Wednesday Roundup: Lady Wolverines build hulking 1st quarter run against Fri/Scio, hold it intact to score 59-52 road win; And/Whi girls ward off C-R in waning seconds, GV/Belfast rebounds at Hinsdale
FRIENDSHIP — The first act of Wednesday night’s fierce battle between Bolivar-Richburg and Friendship/Scio saw each team take a turn at steering the ship, with the hosts claiming control first behind the torrid hand of Emily Lamberson from the outer perimeter. Then, the Lady Wolverines tilted the balance a short time later.
In the last three minutes of the frame, the balance was swayed into the favor of the visitors behind an absolutely volatile quarter-ending run, returning the favor to claim an ultimate advantage that was threatened down the stretch in the fourth quarter by Friendship/Scio, but was never lost, as Bolivar-Richburg managed to hang on to finish off a 59-52 road victory.
“We’re doing so many good things and we were getting the open looks. It just isn’t finding a way to fall down for us,” said Friendship/Scio coach Ashleigh Lewis. “But, we scored 52 points tonight and this is the most we’ve scored this year by far. Defensively in the first quarter, it didn’t go well for us. Bolivar-Richburg pretty much rebounded everything over top of us, but I was proud of the response we had after that. The second half, we really stepped up the pressure and played much harder. We would have liked to have the win, but I’m proud of the effort and hustle that we had.”
The first eight minute segment, in the fullness of time, served as the difference maker for the Lady Wolverines (7-5) to set up their road win. After a hot start saw Friendship/Scio score eight of the game’s first 10 points off a pair of Emily Lamberson three-pointers, the visitors then regrouped and rebounded quickly and finished the frame with the advantageous edge, netting 14 straight points to take their early deficit and turn it into a 16-8 lead of their own.
The long scoreless spell for Friendship/Scio (2-8) reached its conclusion at the very beginning of the second quarter off a long Huntar Hint shot just inside the outer arc. Despite their deficit reaching at most 15 points, they managed to hit a groove towards the tail end of the frame with their three-point game clicking once again, with Lamberson and Kaydence Sadler each nailing one off back-to-back possessions to climb back within reach.
Both teams went on to trade exchanges to close the book on the first half, with Friendship/Scio bucketing the last shot from the field — a shot from downtown, which was the fourth for Lamberson in the half, as they maintained an eight-point buffer zone right behind Bolivar-Richburg at the break.
In the second half, the hosts in white and gold nearly brought it all back to level playing ground, especially late in the fourth quarter, where they continued to chip away at the Lady Wolverines. Their tireless efforts saw them close the gap down to a single possession. But the visitors found their edge one last time to keep their opposition in the rearview mirror, as Bolivar-Richburg used the charity stripe to their fullest of advantages to score nine of the game’s last 11 points to cement the win.
Leading the scoring for the Lady Wolverines was Nadia Baldwin, who bucketed all four of the team’s three-pointers to record a team-high 17 points. Baldwin was one of four different scorers to eclipse the 10-point plateau, with Carmen Crowley chipping in on the efforts with 15 points of her own. Raegan Giardini provided 11 points, while Emma Sisson had 10.
For Friendship/Scio, Lamberson led all scorers with a game-high 21 points to couple alongside seven rebounds. Sadler posted nine points behind three triples, while Alexiss Herring had eight points.
Both teams return to the hardwood Friday night, with Bolivar-Richburg hitting the road once more for a 7:30 p.m. visit to Fillmore, while Friendship/Scio also hops on the bus to take on Arkport-Canaseraga in a 7:15 p.m. contest.
Bolivar-Richburg 16 16 13 14 – 59
Friendship/Scio 8 16 15 13 – 52
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Nadia Baldwin 6 1-2 17, Emma Sisson 5 0-2 10. Jaelyn Kinnicutt 1 0-0 2, Raegan Giardini 3 5-8 11, Sydney Faulkner 1 0-0 2, Carmen Crowley 6 3-7 15, Madyson Stanton 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 9-19 59.
