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Woodis excels in leading Thunderbirds past Falconer

JAMESTOWN — As time wound down in the second quarter, Lily Woodis figured why not?

Her fifth 3-pointer of the first half rattled through the hoop at the buzzer as Chautauqua Lake took a 37-19 lead into the locker room.

With the way the Thunderbirds sophomore shot the ball Saturday afternoon, Falconer never stood a chance.

Woodis had 21 of her 26 points in the opening 16 minutes and No. 2 Chautauqua Lake cruised to a 67-49 victory in the Section VI Class C-1 championship game at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex.

“My teammates give me so much encouragement,” Woodis said postgame. “I couldn’t do anying without them.”

“She’s a pretty special kid. I give her the green light to shoot whenever she wants,” Chautauqua Lake head coach Bill Persons added. “She took advantage of the open opportunities she had. She was really on fire.”

The win sends the Thunderbirds into Tuesday’s Class C crossover game against Class C-2 champion Holland, which prevailed 60-59 over Franklinville in Saturday afternoon’s second game. Lady Dutchmen eighth-grader Kierra Kline made a 3-pointer with just over 2 seconds remaining and Western New York’s all-time leading scorer Dani Haskell missed a runner at the buzzer for the Panthers.

“Our goal going into it was to get out of the section. We are at the place that we wanted to be at the beginning of the season,” Persons said. ” … Whoever we see, our goal is to ultimately give them a game.”

The title is the fifth in seven years for Chautauqua Lake, which started the string in 2014 with a New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship.

“I credit a lot to our Shooting Stars program,” Persons said when asked about his team’s continued success. ” … Ultimately, this group of kids has really been doing a lot of character education. The foundation of our program is playing hard for everybody else. How much can you give for somebody else? They really take that to heart.”

The fifth-seeded Golden Falcons hung around for the first quarter Saturday, but the game changed with a 21-6 second quarter.

Thunderbirds sophomore Alexis Jacobson hit a 3-pointer with 4:08 remaining and Falconer senior Sarah Disbro answered with a 3-pointer of her own a minute later, but Golden Falcons junior Rachel Harper went to the bench with her third foul with 2:42 left in the half.

“Chautauqua Lake got hot,” Falconer head coach Emily Scholeno said. “We would do one good thing and they’d do two and we’d kind of hang our heads a little bit.”

Woodis closed the quarter with a personal 12-0 run on four 3-pointers to cap an eight-minute period during which Chautauqua Lake went 7 of 14 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.

“That last shot I took, it was so nice to get all of that encouragement,” Woodis said of her buzzer-beater. “That’s what keeps me going.”

The Thunderbirds’ lead grew to as many as 25 on a 3-pointer from senior Kyleigh Perdue midway through the third quarter and Falconer never got closer than 17 the rest of the way.

“Kyleigh Perdue is really a diamond in the rough. It’s all about being a contributor. I keep challenging her,” Persons said. ” … There’s nothing better than having a senior in the playoffs. She’s playing like every game can be her last, and that’s exactly how I need her to play.”

Now Persons hopes the last game for Perdue, Woodis and the rest of the Thunderbirds’ isn’t Tuesday when they return to the Physical Education Complex for a 6 p.m. matchup with the Lady Dutchmen.

“It’s love. We just love each other so much,” Woodis said. ” … We cherish each other so much that we play for each other. We don’t play for anybody else or the fans. We play for each other.”

NOTES: Junior Rebecca Henry had 14 points and six rebounds; Jacobson had 13 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals; and Perdue had 12 points, five assists and five rebounds; for Chautauqua Lake, which shot 23 of 51 (45.1%) from the field, including 9 of 20 (45%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 21 times. … Sophomore Grace Lundmark led the Golden Falcons with 16 points and seven rebounds. Disbro had 11 points and three steals; Harper had six rebounds; and sophomore Ava Fenton had five steals and four assists for Falconer, which shot 18 of 61 (29.5%) from the field, including 4 of 15 (26.7%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 18 times. … Perdue and Disbro were named the Intense Milk/Cross Training Athletics Character Athletes of the Game for the respective teams.

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