FALCONER - The Cassadaga Valley Lady Cougars pulled out a slim 44-36 victory over Falconer on?Friday in non-league girls' high school basketball action.
While the two squads played relatively even throughout the opening half, it was in the third frame when Cassadaga Valley finally pulled away for good.
Trailing as much as five, the Falconer offense soon seemed to get in rhythm as freshman Emma Steele and sophomore Brianna McFall hit back-to-back triples over a 30-second span to erase the deficit and take a slim, 26-24 advantage - the first for the hosts all game.
Article Photos
Photo by Rob?Tucker
Cassadaga Valley’s Kristi Zink, right, drives around Falconer’s Julia Anderson during?Friday’s non-league girls high school basketball game.
But that momentum quickly dissipated as, with a little more than four minutes left in the quarter, the Lady Golden Falcons committed their seventh team foul, thereby putting the Lady Cougars on the line after each foul for the remainder of the half.
Cassadaga Valley wasted little time in taking advantage.
With renewed focus at attacking the net, Heather Ames drew the first call and connected on both her free throws to knot the game at 26. Fifteen seconds later it was Shawana Miller, who promptly hit both ends of the 1-and-1 to recapture the advantage. After that it was Jessica Burch for two and a few moments following Kristi Zink found the bottom of the net on both her shots to put Cassadaga ahead for good, 35-26.
When it was all said and done, the Lady Cougars had outscored Falconer 17-3 over the final four minutes of the quarter to balloon the advantage to 41-29.
"My kids faced adversity real well (tonight)," Cassadaga Valley coach Mark Petersen said. "We were up (five points), they tied it and then we went down two."
Miller led the winners with 12 points and 14 rebounds. She also went a perfect 6 of 6 on free throws. Right behind her was Ames with 10 points (3 for 4 from the line) and Kristi Zink with 10 points, six of which were earned with free shots.
"They took the game over when was on the line," Petersen said. "We had a little bit of a lull there and (Falconer) came back nicely, but we came back a little stronger and got the win."
Pine Valley 47,
Gowanda 29
SOUTH DAYTON - The Pine Valley Lady Panthers used a big second half to knock off Gowanda, 47-29, Friday in non-league girls high school basketball action.
Trailing, 16-15 at halftime, the Lady Panthers used their pressure defense to outscore the visitors, 31-13 in the second half - including a 13-1 fourth-quarter run.
"We converted on a few turnovers." Pine Valley coach Tim Nobles said of the second half. "We got turnovers and the pressure got to them."
Leading the way for the Lady Panthers was Alex Bentham with 16 points and seven of the team's 27 steals. Kayla Mansfield and Laurel Killock each had nine points for the winners. Mansfield also had 11 boards while Kaitlyn Hoth had six rebounds for the winners. Amber Riggs and Mansfield each had five steals.
Gowanda was led by Kayla Isaac's 13 points.