FRIENDSHIP/SCIO: Emily Lamberson 6 5-5 21, Kaydence Sadler 3 0-0 9, Huntar Hint 3 0-0 7, Alexiss Herring 4 0-2 8, Courtney Button 3 0-0 6, Emma Bolzan 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 6-9 52.
3-point goals: B-R 4 (Baldwin), F/S 8 (Lamberson 4, Sadler 3, Hint).
Total Fouls: B-R 11, F/S 13. Fouled out: None.
Andover/Whitesville 29, Cuba-Rushford 26
WHITESVILLE — For both Cuba-Rushford and Andover/Whitesville, there was absolutely little to no room for comfort on Wednesday. After a slow commencement across the first half, the action intensified ten-fold in the back half of the evening, with the two foes trading consistent barbs down the stretch to set up a thrilling finish in Whitesville.
After a plethora of timeouts and plenty of advances on the ball up and down the floor, a ginormous lead-extending bucket from Stella Bledsoe with under 30 seconds remaining allowed Andover/Whitesville to capture more wiggle room in the driver’s seat. In turn, the Lady Rebels received a multitude of opportunities to respond to the basket in the remainder of time left on the clock. But in the end, the shot could not find its way down through the twine, as Andover/Whitesville held on for dear life to pick up the 29-26 home win.
Scoring was difficult to come by on both sides of the floor, but despite it, Andover/Whitesville (7-1) was able to chart their course towards a first half lead beginning in the first quarter, as they survived a back-and-forth exchange with the Lady Rebels before buckling down on defense to hold their opposition to just two second quarter points, using the momentum bursts to calculate an 11-6 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, the energy shifted over for the hosts in white following a frame-opening score from Cuba-Rushford (7-6), bolstering their lead with five consecutive points behind some inside help from both Bledsoe and Olivia Waters.
Altogether, a 10-2 run to open the first five minutes of play was formulated in favor of Andover/Whitesville. But the Lady Rebels shifted gears to close out the quarter strong with eight of the last 11 points to make it a one-possession game.
Both teams drew even through the last eight minutes, with the game’s final minute turning into a high-wire act to the finish line. Despite a major offensive foul against them along the way, Andover/Whitesville was granted a chance to extend their narrow one-point lead off an inbound play captained by Makenna Vance in front of their bench.
With every player scrambling for position inside the Cuba-Rushford zone, a wide-open Stella Bledsoe broke free from the Lady Rebels to deliver a clutch flush with 23 seconds left.
The Lady Rebels were then provided a single opportunity with 6.5 seconds to go after forcing a humongous turnover against Andover/Whitesville, ultimately heaving one final shot from just inside the arc, but the ball could not find its way to go down through the twine, as the hosts managed to hang on by a thread to secure the victory.
Bledsoe wound up finishing as the leading scorer for Andover/Whitesville, as she posted a game-high 17 points. Graci Lewis-Ellison and Olivia Waters each rounded off with six points. For the Lady Rebels, Lily Tompkins and Brynn Lavery paved the way forward for the offense with seven team-high points each. Lilly Farwell had five points.
Each team will return to the floor on Friday over the road, with Andover/Whitesville visiting Hinsdale in a 6 p.m. battle, while Cuba-Rushford looks to bounce back with a road trip to the Jungle in Belmont to visit Genesee Valley/Belfast at 7:30 p.m.
Cuba-Rushford 4 2 10 10 – 26
Andover/Whitesville 6 5 8 10 – 29
CUBA-RUSHFORD: Cloey Larabee 1 0-0 3, Lily Tompkins 2 3-5 7, Brynn Lavery 3 0-0 7, Mireya Rutkowski 2 0-0 4, Lilly Farwell 2 1-2 5. Totals: 10 4-7 26.
ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: Stella Bledsoe 7 2-2 17, Graci Lewis-Ellison 2 1-2 6, Olivia Waters 3 0-0 6. Totals: 12 3-4 29.
