Costello 3 0-0 8, Jaelyn Knapp 3 0-0 6, Natalie Adams 0 0-2 0, Sara Reitz 2 0-0 4, Kaylee Coleman 2 0-0 4, Makenna Dunbar 3 2-2 8. Totals: 18 7-11 45.

3-point goals: Letchworth 2 (Conklin), Wellsville 2 (Costello).
Total Fouls: Letchworth 11, Wellsville 10. Fouled out: None.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Wellsville 56, Canisteo-Greenwood 53

CANISTEO — The Wellsville Lions are a team that strives off building confidence — a characteristic that has been one of the team’s biggest strengths. That mantra on any given night can give the Lions everything they need in order to succeed.

In a rematch from this past Monday’s contest in Wellsville, the Lions shifted the course of action over to Canisteo-Greenwood, where their aim was to provide a gut-check rebound that would also in turn, shift their season back in the right direction as Sectionals continues to loom closer.

Wellsville head coach said despite what was an uninspiring first half in their rematch against the Redskins that saw them trail early, he remained confident in his team’s ability to grow confidence themselves after the fact.

“It isn’t Sectional Final quality, but we’re taking some great steps in the right direction,” he said. “It helps guys realize that they have to get out of their shell and be more of a threat on offense. If we can work on defense, we can be good. That first half was the worst first half I’d seen us play. We played uninspired basketball, and I told them that this was a pivotal moment. We had to come together as a team, and show them what Wellsville basketball is all about.”

Falling behind by 12 to the Redskins, the Lions had to act quickly.

What better way to do that, than to post two massive second half runs of offense, fueled by some outstanding defense, allowing them to set up shop in a perfect position to overtake Canisteo-Greenwood in the final eight minutes.

It would all come down to the final 60 seconds. Although he is particularly a mainstay on the Lions defense, Aidan Riley one massive spark on offense, landing an enormous three-pointer straight down Main Street, while Cooper Brockway provided a clutch free throw at the line to come back and defeat the Redskins in a 56-53 edging on Saturday.

“We turned it around on defense. We started believing in working with each other, rather than sticking to our own individual roles,” said Auman. “We supported, and we started to turn it around on offense. We had some guys step up big, late, and we didn’t have that on Monday. Aidan’s developed as the year has gone on, and he’s a really talented player. He rose to the challenge tonight, and to hit that three to win it for us, it’s part of his continuous growth.”

The first half was one that the Lions (5-4) wanted to leave in the past quickly, as Canisteo-Greenwood started red hot on offense with a 22-point opening quarter to take the early 10-point edge, led by Hunter McCaffery and Cole Ferris, who combined to 16 of the team’s points.

The lead would grow for the hosts in white and red to as much as 10 when the first half came to a close, putting the pressure on Wellsville going into the locker room.

But despite it, the Lions made a comeback in the second half, closing the gap to five after the third quarter with a 17-10 run of the Redskins, and then ultimately completing their comeback victory in the game’s final minute off a Kailob Phelps steal leading to Riley’s go-ahead three-pointer — the very same play that was dialed up to open the game for the Lions, which was rimmed out.

Some storybook heroics.

“I ran that play earlier as a lay-up, and Aidan came down for the shot after I decided to run it again, and the hope was to kick the ball out to Cooper, but he made a play,” Auman said. “Aidan’s a baller, and that’s what he does. It was a little bit storybook, because at the beginning, we started by missing a lay-up, and then Aidan hit a three that rolled out. It says a lot from him to not let that kind of moment, especially that early, to get him down.”

The game was officially sealed with Brockway put away one last free throw to extend Wellsville’s lead to three before the Redskins were provided one last opportunity to tie the game up before the buzzer. Canisteo-Greenwood would launch a three from just outside the right wing, but as time expired, the ball rimmed out as the Lions held on to survive, completing their rebound from Monday night’s loss back on their home floor.

Eli Schmidt led all scorers on the floor with a game-high 21 points, with 10 of those points helping the Lions get started in the first quarter. Logan Dunbar followed with 12 points, while Cody Costello finished with 10.

Wellsville is back home on Tuesday for another big contest set to begin at 7:30 p.m. against the red hot Bolivar-Richburg Wolverines — winners of four straight, and seven of their first eight games.

“There’s no rest for the wiery,” said Auman. “Bolivar is a very similar team to Canisteo with the way they run things. Those two teams had a close game earlier in the season, and like them, they have some great pieces with some solid role players behind them that play hard. It will be another grind, and hopefully what we learned today, we can take into Tuesday and come out of there scrapping for a win.”

