Wellsville performs complete sweep of Tuesday twinbill at Alfred U, as boys stroll past Attica, Lady Lions dominate 4th quarter vs. A-P to score County-leading 10th win of season

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(DUE TO TECHNICAL COMPLICATIONS, A COMPLETE PHOTO GALLERY OF BOTH GAMES WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE LATER THIS WEEK)

ALFRED — The McLane Center. It is one of three different collegiate hotspots centered around Allegany County. Alongside the Alfred University staple, are the Nielsen Center at Houghton University, and of course, it’s neighboring partner: The Orvis Activities Center at Alfred State, just a simple walk across the street.

Within the McLane Center’s confines, the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, which is home to the University’s Saxons. After returning from the holiday recess just this past week, both Saxons squads are now away from home for the next four games leading up to the end of the month, when they return to their home confines to face the cross-county Highlanders.

But during their current hiatus, the doors were opened for the Wellsville Lions to make it their home, for only one night this season, as the two basketball programs made the bus ride to Alfred on an absolutely frigid Tuesday night to do battle right before the 10th Annual Dan Barkley Showcase this weekend in their house.

Pitted against Avoca-Prattsburgh were the Lady Lions, who led off the night on the hardwood in a tight battle with their opposition across the first half of play. Both offenses struggled to start their engines, but when it mattered most, Wellsville found the wiggle room they needed to work their way out front going into the halftime intermission.

In the second half, a completely different story.

Beginning in the third quarter, surviving a near-even exchange of pleasantries with the Lady Titans, the Lady Lions settled in and buckled down by scoring a strong scoreless run to extend their advantage in the driver’s seat. Then in the last eight minutes, the jackhammer. The Lady Lions went on to hit all strides without interruption, as they held Avoca-Prattsburgh scoreless from the field while finishing the game on the brightest of notes to secure what was a 51-24 breakaway victory — becoming the first team in Allegany County to reach 10 wins on the campaign.

“It was definitely a slow start. I’m not sure if it was being in the gym or not, but we lacked a little bit of energy tonight. We were able to keep the lead despite that, but we really tightened things down and got really aggressive in the second half, especially the start we had in the third quarter,” Lady Lions coach Michelle Alvord said. “We stepped up our defense and created some energy along with it. It was great to see Natalie (Adams) back in the scoring column. She’s always done the little things right for us all season, and Alexa (Hennessy) really stepped up with her communication to get everyone around her involved, and to give us a spark we needed.”

The Lady Lions (10-2) navigated choppy waters in the opening half of play right alongside Avoca-Prattsburgh, but earned enough room to work with after an 8-4 lead remained intact following a near-even exchange through the second quarter, closing the gap down to a single point following some hard-earned baskets down low against the Wellsville defense.

But when the buzzer sounded, the advantage was extended back out to five for the Lady Lions going into the break after a good look from Makenna Dunbar down low, along with some added assistance at the charity stripe, allowed them to maintain a 17-12 lead on the Lady Titans.

In the third quarter, both teams provided a near-even exchange of baskets, with Wellsville starting with the first pair of baskets leading up to a long triple off the hand of Avoca-Prattsburgh’s D’Mariannah Hinson-Pike, which allowed them to carve their deficit back down to within a stone’s throw of their opposition in the early stages.

But it was as close as the Lady Titans would get, as Wellsville prevented the tide from being turned with a late smooth groove in the third quarter, as Natalie Adams, Makenna Dunbar and Emily Stuck all help find the basket to produce a hearty 8-0 run to aid in closing out the third quarter brilliantly with a 34-23 lead in hand.

To close out the contest, the momentum rode with the Lady Lions from start to finish on both ends of the floor, as they brought the curtains down upon the capitalization of everything they saw while holding Avoca-Prattsburgh at a standstill from the field, producing a 17-1 game-ending jaunt to finish the night in victorious fashion.

Leading the scoring for the Lady Lions was Dunbar, who concluded with a team-leading 22 points to pair with seven rebounds. Right behind her was Natalie Adams, who had 13 points of her own. Emily Stuck bucketed eight points — all of which stemmed in the third quarter, coupling them with three steals, while Caelyn Stevens continued the special teams efforts with six rebounds and three assists.

Avoca-Prattsburgh was captained by Evelyn Travis and her team-leading seven points.

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With the first victory in the wagon for Wellsville, the spotlight now moved over to shine brightly on the boys to close out the school’s tenure on the collegiate hardwood, as the Lions renewed their annual battle with the Attica Blue Devils once again.

It was their first contest in 10 days, but with their arch-nemesis Hornell waiting in the on-deck circle come Friday night, the Lions hoped for a monumental momentum boost despite the long lay-off from action.

Right from the start, they did. And they got much, much more.

