Westfield’s Mary Conklin takes the jumper outside the arc against ,Bella Ruiz of Cassadaga Valley.

Westfield’s lone senior player, Madison Schroeder, poses with her parents at center court.

OBSERVER Photo by Joe Conti
Laura Johnston of Westfield (3), goes for the layup against Cassadaga Valley’s Meghan LeBaron.

WESTFIELD — It was Senior Night for the Westfield-Brocton Lady Wolverines, but Sophia DeMarco stole the show. The junior forward powered a 21-3 fourth quarter run with 12 points as the Lady Wolverines defeated the Cassadaga Valley Lady Cougars, 50-39, in a CCAA West 2 girls high school basketball contest Monday.

DeMarco wound up with a triple-double, scoring 22 points after a slow start, grabbing 17 rebounds and making 10 steals. Her two free throws gave Westfield (6-11, 2-6) a 32-30 lead with 6:05 remaining, an advantage it would never relinquish — in part because she made three inside buckets and sank a three-pointer in the next few minutes.

Senior Night honoree Madison Schroeder, the team’s lone 12th-grader, provided an exclamation point when she drained her second three-pointer of the game for a 48-33 lead as the Lady Wolverines’ fans erupted into their loudest cheers of the night.

The game was close until the fourth quarter, with both teams playing tight defense and clogging the passing lanes. DeMarco didn’t score at all in a first quarter which was indecisive and sloppy for both teams, ending with Westfield up 8-5.

Westfield coach Dave Mathews said his team made some adjustments in the way it played Cassadaga Valley compared to their earlier meeting, a 50-48 Lady Wolverines win in Sinclairville on Jan. 17.

“I switched our three-quarter-court press from a 1-2-2 to a 2-2-1 and it just seemed to click. We got some steals and a few easy baskets, that made the difference,” he said. “We still struggled a little against their 1-2-2 but we did a little better job. When we needed it we scored off it.”Schroeder hit a corner three for the first points of the second quarter, but Westfield scored just six more points in the period as Cassadaga Valley (4-14, 0-8) pulled to within one at halftime, 17-16.

In the first half, “I thought our girls took good shots. They were good open shots, they just weren’t hitting them,” Mathews said. “They were close, they kept rattling in and out. I kept telling them, ‘You gotta keep shooting.'”

“We are pressing and anticipating much better at this point in the season,” Cassadaga Valley coach Todd Fryberger said. “We get caught up in the momentum of the game. We have to learn to keep our heads and focus and clean things up offensively and defensively and not try to force things.”

The Lady Cougars outplayed the home team in the third quarter, taking a 30-27 lead into the final period. Five players scored in the quarter for Cassadaga Valley, led by five of Kaylee Pattyson’s team-high 12 points. The Lady Wolverines were hampered by bad foul shooting in the quarter, going 0-for-6 from the charity stripe.

However, they made up for it with their 23-point fourth quarter.

“I thought our girls played with good intensity the whole time. … I didn’t feel like we had a flat spot defensively,” Mathews said.

NOTES: Pattyson also had nine rebounds. …. Brooke Repine had eight points, seven rebounds and four steals for the Lady Cougars. … Laura Johnson made six steals for Westfield, while Susie Wolfe dished out six assists for the team. … Cassadaga Valley’s next game is at home against Sherman on Thursday, while Westfield goes on the road to play Frewsburg Thursday. Both games are CCAA West 2 league matchups.