No. 2 Fillmore hangs tight with No. 1 State-ranked Elba, but Lady Lancers break free down stretch to secure back-to-back titles, ending fabulous season by Lady Eagles with 54-36 win

CANANDAIGUA — At the start of this season, there were plenty of questions surrounding the future for the Lady Eagles of Fillmore. Perhaps the biggest one of them all to answer was how exactly they would overcome the loss of all five of their senior starters, as the program was presented with a fresh new canvas to paint a brand new chapter.

Their artists, a brand new starting five — Emalyn Mucher, Morghyn Ross, Mylee Miller, Tenlee Miller and Mattie McCumiskey, was a rotation unlike any other they have had, let alone their entire team as a whole. In short: There isn’t a single Lady Eagles senior occupying the floor or the bench.

When it came to initializing their outline for what the team wanted to accomplish in the 2024-25 season, the first thing that came to mind was to compete for a third Allegany County League Championship in four years.

That was square one.

In their five-game sequence at the very top of their docket, battles against Avoca-Prattsburgh, Arkport-Canaseraga and twice against Allegany-Limestone served as the highlights — three of those games being decided by no more than four points, all of which receiving the same result: victory. Right as they got a taste of it, the seven-letter designation soon became a common trend for the Lady Eagles.

A harmonious rhythm that nearly went uninterrupted throughout the entire regular season.

Aside from a 71-54 defeat to the hands of Arkport-Canaseraga in late January, the Lady Eagles eventually went on to cross “Allegany County Champions” off their list of goals. And with it, came so many more unearthings of hidden gems they never even thought was possible this season — a 19-1 record to enter the postseason, resulting in the claiming of one of Class D’s top seeds along the way being one of them.

Through it all, head coach Tom Parks says that despite not knowing what the eventual future would hold, he believed the program remained in exceptional hands.

“I hate to beat the dead horse over and over, but this team doesn't have any seniors. We lost all of our starters a year ago,” he said. “Coach (Alicia) Mucher said it best originally: We didn't know how good we could be at the beginning of the season, and now we know how good we are. That was a discovery throughout this season. We didn't know where this was going to take us, and in a perceived rebuilding year, nothing surprised me with them as we went through this year.”

With the Lady Eagles assembling yet another magnificent season filled with victories they have won in many different fashions, they would now step onto the proving grounds of the Class D Tournament to see what they are really made of. With a dominant start to Sectionals against Mount Morris, along with a transcendent triumph over C.G. Finney earlier this week in the Semifinals, Fillmore had become the little team that could.

All of a sudden, one single victory separated them from finishing a storybook Sectional run. One that dreams were made of.

Waiting for them in the Class D Finals on Saturday at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, was no slouch — a perennial powerhouse in Section V, the Elba Lady Lancers, who are ranked No. 1 in New York State in the midst of a perfect season.

If the Lady Eagles were going to accomplish one of the biggest feats in the program’s history, they were going to need to fight like their lives depended on it. Across the opening stages of combat, the No. 2 seeds did just that, going toe-to-toe while withstanding several different blows, dealing some of their own in return to deadlock the Lady Lancers at the end of it.

But when an opportunity to tilt the balance came, Sydney Reilly did not hesitate for the Lady Lancers.

The Elba senior made the very most of the opportunity that lay ahead during the second quarter, where her converted three-point play allowed the State’s top-ranked team to turn the tide behind a monstrous run, using the momentum to ward off Fillmore’s final push down the stretch off some clutch assistance at the charity stripe, as they advanced towards the capture of back-to-back Section V championships behind Reilly’s 25-point MVP performance in a 54-36 victory over the Lady Eagles, ending their remarkable campaign in the process.

Before Reilly spearheaded the Elba offense towards eventual glory, the Lady Lancers had to overcome a tough challenge posed by the young guns of the Lady Eagles immediately out of the gate, with a back-and-forth exchange harnessing every bit of spotlight through the first eight minutes until both teams basked in its illumination at the end of the frame with a 10-10 tie on the scoreboard.

Parks said the team’s start was an element to the game they absolutely needed to have.