In what was a stalwart and absolutely authoritative outing in the McLane Center’s nightcap, Wellsville witnessed every single Lion record minutes and log at least a basket to help propel an offense that registered a season-high 82-point performance that saw almost everything come to life under the collegiate spotlight, as they blazed a trail of glory towards an 82-48 victory over the Blue Devils to sweep the action at Alfred University.

“It was a good team win tonight. We have had a long break since our last game, but I think we were hungry to get out and compete again,” Lions coach Tom Muska said. “I think it’s hard to run with us for a full 32 minutes. The kids are playing hard and they are really buying into playing much faster basketball. It was great to see it bring us a win, especially the efforts from our junior class, it’s better than any bench I’ve seen this season. They give us an ability to maintain our pace or even speed us back up as we begin to get tired.”

Following a trade of baskets through the first five minutes between the two teams, the Lions (6-5) sprinted away with a massive burst of speed behind the three-point game of Nick Germain-Tardieu, who accounted for six of the team’s eight points off a pair of triples from the outer perimeter in the midst of their 8-0 quarter-closing run of Attica in the opening eight minutes to take a 14-4 lead.

The fire continued to burn luminously entering the second quarter, where Wellsville added more fuel behind the efforts of several different shooters, accounting for 14 straight points before Attica ended the long drought a short time later to make it a 20-6 deficit in the early stages.

But despite the run being snapped, the Lions went right back to work creating another momentum booster to go into the break, as they bolstered their advantage with a hint of magic down low off a pass play that began with Ty Vogel on the transition up to Aiden Cowburn in the far wing, who then shifted a pass straight to the opposite side of the rim where a leaping Trent Green finished off a dazzling alley-oop that sent the Lions bench and their cheering section into a frenzy.

When the first half was all said and done, a commanding 38-18 halftime lead was scavenged and all momentum was held firmly in their possession thereafter.

The Lions went on to finish off the victory in the second half behind the efforts of every single player on the floor and on the bench, as they all chipped in to piece together a 19-point frame in the third before ending the night strong with a 25-point fourth quarter — a game-high, solidifying what is now a season-best performance to climb back over the .500 marker for the campaign.

Germain-Tardieu’s three-point edge saw him take the lead for the Wellsville offense, as he sank five of the team’s seven in total, for a team-high 15 points. JJ Howards chipped in 12 points, while Derek Coleman added in 11 of his own to help round off an all-balanced effort on the attack.

Both Lions squads will now gear up for the annual Sheriff’s Classic — the precursor to the 10th Annual Dan Barkley Showcase, which will be held in Wellsville for the first time since its inaugural introduction in front of a standing-room only crowd back in 2015, as they both prepare to face the Hornell Red Raiders come Friday night, with the ladies kicking the festivities off at 6 p.m. before the boys take the stage to close out the night at 7:30 p.m.

Girls

Avoca-Prattsburgh 4 8 11 1 – 24

Wellsville 8 9 17 17 – 51

AVOCA-PRATTSBURGH: Payton Hopkins 1 0-0 2, D'Mariannah Hinson-Pike 2 0-0 5, Meyah Putnam 0 1-2 1, Breanna Jorritsma 2 0-0 4, Evelyn Travis 3 1-2 7, Alydia McIntyre 2 1-2 5. Totals: 10 3-6 24.

WELLSVILLE: Caelyn Stevens 1 1-2 4, Natalie Adams 5 1-2 13, Alexa Hennessy 1 0-0 3, Emily Stuck 4 0-0 8, Makenna Dunbar 8 5-6 22, Alexa Stuck 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 8-12 51.

3-point goals: A-P 1 (Hinson-Pike), Wellsville 5 (Adams 2, Stevens, Hennessy, Dunbar).
Total Fouls: A-P 8, Wellsville 8. Fouled out: None.

Boys

Attica 4 14 13 17 – 48

Wellsville 14 24 19 25 – 82

ATTICA: Logan Albano 2 0-0 4, Josh Diehl 2 0-0 6, Carter Gorski 2 1-2 5, Justin Stockweather 4 1-2 11, Blake Kines 3 0-0 6, Timothy Lamparelli 6 0-0 16. Totals: 19 2-4 48.

WELLSVILLE: Aiden Cowburn 3 0-0 7, Karson Grover 3 2-2 9, Kai Burke 4 1-2 9, JJ Howard 6 0-0 12, Ty Vogel 4 0-0 8, Nick Germain-Tardieu 5 0-0 15, Jack Davis 1 0-0 2, Trent Green 3 1-2 7, Cole White 1 0-0 2, Derek Coleman 5 1-1 11. Totals: 35 5-7 82.

3-point goals: Attica 8 (Lamparelli 4, Diehl 2, Stockweather 2), Wellsville 7 (Germain-Tardieu 5, Cowburn, Grover).
Total Fouls: Attica 9, Wellsville 6. Fouled out: None.