3-point goals: C-R 2 (Larabee, Lavery), A/W 2 (Bledsoe, Lewis-Ellison).
Total Fouls: C-R 12, A/W 10. Fouled out: None.
Genesee Valley/Belfast 38, Hinsdale 14
HINSDALE — After succumbing to a last-second defeat against Addison back home in Belmont on Monday, an opportunity to seek rebounding redemption was presented for the Genesee Valley/Belfast ladies over the road on Wednesday. With it, they took it and ran away with it almost immediately in Hinsdale, striking while the iron was scorching hot to set the tone and bounce back into the win column with a 38-14 win.
Genesee Valley/Belfast (7-5) stampeded out of the gate at a full gallop to set up their early advantage against the Lady Bobcats, as they rolled off on a dominant 17-4 jaunt led by a start that commenced with nine consecutive points. Leading those efforts was Bayleigh Tallman, who posted seven of her nine team-leading points right in the opening quarter.
With a 19-5 halftime lead in their hands going into the locker room, Genesee Valley/Belfast used a balanced effort with four different scorers all finding the statsheet to produce an 11-point third quarter to help close out a rebounding victory.
Finishing behind Tallman for the visitors was Addisyn Ely and Ava Aronson, each recording six points.
For Hinsdale (0-7), Kaleigh Buckles paced the attack with a team-high five points.
Both teams are back in action Friday night, with Genesee Valley/Belfast heading back home to the Jungle in Belmont to host Cuba-Rushford in a 7:30 p.m. contest, while the Lady Bobcats stay home to welcome in Andover/Whitesville at 6 p.m.
Genesee Valley/Belfast 17 2 11 8 – 38
Hinsdale 4 1 5 4 – 14
GV/BELFAST: Bayleigh Tallman 3 3-5 9, Sophie Zillgitt 2 0-0 4, Whitney Young 1 1-4 3, Addisyn Ely 3 0-0 6, Alexa Ely 1 0-0 2, Kate Calanni 1 2-2 4, Ava Aronson 3 0-2 6, Jenna Hill 2 0-0 4. Totals: 16 6-13 38.
HINSDALE: Karissa Keller 1 0-0 2, Sarah Easterly 0 3-12 3, Kaleigh Buckles 1 3-4 5, Lily Bushnell 2 0-6 4. Totals: 4 6-22 14.
Total Fouls: GVB 16, Hinsdale 13. Fouled out: Ad. Ely (GVB).
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Arkport-Canaseraga 3, Fillmore 0
FILLMORE — The Arkport-Canaseraga Wolves came right off the hop Wednesday night with a bounce back on the top of their minds. After falling to the straight-set sweeping hands of Cuba-Rushford back on Monday, the defending Allegany County finalists brought it all back into the win column with a straight-set sweep of their own, as they took down the Eagles of Fillmore by a 25-14, 25-18, 25-19 count over the road.
The Wolves were powered by the efforts of Aydan Button, who led the way with six kills and two aces from the service line. Right alongside him was Drew Glover, also recording six additional kills. Tim White furthered the offense’s cause with four kills.
Fillmore (3-4) was paced by Zach Fraser, who had seven service points. Anderson Wiltsey recorded 14 assists to pair with three kills to aid the attack, while Aiden Freeman had 15 assists — a team-high, to couple with one more kill.
The Eagles are back on their home floor tonight, hosting the Wellsville Lions at 6 p.m.
Portville 3, Bolivar-Richburg 0
RICHBURG — Wednesday night, the brooms were brought out by the Portville Panthers in their latest road trip, as they took care of business in their visit to Bolivar-Richburg to claim the straight-set victory over the host Wolverines by a 25-15, 25-23, 25-14 count.
Statistics for the Wolverines (2-8) were not made available to report upon publication.
Bolivar-Richburg will look to rebound with a quick turnaround tonight, as they hit the road and visit the Cuba-Rushford Rebels in a 6 p.m. contest.
