Roundup: Pittsford girls basketball takes control of SCAA East with win over Colts
PITTSFORD — The Pittsford girls basketball team took sole possession of the SCAA East division lead on Friday night. The Wildcats welcomed the Hillsdale Academy Colts for a traditional showdown between two County rivals.
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The hard-fought defensive battle saw the Wildcats earn a 33-23 victory in front of a standout home crowd atmosphere. The win marks the sixth in a row for the Wildcats and their 11th overall for the season. They are a perfect 8-0 in conference play.
The Wildcats led by as much as 21-8 at the halftime break. Pittsford junior Ava Mallar scored 17 of those points, including three triples from the 3-point line. Things slowed down for the Wildcats in the second half, but Mallar continued to find ways to score from the 3-point line, adding two more triples in the third quarter.
The Colts made some early gains on the Pittsford lead in the fourth quarter. Senior Lydia Jackson was able to knock down two second-half 3-pointers to help cut into the deficit. However, the Wildcat defense would add four more points late in the fourth from Mallar to close out the night.
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Mallar had 27 points for the Pittsford Wildcats. Laura LeMar had three points. Senior Halle Clark had one point. Senior Shelby Bryner had two points. For Hillsdale Academy, senior Lydia Jackson had 12 points. Senior Ava King had four points. Senior Haven Socha had three points.
The last time the two teams played was during the Pat Paterson Tournament consolation round. The Colts took advantage of a stagnant Wildcat offense to drop the Wildcats out of the tournament without a victory. Those were the only two losses on the season for the Wildcats, and coach Aaron Davis says the team has worked hard at putting their offense into better positions to score points, which they have had success doing as of late.
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"I think we figured out some things in the Pat Paterson that we needed to fix," coach Davis said. "One was our offense. You wouldn't have seen it tonight; our offense wasn't very good, and they played real good defense. We had to work on some things. We need to get more movement in our offense. The last time we played them we were just too stagnant and relied on Ava too much, and we relied on her tonight offensively. We've been working on that, but we have been playing a lot better lately, too.
"Our defense has really been key since January started. That's where it starts for us. We're not an overly talented team. We don't have the most offensive skill in the world, but we have athletes, and we can play defense. We try to use that to our advantage sometimes."
That defense has held all but one of their opponents in the new year to under 25 points. The only team to score 30 points or more against the Wildcats was Britton Deerfield, and that was a 44-31 victory for Pittsford.
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Things definitely don't get easier for the Wildcats, despite holding their SCAA East destiny in their hands. The Wildcats have nonconference games against Reading (Feb. 7) and Stockbridge (Feb. 14) in the near future. They still have to face a 9-3 Waldron Spartan team that will hope to beat Pittsford twice and take the division crown for themselves.
"We are just going to take it game-by-game," Davis said. "We are not going to look ahead too much. We knew the significance of tonight if we came out and won and were 2-0 in the league against the Academy. We knew the stakes tonight and we know we have to take care of business. We are going to take it one game at a time, come to work every day and play our game."
Playing an advantage for the Wildcats is their six remaining home games. Coach Davis and the rest of the coaching staff and players credited the home crowd for showing up big during the game.
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"I've been here nine years, and I can't say enough about what the community does for this team," Davis said. "Tonight, it was packed, and it was electric. Every year I've been here this community has been behind these girls and behind every sports team this town puts out. From me and all these girls, thank you to the community and to the students that came out tonight."
Hillsdale Academy falls to 8-6 overall. Next up, they host Tekonsha on Feb. 8 in a favorable win before rematching with Litchfield on Feb. 12.
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Friday night scoreboard
WCA wins back-to-back games on homecoming night
The Cougars boys basketball team is now 10-7 on the year after they defeated Pansophia Academy 68-40 on Friday night. The game followed the WCA girls basketball team's 41-25 victory over Pansophia Academy. This was their third win of the season.
For the Cougar boys team, Thomas Maier had 18 points. Tyler Slade had 14 points. David Maier had 10 points. Will Thielen scored seven points. Girls basketball stats will be updated online when they have been received.
Tyler Barnes and Vivian Tran were named Homecoming King and Queen.
Next up for the Cougars will be battles with Jackson Prep and Marshall Academy before a weekend visit to Waldron.
Boys Basketball: Onsted 73, Hillsdale 53
The Hornets drop to 8-8 after a tough road loss. Leading the way for the Hornets was Jack Bowles with 26 points and Jace Lennox with 14 points. The two athletes each had four 3-pointers.
Boys Basketball: Quincy 60, Reading 37
The Rangers drop to 4-12 overall after a tough road game. Leading the way for the Rangers was Brayden Wright and Brady Kling with 12 points each.
Girls Basketball: Litchfield 37, Camden-Frontier 24
The Terriers won a tough fought rivalry match to snap a three-game losing streak. "Anytime you play league games, you almost expect it," coach Al Alvarez said. "You have to give credit to the ladies for playing through everything and not allowing the uncontrollable to get into our heads."
Jenna Miller led the Terriers with eight points, two assists, two steals and 13 rebounds. Tavia Shelton had 10 rebounds and two steals. Addie McClouth had five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Girls Basketball: Addison 39, Jonesville 34
Addison gets revenge against the Comets with a road win. Leading the way for the Comets was Haley Mach with 11 points and Lyra Nichols with nine points. Gracen Hager had six points. Nichols had seven rebounds and Hager had five. Reese Stanton had five points and five steals.
Girls Basketball: Waldron 35, Jackson Christian 20
Waldron stays in the SCAA East hunt by improving to 9-3 overall.
Senior Morgan Burk had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Spartans.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Roundup: Pittsford girls hoops beats Colts 33-23 to control SCAA East
