Friday Roundup: Keshequa bolts away from Lady Lions, sprint towards series sweep with strong 59-42 home win; Fillmore boys edged out by Finney in OT, Wellsville volleyball swept in County Title match

NUNDA — Time and time again, it has been proven why the Keshequa Lady Wildcats are one of Section V’s golden standards on the hardwood. Their offensive scoring prowess, their defensive tenacity. When you mix those two hallmarking ingredients together, it perfumes success — something that one of the all-time greats on the sidelines, Pete Piraino, knows a thing or two about.

Sectionals are fast approaching and the end of the regular season is well within sight, and for the Lady Wildcats, they are on the cusp of locking up Class C3’s top seed for help set up for another potentially deep run through the postseason. As for the Lady Lions of Wellsville, they looked to slow a little bit of that momentum down with some of their own after a strong victory over the road in Olean on Wednesday.

After the Lady Wildcats caught fire to start the game, the Lady Lions provided a heavy response at the start of the second quarter to bring the contest back to level playing ground. But they could not keep the momentum tilted in their favor, as Keshequa re-assumed total control of the pace with a strong finish to the first half, applying it to a massive third quarter run that saw them pull away at an instant to help put the finishing touches on a 59-42 season series-sweeping victory on Friday.

Keshequa brought the heat right out of the starting gates to grab the upper-hand on the Lady Lions (13-6), as the Lady Wildcats took advantage of nearly everything they saw against the defense with a big 14-4 run which ultimately transformed into an 18-10 first quarter lead. Despite falling into an early hole, Wellsville fought back with a tremendous start to the second quarter with a 10-2 run of their own — a jaunt led by Reegan Perkins, who had eight of her team-high 10 points within the frame.

But Keshequa would not allow the Lady Lions to turn the tide, as they springboarded back ahead into the lead off a 7-0 run before the visitors in black and orange found the bucket one more time before the curtain descended on the half.

The momentum was held by the Lady Wildcats, and with it, a second half detonation was applied shortly after, as they insurmountably branched their lead out with a boisterous 10-0 run, leading it into double-digit territory where it would remain for the rest of the contest to allow Keshequa to pull away.

Finishing in the scoring column behind Perkins was Makenna Dunbar, who had nine points to pair with six rebounds. Natalie Adams had eight points.

In the JV team’s final contest of their season, the Lady Lions were downed by Keshequa by a 49-45 decision. Hailey Cowburn led the scoring with a team-high 15 points, as they went on to finish their campaign with a record of 14-5 overall.

Wellsville is back home Tuesday night to put a bow on their regular season, as they now get set to host the Bath-Haverling Lady Rams in a 6 p.m. tip-off.

Wellsville 10 13 7 12 — 42

Keshequa 18 9 18 14 — 59

WELLSVILLE: Caelyn Stevens 2 0-2 4, Reegan Perkins 4 0-0 10, Natalie Adams 3 0-0 8, Alexa Hennessy 1 0-0 2, Emily Stuck 1 1-2 3, Makenna Dunbar 2 5-10 9, Jaden Dunbar 2 1-2 5, Alexa Stuck 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 8-18 42.
KESHEQUA: Ava Thayer 2 2-2 6, Bree Benner 2 0-0 4, Braelyn Isaman 9 0-2 19, Ryley Benner 3 0-0 8, Riley Nageldinger 3 0-0 6, Alicia Wood 7 2-2 16. Totals: 26 4-6 59.

3-point goals: Wellsville 4 (Perkins 2, Adams 2), Keshequa 3 (R. Benner 2, Isaman).
Total Fouls: Wellsville 9, Keshequa 15. Fouled out: None.

Fillmore 51, Andover/Whitesville 29

ANDOVER — There was simply no denying victory for the Lady Eagles of Fillmore on Friday.

After locking up Allegany County’s top honor once more this season just 24 hours ago, they transferred all the momentum into their penultimate road trip of the regular season in Andover, where they established a massive advantage through the opening quarter and never looked back on what was a 51-29 win over host Andover/Whitesville.

