Fillmore halts Wellsville’s six-game win streak, survive defensive slugfest with Lady Lions behind clutch fourth quarter shooting

Written By Chris Brooks

WELLSVILLE — Monday’s clash of the titans was one that rumbled for nearly two decades.

For those wondering, you’d have to go back in time to witness the last time Fillmore and Wellsville did battle on the basketball court. It was during a time when the winter weather wreaked havoc in Wellsville, with blankets of snow covering every inch, and sheets of ice coating the roads.

Inside, the bleachers were nearly empty that day because of it, but it also was a time when both Fillmore head coach Tom Parks and Wellsville head coach Michelle Alvord last faced one another — both at the helm on the JV level.

In the year 2020, the wait came to an end on a much better night, weather wise, as the undefeated and defending Class D1 champion Lady Eagles made their awaited return to the Lion’s Den to take on a red hot Lady Lions team that became the first team in the county to reach 10 wins through their concurrent six-game win streak.

As for Parks, his wife Jennifer of nearly 20 years already serves the school community as a sixth grade math teacher, along with their two children who entered to learn under the same roof.

They were just a few of many connections that the longtime Fillmore coach has shared to this very day with the Wellsville community, entering the marquee matchup.

“I know so many people here. I’ve known Michelle a long time, I’ve coached against (Brian) Meyers in golf, my wife teaches here, my kids go to school here,” Parks said. “Wellsville is like my home away from home. I was looking forward to this game, and I knew it was going to be a hostile environment when I first walked in here, but it was a friendly kind of hostile environment. I know all of the girls and their families. It was finally nice to come over here, and play an actual game, and to see all of these people.”

All the spectators in attendance got their monies worth as the hype-surrounding matchup was indeed worth the long wait. Within the game’s cauldron, a defensive battle brewed between the Lady Eagles and Lady Lions, one that had elapsed the entire 32 minutes worth of time in the contest.

If there was evidence, a scoreless fourth quarter that dominated over half of the allotted time was proof of it.

That was up until Riley Voss and Hannah Roeske became the stars of the show.

With nearly two minutes left in the game, Fillmore entered crunch time, as they went on to score an 11-4 run of the Lady Lions in the last three minutes, with Voss tallying her only basket to help the team go ahead, while Roeske knocked down the next nine points, six of them from three-point land that served as the dagger with under 90 seconds left, as they went on to hang tough and remain undefeated, extinguishing Wellsville’s six-game win streak along the way with a 39-33 road win.

“I don’t think anyone had a shot through the first half of the fourth quarter. We were stuck on that score, and we finally got one to drop with Riley, and then Hannah had some huge shots down the stretch,” said Parks. “She got into foul trouble, and I left her out there with them. I had no idea she had three fouls, and that’s on me. She sat until the end of the third, and into the fourth. Riley took over last year as our point guard, and she plays anywhere on the floor. She had 13 rebounds, led the team in assists and steals, and she got the lid off in the fourth. She went up against one of their tough defenders in Marley Adams, and she ended up being one of our heroes tonight.”

The defensive battle settled in early on in the game’s opening first half, as both teams put together a low scoring affair in the first 16 minutes. But it came with multiple lead changes with Fillmore (7-0) getting their first taste of a lead in the last portion of play, using both sides of their game to come away with a 7-0 scoreless run to take a 13-8 lead of Wellsville, entering the second.

The run for the Lady Eagles extended to 10 straight right before the Lady Lions (10-3) pushed the pace with a run of their own that was fueled by two of four Emily Costello three-pointers along with a Regan Marsh basket from inside the paint, springing them ahead but only for a second, as Emma Cole’s inside basket forced one last first half lead change for the Lady Eagles, allowing them to gather a one-point advantage.

“We get a little room to work with and score, and then they would find a way to come back and have a run of their own. Basketball is a funny game, and it’s made up of runs no matter how you look at it. Tom (Parks) and myself both thought that this was going to be a defensive battle up until the end, and it was.” said Lady Lions coach Michelle Alvord.

In the second half, the Lady Eagles defense was in the midst of pitching a shutout from the field straight right out of the gate, scoring the first five points in a rapid succession, including a nifty Roeske runner inside to charge up the mini-run. Even though Wellsville could not find their rhythm from the field, they relied on the charity stripe to close the gap, sinking five out of eight points to cut the deficit down to a single point just over halfway into the frame.

Wellsville would get their first basket of the quarter a short time later from Costello, as she nailed her last two three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 26 with Fillmore. The Lady Eagles responded in between both three-pointers, with Cole’s runner inside, but the Lady Lions would have the narrow 29-28 lead entering the last quarter, which would turn out to be a defensive slugfest.

