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Mother Nature forces a flurry of postseason basketball changes

Playoff teams left out in the cold

Westfield Wolverines senior Dylan Scriven blows by the Cassadaga Valley defense on his way to a layup during a game earlier this season in Westfield. OBSERVER Photo by Roger Coda.

Mother Nature has left the playoff schedule completely up in the air. After all of Thursday’s girls basketball games were postponed because of the weather, the local basketball scene is still a bit unclear.

At the moment, what we do know is this: Dunkirk and Fredonia have their Sectional Quarterfinals scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, rather than 7 p.m. on Friday night. In Class B1, the 5-seed Dunkirk Lady Marauders (20-1) will host 13-seed Medina at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dunkirk High School. Medina comes in after upsetting 4-seed Burgard despite one win in the regular season. Fredonia, the 10-seed in Class B2 with a record of 12-9, is set to meet 2-seed Eden at 1 p.m. Saturday at Eden High School. Should these games be postponed again, they will either be played on Sunday afternoon or sometime early next week.

Also at 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Fredonia Hillbillies boys basketball team opens its postseason after a double-bye, as the 3-seed in Class B2. Fredonia (16-4) takes on 11-seed Royalton-Hartland, the lowest remaining seed in the postseason in all of Class B with a record of 8-14 overall. The game will be played at Fredonia High School.

As of Thursday evening, all girls basketball games originally scheduled for Thursday are set for Friday at 7 p.m., while all boys basketball games set for Friday at 7 p.m. are still on — at least for now. Should any girls games from Thursday be postponed again on Friday, they will likely be played Sunday at 1 p.m., or possibly early next week. Boys games originally scheduled for Friday will be rescheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Among the boys basketball games originally set for Friday, 3-seed Silver Creek hosts 6-seed Gowanda in C1, 4-seed Westfield hosts 5-seed Salamanca in C2, and in Class D, 2-seed Forestville hosts 7-seed Pine Valley, while 4-seed North Collins hosts 5-seed Riverside. On the road on Friday, (5) Chautauqua Lake takes on (4) Portville in C1, while (7) Cassadaga Valley travels to (2) Tapestry.

Silver Creek’s Spencer Harford attempts a layup contested by a Randolph defender during a game earlier this season at Silver Creek High School. OBSERVER Photo by Justin Goetz.

The next round of boys basketball playoff games are scheduled for either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on Class. The Fredonia boys would play Tuesday at Buffalo State college with a win on Saturday, while Class C1, Class C2 and Class D winners will play either Tuesday or Wednesday at Jamestown Community College.

Girls semifinals in Class B1 are Thursday, while Class B2 semifinals are Wednesday, both at Starpoint High School. Class C1, Class C2 and Class D girls semifinals are Wednesday and Thursday at Jamestown Community College.

Because of the neutral site venues, things would become much more complicated should games be pushed into next week. But what we’ve learned so far is, no matter the sport, Mother Nature doesn’t care how complicated the scheduling might become.

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