OBSERVER Photo by Mary Ann Wiberg Fredonia’s Katie Price dribbles while being guarded by Southwestern’s Erin Radack, as Izzy Bursch (23) looks on, during high school basketball action Wednesday at Fredonia High School.

OBSERVER Staff Report

The Southwestern Lady Trojans pulled away in the second half for a 56-39 win over the Fredonia Lady Hillbillies Wednesday in the CCAA West 1 opener for both teams.

Fredonia led, 10-9, after one period but found itself down by five at halftime. Visiting Southwestern used a 20-7 third quarter to blow the game open, sending the Lady Hillbillies to an 0-2 record to start their 2017-18 schedule. The Lady Trojans improve to 4-0.

“We played a much better first half than second half. Our defense was better that half,” Fredonia coach Carol Zirkle said. “The bottom line is we got badly outrebounded, and if you can’t rebound, you can’t be successful at basketball. We didn’t do a good job boxing out and we didn’t do a good job going after the offensive boards.”

Alanna Dibble grabbed 24 rebounds for the Lady Trojans to go with her game-high 18 points. Her teammate, Erin Radack, scored 14 points, pulled down nine rebounds and made five steals. Sofia Genareo also scored in double digits for Southwestern, with 10.

Fredonia’s leading scorer was Katie Price with 13 points. The top Lady Hillbilies rebounder was Gracie Morrison, with six.

The Lady Hillbillies return to action Friday when they host Allegany-Limestone. The JV game will start at 5 p.m., while the varsity game is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m.

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Southwestern 56, Fredonia 39

SOUTHWESTERN (56)

Hoose 2 3 7, Mathews 1 0 2, Genareo 2 4 10, Minarovich 2 0 4, Radack 6 2 14, Bursch 2 0 4, Dibble 8 2 18, Totals 23 11 59.

FREDONIA (39)

Beers 3 0 6, Farriat 2 1 5, Price 5 0 13, H. Gullo 3 0 8, Morrison 2 0 4, Totals 15 1 36.

3 point goals: Price 3, Genareo 2, H. Gullo 2.

Southwestern 9 18 20 12 — 56

Fredonia 10 12 7 7 — 39