Bulldogs to face Lisbon for Brady title; illness sidetracks No. 1 H-D
Dec. 28—HEUVELTON — In a court of law it would be discarded as a case of entrapment.
But on the basketball court the traps applied by host Heuvelton Central, on Wednesday, were hailed as outstanding defense as the well tested and well travelled Lady Bulldogs (7-4) rolled past Bruston-Moira (3-3) 66-25 in the first round of the 21st Cindy Brady Memorial Girls Basketball Tournament.
Lisbon (4-2) moved on to the title game in an unusual bye when Hermon-DeKalb was unable to play when illness thinned the Demon ranks to point that they did not have enough players to compete. The illness side tracked the undefeated Green Demons (5-0) after they rose to the top of the New York State Class D rankings. Rankings which featured four Section 10 teams in the top 10: Chateaugay at seven, Edwards-Knox at nine and Hammond at 10.
E-K and Hammond will play for the second time this season tonight in the first round of the Sami Curtis Tournament in Canton where Canton faces Norwood-Norfolk.
E-K (3-3) dropped a 54-41 loss to Class B opponent General Brown (6-1) 54-41 on Wednesday to start a string of three challenging games to close the 2023 portion of their schedule. The Lady Cougars dropped a well-played 48-29 decision to Hermon-DeKalb on Saturday.
"We have had a tough stretch against amazing teams. We will bounce back," said E-K Coach Fred Foster.
Heuvelton 66 — P-H 25: The Bulldogs struggled with their outside and inside shooting early in the game but used a swarming halfcourt trap defense to trigger a 9-0 start and a 13-3 first quarter lead. Using two five-player platoons the Bulldogs held the Panthers of the NAC East league to single digit scoring in all four quarters.
Senior guards Katie Cunningham and Rylin McAllister dialed in from long distance in the second half on their way to 29 and 18 point efforts. Cunningham buried three 3-pointers scoring 15 of her 29 points after halftime and also delivered 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 8 steals. McAllister netted three 3s in the third quarter and one trey in the fourth finishing with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
Ashley Weston tallied 6 points with 4 steals and Raya McGaw tallied 1 point with 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 4 steals rounding out the first five.
The second unit featured balanced scoring with Cassidy Pray (6 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals), Lilly Brossoitt (6 points, 3 steals), Lakan Martin (7 rebounds, 2 assists), Mia Scott (2 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Kerrigan Doyle (3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals).
"We used two units tonight and it worked well. We were looking for both units to go in and give us minutes minutes of tough intense play with no letup and that's what they did," said Heuvelton Coach Rob Powers speaking for himself and assistant coach Madison McCormick.
"If we can do that consistently we will be tough to beat. It will be a very interesting game tomorrow with Lisbon."
Kayla Phelan led B-M with nine points which featured tough finishes at the goal and Jazmin Taylor tallied seven. Addysn Mitchell and Samantha Clookey added five and seven points.
GB TOPS EK
General Brown outscored Edwards-Knox 27-14 in the second half and were led offensively in 54-41 win by the trio of Brooke Wiley with 16 points, Madeleyn Ferris with 13 and Casey Lytle with 11.
Addison Foster and Lilly Lottie scored 16 and 11 points for E-K which played to a 27-27 halftime tie.
"General Brown had too much size and firepower in the end. We will bounce back," said E-K Coach Fred Foster.
For E-K Rylee Tyhair, Camryn Huckle and Kiana Hogle all scored 4 points and Hayley Bullock added 2.
