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Fredonia girls takes care of business with 71-30 win

Hannah Gullo makes a pass during Tuesday's action.

The No. 6 Fredonia Lady Hillbillies (15-6) made quick work of the No. 11 City Honors Lady Centaurs (4-10) Tuesday night capping off a rare boys-girls playoff double-header with a convincing 71-30 win in Section VI Class B-1 girls basketball prequarterfinal action.

“I was hoping that our playoff experience, as well as playing such a tough non-league schedule, would prepare us for this game,” Fredonia head coach Carol Zirkle said. “Also, I felt like if we came in and pressed (on defense), City Honors wouldn’t be used to having teams come out and press them right from the beginning. So I was hoping that would work to our benefit and I thought that it did.”

Fredonia definitely held the advantage in experience Tuesday night, as they started three seniors and two juniors that had a combined 17 years of varsity basketball between them.

Meanwhile, City Honors started two seniors, a junior and two eighth graders.

“I also thought that we could wear them down so they would start making more mental mistakes by being physically tired,” Zirkle said of the young Lady Centaurs. “So our goal was to push the ball, push the ball, push the ball. And I thought that we did a good job of looking up the court and getting the ball up the court.”

And the Lady Hillbillies worked their plan to a “T” Tuesday night, because just as their male counterparts did to Tonawanda in the day’s first game, Fredonia held its opponent to just two first-quarter points, thanks to a well-executed full-court press that led to easy transition points and a 12-point lead heading into the second quarter.

But things did not start out as easy for the Lady Hillbillies on offense as the 14-2 lead at the end of the game’s first eight minutes might indicate, as the first field goal of the game — a bucket by Morgan St. George — came with almost three minutes off the clock. From there, however, Fredonia’s offense began to click, as it put together an 11-2 spurt and never looked back.

“I thought we were very cold for the first three minutes or however long it took us to get going,” Zirkle said. “But I thought what finally broke it open was a couple of steals and fast-break layups off rebounds.”

Hannah Cybart scored seven of her game-high 17 points in the opening quarter, before adding seven more in the second stanza, helping the Lady Hillbillies go on a 23-3 run that blew the game wide open and sent the home team to the locker room at half time with a 39-9 lead.

“I feel like we have to be able to do that if we’re going to go in and be successful against the No. 3 team, the No. 2 team, the No. 1 team,” Zirkle said of the importance of scoring runs. “And that’s who we’re hoping to be able to see. We’re hoping we get through the No. 3 to get to the No. 2 to get to the No. 1. But in order for that to happen, we have to be able to put together runs and we have to be able to have multiple people scoring and I think that’s what happened (Tuesday). We had a lot of different people in the scoring column, we had a lot of different people getting rebounds and assists. We’re looking for that overall great team effort.”

The second half saw the Lady Hillbillies sit their starters, giving the bench and jayvee call-ups a chance to gain some much needed playoff experience of their own. And one player who took full advantage of that was freshman A’Cetta Farrait, who finished the night with 14 points, three rebounds and three of Fredonia’s 22 steals.

“Grace Mroczka did a great job hitting the boards, A’Cetta Farrait came in and did a tremendous job of getting open to score,” Zirkle said. “But a lot of that came from Kazlin Beers, who came in and had some tremendous assists, saw the floor well, and made some great passes inside.”

The bench scored 39 of Fredonia’s 71 points Tuesday night, with Beers scoring four of them while adding four rebounds, four steals and three assists, Mroczka added five points while grabbing nine rebounds, Morgan St. George had four points and seven rebounds, Maddie Goss had nine points, four assists and two rebounds, and Gracie Morrison had three points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

“They all came in and did tremendous things,” Zirkle said. “Gracie Morrison, I thought she came in early and did a great job on Kyra Wood. Our post defense is going to be critical for us down the line. Tonawanda has two (6-feet, 1-inch) girls, so we’ve got to be able to go in there and put the pressure on (defensively). I think that she’s an intimidating force and plays great defense.”

The Lady Hillbillies outscored the Lady Centaurs 15-8 in the third quarter, getting the final seven points if the night from starters Hannah Cybart (three), Caitlyn Cybart (two) and Katie Price (three), before the bench took over the rest of the way.

“I was happy with the girls that came in off the bench and the girls we brought up from jayvees,” Zirkle said. “And one of our goals was to get the starters some rest, because we only have a 48-hour turnaround. So I wanted to make sure that (the starters) had some rest and I also wanted to get those girls (off the bench) some more game experience. I was happy I was able to play them as much as they played. And I was also happy that the starters will be able to go into Thursday’s game with fresher legs than they could’ve been.”

In the fourth, Fredonia outscored City Honors 17-13, with Farrait, Goss and Mroczka scoring all of them while eighth grader Kyra Wood scored four of her team-high 14 points. And despite the lopsided win, Zirkle sees a lot of potential down the road for the Lady Centaurs.

“When you have a 6-foot, 1-ince eighth grader as good as she is, that’s impressive,” Zirkle said. “And then they had those other eighth-grade guards come in… They’re going to be good. They’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. But we’re worried about this year right now.”

Hannah Cybart’s 17 points led the way for Fredonia, as she added eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks and two assists, Price finished with nine points and five rebounds while Caitlyn Cybart had six points and two boards.

“I thought Hannah Cybart played a phenomenal first half,” Zirkle said. “It was probably one of her best first halve. She didn’t have the points (at the end of the game), but she didn’t play the normal amount of minutes either. But when she was in there, I thought she just went in and took over. She really did a nice job when we were struggling of getting inside, making some nice moves and that’s what’s going to be important going down the road, is those seniors being able to step up and get the key shots to turn the momentum our way.”

Up next for the Lady Hillbillies is a trip Thursday night to Tonawanda, where they will square off with the No. 3 Lady Warriors (15-5) at 7 p.m. And all Zirkle can hope for is her team continues the tear its been on over the last four games, which has included wins over tough teams from Chautauqua Lake, Allegany-Limestone and Franklinville.

“I felt like coming into this game, the last three games (of the regular season) we played some tremendous basketball,” Zirkle said. “Our rebounding has definitely gotten better, our defensive intensity the last three games has really picked up. I’ve just seen a tremendous improvement on the defensive end and that defensive pressure and that momentum has led to easier shots. So I’m seeing a lot of improvement.”

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