Saturday Roundup: Lady Eagles capture Franklinville Christmas title with 56-31 win of host Lady Panthers; C-R defeats Dunkirk in Consolation

The Lady Eagles of Fillmore come together for a group photo with this year’s Franklinville Holiday Tournament trophy after defeating the host Lady Panthers by a 56-31 count in the Championship game, Saturday evening. [PHOTO PROVIDED]

FRANKLINVILLE — The final day approached to determine this year’s champion of the Rick Hughes Memorial Christmas Tournament in Franklinville. Saturday was filled with numerous consolation and championship games, that the Lady Eagles of Fillmore had to wait until the very end of the night to take the stage.

The afternoon began with the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford looking to punch their way into the win column one last time before the Christmas break begins to hover around the area for the next two weeks.

Their chance came against Dunkirk. And for the Lady Rebels going into the fourth quarter, they were hot on their trail.

Not for long though.

Straight out of the gate, Cuba-Rushford broke it open in a big way, as they started the last eight minute period with a marvelous 9-0 run to break it open on Dunkirk, extending their lead until it was out of reach to bring home a 55-35 Consolation round victory.

“We got off to a slow start today, but I’m happy with how we worked through it,” said Lady Rebels coach Aaron Wight. “We got some points inside from Gabby (Kranock) and Aleah (Demick), which really helped us tremendously to give us a different look. We went on a nice little run to end the first half, then the third was pretty level. The fourth quarter, we were able to finally make that run we wanted to really break it open.”

Sandwiched between a pair of Lady Rebels (3-4) runs, the Lady Marauders did a bit of pushing and shoving along the way, beginning right in the opening quarter, battling with Cuba-Rushford side-by-side. But then after a 12-9 lead was captured by the team in blue and white, they went on a run to end the first half.

After being shutout on the floor in the opening eight minutes, Taylor Searle’s time to shine came in the last three quarters of play, accounting for nine of the team’s 17 points from within the second quarter to help jumpstart a 17-11 run to give the Lady Rebels some room to work with going into the second half, up by nine on the Lady Marauders.

“She can really be tough sometimes,” Wight said of Searle. “She has stretches where she kind of decides to take over for us, and there are some stretches where she provides some great plays on special teams, collecting steal after steal, and gets out and runs. She’s really good in transition after the fact.”

Searle would go on to further help the Lady Rebels branch their lead after Dunkirk continued to hang right along side in the third quarter, as she scored nine more points in the last eight minutes of play to kickstart a massive 15-7 game-ending run to pull away from the grasp of their opposition to bring a Consolation round victory back home to Cuba-Rushford at the end of the day.

Searle wound up finishing with a game-high 24 points to lead the way, including both of the team’s three-pointers. Gabby Kranock helped provide a big inside presence along the way, coming up with 12 points inside, while Aleah Demick helped further that cause with eight points of her own.

Later on in the day, the festivities were closed up with the Lady Eagles of Fillmore now taking the stage to vie for this year’s Holiday Tournament title against the host Lady Panthers of Franklinville.

All that was needed to make their presence felt was the first eight minutes. That time was used to make the biggest of statements.

The Lady Eagles defense held Franklinville to under 10 points across all four quarters of play, while in turn, using their offense to deliver some big baskets, especially right out of the gate with a massive run of the Lady Panthers in the first eight minutes to set up shop for their holiday tournament title-clinching victory by a 56-31 victory to close out their tenure over the road solidly.

“We came out strong, and probably played our most complete half of basketball so far this year,” Lady Eagles coach Tom Parks said. “I was very impressed with how well the girls played on both sides of the ball. They’re starting to gel as a team, and learning how to play with each other, which was evident today. Six players had at least two assists, and Jadyn (Mucher) and Emma (Cole) led the way with some nice nights. Both of them were aggressive right from the start, and then Rachel Hatch provided some solid defense against Franklinville’s best players. The stats won’t reflect it, but she kept a lot of points off the board.”

Mucher and Cole provided some All-Tournament performances to help lead the way for the Lady Eagles, winners of six straight games after their win over Franklinville (6-0). It all began right in the opening quarter, when the team in black and green set off some fireworks while keeping the Lady Panthers at bay, scoring a big 19-4 lead — an advantage that ultimately set the pace, which Franklinville could not match all evening.

With the help of Mucher and Cole, the two Lady Eagles combined to record 36 of the team’s 56 total points on the floor, each scoring 18. In addition, Cole, who was named the tournament’s MVP, completed a double-double with 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Mucher was two board shy for one of her own, garnering eight more off the glass to pair with three more blocks.

As time went on, Fillmore continued to add to their lead, including a 15-9 second quarter outscoring of the Lady Panthers to further solidify their advantage with a 34-13 lead at the half, as well as a tournament championship to bring back home in time for Christmas.

Finishing behind Cole and Mucher for the Lady Eagles, Preslee Miller added in eight points of her own to go with seven rebounds and three assists, while Hope Russell chipped in with six points.

As for their next games, the Lady Rebels are now off until 2022, as they look to build from their Consolation round victory when they return to the court on January 4 with a 7:30 p.m. visit planned for Friendship to take on host Friendship/Scio.