Wellsville 12 8 17 19 – 56

Canisteo-Greenwood 22 10 10 11 – 53

WELLSVILLE: Cody Costello 2 4-4 10, Alex Perkins 0 2-2 2, Cooper Brockway 1 1-2 4, Eli Schmidt 9 2-3 21, Aidan Riley 3 0-0 7, Logan Dunbar 4 3-4 12. Totals: 19 12-15 56.
CANISTEO-GREENWOOD: Mason Boyd 4 0-0 11, Cole Ferris 5 3-3 13, Hunter McCaffery 5 6-11 18, Blake Updyke 1 4-4 6, Maddox Schwartz 2 0-0 5. Totals: 17 13-18 53.
3-point goals: Wellsville 6 (Costello 2, Brockway, Schmidt, Riley, Dunbar), C-G 6 (Boyd 3, McCaffery 2, Schwartz).
Total Fouls: Wellsville 17, C-G 17. Fouled out: McCaffery (C-G), Perkins (WLSV), Schmidt (WLSV).

Bolivar-Richburg 60, Port Allegany 47

BOLIVAR — The week-long gauntlet for the Bolivar-Richburg Wolverines officially opened up with a Saturday afternoon matinee on their home floor, starting with a visit from Port Allegany.

A flurry of missed shots and turnovers plagued the hardwood through the opening half between the foes, but a certain moment right before the end of the half gave one team the momentum to work with for the final 16 minutes.

That belonged to Cam MacDonell, as he put away a buzzer-beating second chance bucket to give the Wolverines a 10-point lead at the half that quickly erupted into a lead by as much as 25 over Port Allegany inside the team’s largest frame of the day — a 24-point third quarter that allowed them to cruise away toward their seventh victory in eight games by a 60-47 count.

“We talked at halftime, and I told them to put this game out of reach,” said Wolverines coach Jeff Margeson. “We weren’t too happy with a 10-point lead going in, because of the missed shots and turnovers. We were also doing too much ball watching, so our defense had to really buckle down. Thankfully, we had some nice shots from outside after they packed it in, and they accepted the challenge. They answered the call, buried it and put them away.”

Bolivar-Richburg (7-1) started the day off with eight straight points through the first three minutes, breaking the full-court press applied by Port Allegany along the way to open the scoring. Towards midway and for the rest of the quarter, the visitors would exchange pleasantries with the Wolverines to cut their deficit down to five going into the second.

But that deficit would soon grow larger to double digits, ultimately for the rest of the game, as the Wolverines saw the offense turn the heat up on Port Allegany, finding the basket inside and out to gain a 10-point upper hand that was finished off by MacDonell’s buzzer-beating lay-in from underneath to help the team take a 23-13 lead going into the break.

The shot would provide a big boost of momentum coming back out for the second half, as Bolivar-Richburg recorded their biggest stanza of offense all day, with MacDonell and Landon Danaher both continuing to lead the way up top, with Danaher sinking threes while MacDonell dominated the paint down low.

In all through the first five minutes, it was a 17-2 game-changing run for the Wolverines that gave them a lead that was never threatened.

“I was very impressed with how our starters played,” said Margeson. “Obviously, Cam and Landon led the way, and Landon helped set up the scoring to begin in the first behind our pressure. He was really on for us today, and Cam helped out a ton down low. They’re a really consistent scoring duo. It was a little sluggish to start with a bunch of turnovers on both sides, but we were able to find a way to jump out on them early and hold it.”

In the fourth quarter, the lead remained in tact for the Wolverines, which was highlighted by a MacDonell right-handed jam to help maintain that one big footstep ahead of Port Allegany, despite a 21-13 run to close out shop.

Danaher led the Wolverines with a game-high 24 points to pair with eight rebounds, six steals and five assists. MacDonell concluded with 12 points to go with nine rebounds of his own, while Aydin Sisson chipped in with five points.

Bolivar-Richburg will now hit the road for a big contest Tuesday night, as they put their hot streak on the line with a 7:30 p.m. visit to Wellsville.

Port Allegany 9 4 13 21 – 47

Bolivar-Richburg 14 11 24 13 – 60

PORT ALLEGANY: Blaine Moses 5 0-2 11, Braylon Button 0 5-9 5, Noah Archer 3 0-1 7, Jeff Ruding 7 2-5 19, Ty Guilds 2 1-2 5. Totals: 17 8-19 47.

BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Aydin Sisson 2 1-1 5, Landon Danaher 11 0-0 24, Wyatt Karnuth 2 0-0 4, Ian Unfus 1 0-0 3, David Baldwin 1 0-1 2, Reiss Gaines 1 0-0 2, Evan Pinney 3 0-0 8, Cam MacDonell 6 0-0 12. Totals: 27 1-2 60.

3-point goals: PA 5 (Ruding 3, Moses, Archer), B-R 5 (Danaher 2, Pinney 2, Unfus).
Total Fouls: PA 7, B-R 14. Fouled out: None.