“We knew that we had to come out guns blazing with high energy,” the longtime Lady Eagles coach said. “We said it was going to be a physical fight out there. We couldn't be pushovers. We deserved to be here and we had to let Elba know that. I couldn't be more proud of our start. They came out with all of that intensity that we talked about, and the thing about good teams like Elba is that they make you play like that for every second. If you can't, they will get you. In little spurts, the girls were resilient getting it back down to single digits. Towards the end, we couldn't string enough stops together to hold them.”

In the second quarter, the three-point play by Reilly seemingly tilted the balance of power in Elba’s favor for the duration of the frame, as the defense limited Fillmore and their looks on offense with a half-ending 14-5 run that ultimately allowed them to set the tone going into the second half.

Despite the disadvantage, the Lady Eagles kept fighting, as they found a new way to attack — the charity stripe, especially behind the guidance of Mattie McCumiskey down low, who did everything in her power to emerge as an inside presence. Although Fillmore was also at the brunt of some severe foul trouble in the third quarter, the Lady Eagles junior turned the tables on the attack and drew several fouls against the Lady Lancers in return to reach the charity stripe a total of 13 times, making 10 shots — including an 8-for-9 outing across the back 16 minutes of play.

McCumiskey finished as Fillmore’s leading scorer with a team-high 16 points.

“We had to be aggressive,” Parks said. “I didn't think we were always doing a great job of putting pressure on their defense by working up to the rim. So the girls picked up that aspect a little bit, Mattie especially. She's one of our leaders, and for her to draw all those fouls, that really helped us stay in the game quite a bit from the free throw line.”

Closing in on less than six minutes to go in the fourth quarter, what momentum Fillmore had built, was essentially erased by Reilly and the Lady Lancers, as the senior knocked down two big three-pointers to open the game up towards a 17-point advantage that was kept fully intact, as top-seeded Elba went on to finish their Sectional run with high success as Champions once again in the 2024-25 campaign.

“We're a zone team and we knew they had shooters all over the floor,” said Parks of Elba. “We knew we had to get out and cover them from long range, but at the same time, plug the lane behind them. We forced a lot of contested shots early. But it was only a matter of time before Elba caught on, and they strung together some great shots from three in the fourth quarter. It's like picking your poison with them, they have a lot of ways they can come after you with.”

Following McCumiskey in the Fillmore scoresheet was Emalyn Mucher, who had nine points of her own to add into the mix. Morghyn Ross had five points, while Mylee Miller and Tenlee Miller rounded off the scoring with four and two points, respectively. At game’s end, both McCumiskey and Mucher received All-Tournament nods for their efforts during the postseason.

A campaign filled with many moments to be proud of, has reached its conclusion for the Lady Eagles, as they put a wrap on an absolutely sublime season of basketball with a record of 21-2 overall. The best part behind all of the success from this winter — the No. 2 seeds will have their entire team back next year to do it all over again.

Through all the different methods that the Lady Eagles have found in the win column with, it also allowed them to develop a resiliency of epic proportions, according to Parks.

“We came from behind, we won close games, we won in different ways and it carried us all the way to the Sectional Finals. It's simply remarkable,” he said. “21 win seasons don't grow on trees, and to do it in a year where we were going to contend for a League title maybe, it says everything about the girls. The amount of resiliency and how they came back today, it speaks volumes, even more than their basketball ability. It carries you such a long way. To say that I'm proud of them, is a massive understatement.”

Fillmore 10 5 12 9 — 36

Elba 10 14 14 16 — 54

FILLMORE: Mylee Miller 1 2-2 4, Tenlee Miller 1 0-0 2, Morghyn Ross 2 0-2 5, Emalyn Mucher 3 3-4 9, Mattie McCumiskey 3 10-13 16. Totals: 10 15-21 36.

ELBA: Sydney Reilly 11 1-1 25, Maddie Hall 2 0-0 5, Mariah Ognibene 2 1-2 5, Lydia Ross 1 0-1 2, Brynn Stackhouse 1 1-2 3, Brea Smith 7 0-0 14. Totals: 24 3-6 54.

3-point goals: Fillmore 1 (Ross), Elba 3 (Reilly 2, Hall).
Total Fouls: Fillmore 14, Elba 17. Fouled out: None.