On the other hand, the Lady Eagles will wrap up with their final game of the 2021 calendar year with one last road trip in store to Canaseraga to meet the Lady Wolves of Arkport/Canaseraga in a 7:15 p.m. tip-off on Tuesday.

Consolation

Dunkirk 9 11 8 7 – 35

Cuba-Rushford 12 17 10 15 – 55

DUNKIRK: Tachiana Garcia 6 3-4 13, Shyla Karin 1 2-2 4, Molly Dicera 7 1-4 14, Brianna Lasey 2 0-0 4. Totals: 13 6-10 35.
CUBA-RUSHFORD: Cloey Larabee 2 0-0 4, Kendall Tompkins 0 1-2 1, Brynn Lavery 3 0-0 6, Gabby Kranock 6 0-0 12, Aleah Demick 4 0-0 8, Taylor Searle 10 2-2 24. Totals: 25 4-7 55.

3-point goals: Dunkirk 3 (Garcia 2, Dicera), C-R 2 (Searle).
Total Fouls: Dunkirk 6, C-R 7. Fouled out: None.

Championship

Fillmore 19 15 8 10 – 56

Franklinville 4 9 9 9 – 31

FILLMORE: Hope Russell 3 0-1 6, Grace Russell 1 2-4 4, Rachel Hatch 0 0-2 0, Jadyn Mucher 4 9-14 18, Emma Cole 6 6-6 18, Zoe Beardsley 1 0-0 2, Preslee Miller 3 1-4 8. Totals: 18 18-31 56.
FRANKLINVILLE: Megan Jackson 3 1-2 7, Sophia Bentley 1 2-2 5, Sarah Courtney 1 0-0 2, Cheznea Rivera 0 2-4 2, Tarryn Herman 3 3-4 10, Olivia Frank 2 1-4 5. Totals: 10 9-16 31.

3-point goals: Fillmore 2 (Mucher, Miller), Franklinville 2 (Herman, Bentley)
Total Fouls: Fillmore 22, Franklinville 26. Fouled out: Bentley (FRA), Frank (FRA), Slavinski (FRA).

Addison 42, Genesee Valley/Belfast 36

ADDISON — Genesee Valley/Belfast gave host Addison everything they could handle across all 32 minutes of play, but in the end, the Lady Knights were able to hang on and weather the storm until the final buzzer rang out, as they staved off some late pressure down the stretch to take the 42-36 victory, Saturday afternoon.

Stats and a complete box score were not made available upon publication.

Genesee Valley/Belfast (2-2) will return to their home floor Monday night with a 6 p.m. contest in store against the Lady Wildcats of Jasper-Troupsburg, meeting them inside the Jungle at Genesee Valley.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Franklinville Holiday Consolation

Friendship/Scio 51, Hinsdale 17

FRANKLINVILLE — After some tough battles the last couple of games with foes like Jasper-Troupsburg, and this past Wednesday against Westfield, Friendship/Scio was due for a bounce back.

To wrap up their tenure at Franklinville’s annual Holiday Tournament, they went on to do just that in the Consolation round, using a strong end to the first half to pull themselves away from Hinsdale to gain the 51-17 upper hand on Saturday.

“It was nice to get back into the win column after having two tough games with J-T and Westfield,” said Friendship/Scio co-coach Dillon McFall. “We started out a little bit slow, but then we picked up our intensity level, especially halfway through the second quarter. Even more so in the second half. It was nice to get some JV guys involved too. Everyone contributed to this, so it was nice to see that.”

After a first quarter of slow beginnings on each side, Friendship/Scio (4-2) was able to find their way through and pick up steam to end the second half, as they continued to hold Hinsdale to single digits on offense while providing exclamation on their end of the court.

It would result in a 16-5 first half-ending run that saw them take a 25-9 lead at the break, and later, adding to it with two more runs in the final 16 minutes to pull themselves away and out of reach from the Bobcats.

Brenden Loucks had his best game of the season to lead the Friendship/Scio attack, scoring a season-high 22 points to pair with six rebounds off the glass. Lazar Bulajic added in 13 points of his own to couple with seven rebounds and seven steals. Ethan Davenport had 12 points.

The Bobcats (0-5) were led by Cody Barton, who had six points.

Both teams will get together one more time before the Christmas break settles in, as they meet again on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. contest in Friendship.

Friendship/Scio 9 16 12 14 – 51

Hinsdale 4 5 4 4 – 17

FRIENDSHIP/SCIO: Brenden Loucks 10 2-5 22, Ethan Davenport 5 0-0 12, Taylor Moore 1 0-0 2, Lazar Bulajic 5 1-3 13, Gabbin Benhassine 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 3-8 51.

HINSDALE: Ethan Cashimere 1 2-3 4, Sam Cashimere 1 0-0 2, Parker Keenan 1 1-2 3, Henry Schwartz 1 0-0 2, Cody Barton 3 0-0 6. Totals: 7 3-5 17.

3-point goals: F/S 5 (Davenport 3, Bulajic 2).
Total Fouls: F/S 5, Hinsdale 10. Fouled out: None.