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Fredonia, Gowanda fall; Dunkirk forfeits

OBSERVER Staff Report
POSTED: January 7, 2009

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GOWANDA - Rachel Bantelman scored a game-high 24 points Tuesday as Olean (8-1, 3-0) downed Gowanda (4-5, 1-2) 56-30, to earn a CCAC Division 1 win.

Grace Williamson added 11 points for the Lady Huskies while teammate Alicia Stebbins chipped in with 10. Also for Olean, Rachel Kasperski added 12 points.

For Gowanda, Melanie had a team-high nine points while Jayde Stevens added eight and Janice George seven.

"We just missed way to many layups and too many front-ends on free throws," Gowanda head coach Jeff Johnson said. "We made too many mistakes and they (Olean) are too good."

ALCS 69, Fredonia 40

ALLEGANY - Lindsay Martin was one rebound short of a triple-double in the Allegany-Limestone Lady Gators (7-1, 2-1) 69-40 win over the Fredonia Lady Hillbillies (3-5, 1-1) in a Division 1 contest.

Martin scored a game high 20 points and added 11 assists along with nine rebounds.

"She was excellent," Lady Gator coach Frank Martin said.

Martin also felt that his team played excellent defense in the first half after holding Fredonia to just 13 points.

"I thought the whole first half we were good defensively," said Martin. "I thought we did a nice job of getting them out of their rhythm. Lauren (Saglimden) did a nice job on (Mary Kate) Bongiovanni, who is an excellent guard for (Fredonia), and (we) did a good job on (Grace) Moore. We really focused on taking them away."

On the offensive end of the floor Allegany Limestone was lighting up the net, with 18 points in the first quarter and 20 points in the second.

"We shot the ball very well tonight," Martin said. "We were fortunate enough to get out in transition, and Saglimden had 10 of her 17 points in the first quarter, which got us going because they were focusing on Stoddard."

The Lady Gators kept up the tough defense in the third, outscoring the Lady Hillbillies by ten, before coasting to victory in the fourth despite being bested by Fredonia 15-9.

Martin pointed back to the first half, and especially the second quarter as the story of the game.

"To hold them to 13 points in the first half is really a credit to our team," said Martin. "We did a nice job of helping, and we rotated well. The second quarter was huge. It was huge," Martin continued. "Anytime you can hold a time to three points and score like we did, that's tough, it's tough to come back from."

Gosheneh Kennedy had nine rebounds and six points for Allegany-Limestone, and Kaitlin Martin grabbed seven boards to go along with her six points.

Mary Kate Bongiovanni had a solid all around game for the Lady Hillbillies with nine points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals. Joelle Bennett pulled down seven boards, scored four points and blocked three shots for Fredonia, while Julie Arnold added six rebounds.

The Lady Hillbillies will host Gowanda on Friday.

Southwestern earn rare, forfeit win over Dunkirk

Citing a lapse in committment on the part of his players, Dunkirk girls' basketball head coach Greg Catalano, along with Atheltic Director Al Gens, decided it would be in the team's best interest to cancel Tueday night's CCAC Division 1 matchup against Southwestern.

"It was a decision Al Gens and myself made." Dunkirk head coach Greg Catalano said. "We thought it was best for the team if they didn't play this game. It's very difficult over Christmas break to get kids involved, but I grew up with coaches who stressed hard work and tradition. You have to want to work hard."

As for future games, Catalano and his players will be back in the gym, preparing for the rest of their season.

"We have a game friday," Catalano noted. "We're going to work hard to get better."

Division 2

Silver Creek 48, Cassadaga Valley 34

SILVER CREEK - Sami Williams scored 13 of her game-high 21-points in the first quarter as Silver Creek (6-2, 3-0) downed CCAC Division 2 foe Cassadaga Valley (4-3, 2-1), 48-34 Tuesday.

Williams used three 3-pointers to help the Black Knights build an 18-2 lead, with the Silver Creek defense taking over much of the rest of the game, limiting the Lady Cougars to single-digit scoring in the first, third and fourth quarters.

"I thought we played great team defense," Silver Creek head coach Rich Norton said. "Even though we were short-handed, we had some kids come off the bench and step it up. The key to our success is on the defensive end. If we can lock-down defensively like we did tonight, I think we can be pretty dangerous."

Williams also added 13 rebounds, eight steals and three assists for the Black Knights.

"She had a monster game tonight," Norton said of Williams.

Also for Silver Creek, Jessica Jamison added 14 points, four assists and two blocks while Missy Keem added 10 points, four rebounds and five steals.

For Cassadaga Valley, Kristine Smith had a team-high 12 points while collecting 12 rebounds, seven steals and three blocks. Also for the Lady Cougars, Anna Nietupski added eight points while teammate Katie Wissman scored her first varsity points, with the game's final field goal.

Division 3

Ripley 42,

Maple Grove 34

BEMUS POINT - The Ripley girls used a big fourth quarter to down host Maple Grove, 42-34, in Division 3 West basketball action Tuesday night.

The Lady Eagles (5-2, 7-4) led by two, 24-22, at the break. After a low-scoring third, Ripley outscored the Lady Red Dragons 14-3 in the final eight minutes to claim the win.

Coach Chris Johnson of Maple Grove (4-3, 6-3) said, ''We struggled to score. They (Ripley) hit some big shots.''

Ashley Judd had 16 points to lead Ripley and Kaylin Bentley added 11.

For Maple Grove, Mallory Apperson had 12 points and Madeline Apperson scored eight. Each had 11 rebounds.

Pine Valley 72, Hinsdale 7

HINSDALE - Pine Valley (6-1, 8-3), handed Hinsdale (0-6, 0-7), a crippling 72-7 defeat behind Jenna Austin's 17 points and six rebounds.

Katie Swanson scored 14 points and Jillian Brunswick scored 10 and grabbed eight boards and also added four assists for Pine Valley.

Panama 49, Brocton 22

PANAMA - Panama downed Brocton 49-22, relying on solid defense and a second-half surge.

After scoring a total of 14 points in the first half, Panama (4-3, 5-4) opened things up with 21 in the third and 14 in the fourth.

''We started out slow. Our defense kept us in the game,'' said Lady Panthers coach Rob Collver. ''In the second half, we started hitting shots and our defense stayed strong.''

For Panama, Olivia Nagel had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Alyson Raynor had 11 points as well. Defensively, Raynor and Randi Bilinski each had six steals, and D.J. Catanese had eight.

Cynthia Ferguson had seven and Ashley Bartela had five for the Lady Bulldogs (0-5, 0-8). Heather Barrett had 15 rebounds, and Leah Carr had 14.

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