The fourth quarter would go well over five minutes without a successful shot from the field on both sides, as the Fillmore and Wellsville defenses turned up the jets in their respective endgames. Multiple timeouts were exchanged as each team still attempted to crack through each other’s defensive formation. Fillmore ultimately found a way to break through, starting what became an 11-4 run of the Lady Lions with Voss starting the festivities with a go-ahead runner against a swarm of Wellsville defenders inside the paint.

Then Roeske, with under two minutes left to go, delivered two massive three-pointers on back-to-back transitions for Fillmore, the first saw an extension of the lead to four right before the next long-range shot put the game on ice with the game’s largest lead of seven now in their hands.

“It was scoreless through the fourth quarter, so the defenses really shined in this game. The two big threes, and the free throws were big for them down the stretch,” said Alvord. “The first three put them up by three, and then the second one really hurt us down the stretch. We had our opportunities, and we never questioned them. The girls fought their way until the very end, but it wasn’t enough.”

The scoreboard had read 37-33 in favor of the Lady Eagles after the Lady Lions got some help at the charity stripe, but that would change with two final points from Roeske being tucked away at the opposite stripe in the game’s last 30 seconds of play, allowing them to secure the massive road win to put a halt on Wellsville’s six-game tear.

“It’s a huge win, and we talked about needing these kinds of games,” said Parks. “That’s why we wanted to play Wellsville, they’re a class program and they’re never down. They should be one of those teams in Class B right at the end. Despite starting the youth and then going to the bench, that team is tough. We thought we were going to be in a defensive battle, and it was. We were going to be in the 30s, and they haven’t let anyone out of them. This is the game we wanted, win or lose.”

Alvord added on her Lady Lions, saying “My kids don’t play like sophomores, and his kids play like seniors. Fillmore created some tough mismatches, and I thought we did a nice job with them for the most part. We were a couple baskets away from winning, but this game will make us better, and it will help us improve. I respect Fillmore a ton, they have a tremendous team over there.”

When it was all said and done, Roeske was the game’s leading scorer with a game-high 15 points, while Voss led the glass game with 13 rebounds to go with three steals, and three assists. Emma Cole finished with 10 points to pair with five rebounds.

Wellsville was led by both Costello and Marley Adams, who each had 12 team-high points. Adams along with Jaylynn Mess, and Kaylee Coleman each had four rebounds to add on the stat sheet. Regan Marsh helped the cause on offense with eight points of her own for the Lady Lions.

Prior to the varsity contest, both teams started the new week off with JV action, as Wellsville defeated Fillmore by a 42-28 decision. The Lady Lions were paced by Delaney Wonderling’s 17-team high points.

The Lady Eagles will return home in possession of a big momentum boost, as they continue crossing into the second half of their season with a home meeting against the Genesee Valley Lady Jaguars on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. As for what he expects in the final half of the regular season, Parks said the goal is to continue getting better.

“We talk all the time, last year too, about trying not to focus on streaks. We want to win, and losing isn’t failure,” he said. “No matter what happens, we want to get better game in and game out, and we want to have that focus toward the end. Win or lose, we have to battle hard enough through this tough schedule that we have this season. That includes tonight.”

As for the Lady Lions, they will stand pat in the Lion’s Den until Thursday night, when they look to rebound off the loss to Fillmore with the Lady Rams of Bath-Haverling in town for a visit at 7:30 p.m.

“I try not to look ahead of things, but we have a tough stretch of games coming up within the next few weeks. We have Bath here on Thursday, Hornell again at the Barkley Showcase next weekend, Portville comes here at the end of the month. It’s great to be 10-3 and all, but we’ve got to finish this next stretch tough. I have no doubt that the girls are more than capable of that.”

Fillmore          13   6  9 11 – 39

Wellsville          8 10 11   4 – 33

FILLMORE: Riley Voss 1 2-6 4, Hannah Roeske 5 3-4 15, Emma Cole 4 2-2 10, Tayler Bedow 1 1-1 3, Jadyn Mucher 1 0-0 2, Erin Mawn 1 0-0 3, Carlee Miller 0 2-2 2. Totals: 13 10-15 39.
WELLSVILLE: Marley Adams 3 4-4 12, Emily Costello 4 0-0 12, Emily Robbins 0 0-2 0, Kaylee Coleman 0 1-2 1, Regan Marsh 3 2-6 8. Totals: 10 7-16 33.

3-point goals: Fillmore 3 (Roeske 2, Mawn),  Wellsville 6 (Costello 4, Adams 2).
Total Fouls: Fillmore 18, Wellsville 17. Fouled out: Roeske (FIL).

Chris Brooks
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