Fillmore (18-1) wasted no time bringing the hammer down almost immediately on Andover/Whitesville not only in the first quarter, but in the first half as a whole, as they kicked the tires on a humongous 18-4 lead — 14 of those points coming in consecutive fashion to open the game while keeping Andover/Whitesville at a complete standstill.

The Lady Eagles pushed their advantage even further towards the tail end of the half, as they kept their foot straight down on the gas pedal behind another gigantic jaunt of their opposition, rolling behind a 20-4 second quarter run to claim a 38-8 advantage that they continued to never lose, as they proceeded to go into the break.

The constant for the offense — Mattie McCumiskey, who was unstoppable down low from start to finish, scoring 19 of her game-high 25 points for the visitors in gray and green in the first 16-minute sequence.

Following up behind was Emalyn Mucher, who had 13 points of her own to add in. Tenlee Miller had five points.

For Andover/Whitesville (13-6), Stella Bledsoe paced the offense with six points. Makenna Vance and Graci Lewis-Ellison each posted five points.

Both teams will conclude their regular season on Tuesday in a pair of 6 p.m. contests, with Fillmore heading over the road to visit Bolivar-Richburg, while Andover/Whitesville traveling back over the hill to Whitesville to welcome in Hinsdale.

Fillmore 18 20 10 3 — 51

Andover/Whitesville 4 4 11 10 — 29

FILLMORE: Mylee Miller 1 0-0 2, Tenlee Miller 2 0-0 5, Morghyn Ross 2 0-0 4, Emalyn Mucher 5 2-6 13, Mattie McCumiskey 10 5-6 25, Kelsie Songster 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 7-12 51.

ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: Makenna Vance 2 0-0 5, Stella Bledsoe 3 0-0 6, Graci Lewis-Ellison 2 0-1 5, Lilly Harrington 1 0-0 3, Olivia Waters 2 0-2 4, Katrina Lewis 1 0-0 3, Reece Winters 1 0-0 3. Totals: 12 0-3 29.

3-point goals: Fillmore 2 (T. Miller, Mucher), A/W 5 (Vance, Lewis-Ellison, Harrington, Lewis, Winters).
Total Fouls: Fillmore 6, A/W 10. Fouled out: None.

BOYS BASKETBALL

C.G. Finney 74, Fillmore 70 (F-OT)

ROCHESTER — Whenever C.G. Finney and Fillmore collide on the hardwood, a serious amount of points are almost guaranteed to find their way onto the scoreboard, no matter where they are issued. For those in attendance Friday night up north, there was simply no mistaking it when the two teams collided again at the tail end of this year’s regular season campaign.

Both teams were in the search of another big boost to aid them towards the postseason dance, beginning in just over a week from now. Like in their previous meetings, the battle was fierce and the bar was high. It was a game that saw the Eagles find their groove for much of the opening half, claiming a massive lead before some momentum was siphoned by the Falcons upon entering the locker room for the halftime break.

When the second half came around though, there was one big glaring issue: The Falcons wouldn’t let go of any of it.

The reason? — Braelen Broome became a problem.

Out of his game-high 44 points for the Falcons, Broome assembled a monster second half on the attack to guide C.G. Finney back into the game. After helping ignite his three-point game alongside Ethan Krog to close out the first half, he turned his attention to the inside of the arc, as he went on to post 31 second half points to put the Eagles on pins and needles on defense to force overtime and ultimately the victory at the end of it, as the Falcons edged past Fillmore with a 74-70 home victory.

With balance keying the Eagles (15-3) early on in the opening quarter, they transferred their momentum into a 21-point second quarter where their three-point game sprung to life, as the team combined for five big triples from deep to garner their biggest advantage on C.G. Finney across the entire evening.

But the Falcons battled back to close the frame strong however, as they launched back-to-back missiles from downtown with less than a minute remaining to continue climbing back within reach, knocking the deficit down to 10.

“We got off to a pretty solid start and really had them on their heels. We were actually up 16 with 40 seconds left in the first half before they hit a couple of big contested three-pointers to end the half. That really took some of the momentum away from us,” said Eagles coach Randy Crouch. “They came out much more aggressive and physical in the third and we just didn’t respond. They play well as a team, and Braelen Broom is just a physical problem at the point guard position. He’s big, strong and skilled. We had a chance to win at the buzzer, but we couldn’t execute.”

In the second half, it was the Broome show, as he held the reins all throughout the 16-minute sequence with his 25 regulation points — 11 in the third quarter and 14 clutch points in the last eight minutes, to single-handedly help C.G. Finney overcome an early first half deficit with a game-tying 18-9 fourth quarter run to force overtime at 57-57 all.

In overtime, the Falcons used Broome’s hand from down low one more time, alongside a perfect 6-for-6 outing from Krog at the charity stripe to put the finishing touches on their epic victory over the Eagles in high-scoring fashion.

Guiding the way forward for the Fillmore offense was Cam Mucher and Jonah Bialek, as each scorer posted a team-high 19 points. Jameson Rhett had 10 points to add in, while JD Bialek finished with eight of his own.

The Eagles head back up north this afternoon, weather permitting, for a 1 p.m. visit to the Rochester Academy Charter School.

Fillmore 14 21 13 9 13 — 70

C.G. Finney 10 15 14 18 17 — 74

FILLMORE: Jordan Bialek 1 0-0 3, Carson Sanasith 1 0-0 3, Isaiah Sisson 4 0-0 8, Jonah Bialek 7 0-0 19, Jameson Rhett 3 1-1 10, Cam Mucher 8 0-0 19, JD Bialek 4 0-0 8. Totals: 28 1-1 70.

C.G. FINNEY: Pablo Molleja 1 0-0 3, Ethan Krog 6 6-6 22, Ethan Snavely 1 1-4 3, Braelen Broome 18 3-6 44, Eli Drake 0 2-2 2. Totals: 26 12-18 74.

3-point goals: Fillmore 13 (Jon. Bialek 5, Rhett 3, Mucher 3, Jor. Bialek, Sanasith), Finney 10 (Broome 5, Krog 4, Molleja).
Total Fouls: Fillmore 14, Finney 9. Fouled out: Sisson (FIL), Mucher (FIL).

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

County Championship

Portville 3, Wellsville 0

PORTVILLE — Ever since the start of the season, the Lions of Wellsville have found their winning touch. And it has all led them straight back towards the top of Allegany County, where they now pit themselves just three victorious sets away from glory once again.

The lone obstacle standing in their way from their first Championship since 2021, was the top-seeded Portville Panthers.

Right off the bat in the night’s opening set, the gloves were off, as both Wellsville and Portville delivered back-and-forth haymakers all throughout until the very last pair of points needed to claim victory were collected. But the momentum was captured by the Panthers, and they used every ounce of it across the next two sets to pull away from the Lions, as they became Allegany County League Champions for the very first time with a straight-set, 25-23, 25-21, 25-11 sweep on Friday.

“Even though we didn’t win tonight, you could tell the kids left everything out there on the court tonight,” said Lions coach Adam Kellogg. “Playing against Portville was a different level of volleyball this season that really made the kids grow and do so well. There is a reason why they were number one. I think as a coach, this was the best group of boys I could have asked for. They kept a cool head and they really did well not letting each other get down on botched plays. Tonight was a hard loss, but the kids pulled through. I couldn’t be more proud of them and the season they were able to have.”

Xavier Scott took charge of the offense for the Lions one final time on the court, as he assembled a team-leading performance consisting of six kills and a pair of digs on defense. Lucius Griggs had five kills, two digs and a block to add in, while Terrence Benz followed with three more kills and a pair of denials at the net.

The 2024-25 season for Wellsville has reached its conclusion, as the No. 2 seeds wrap up with a record of 11-4 overall.