ALLEGANY, N.Y. – Down three points in the closing minutes of the third quarter, Allegany-Limestone’s Kiley Kinney lined up and sank a corner 3-pointer.
That shot tied the game at 36 and was in the middle of a deciding 19-6 Allegany-Limestone run that turned a 12-point deficit into a 58-47 victory over Bradford High in the opening round of the IAABO tournament at St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center on Thursday.
The loss means winless Bradford High (0-7) head into 2017 still searching for their first victory.
“We have to learn how to win,” Lady Owls’ coach Bob Hannon said. “We haven’t done that yet, and until we get that feel, we’re going to keep plugging away. That’s all we can do.”
The Lady Gators turned a 35-27 third-quarter deficit into a 46-41 lead thanks to a 19-6 run that saw Allegany-Limestone hit some shots, while fatigue and turnovers were too much for Bradford High to overcome.
“I don’t know if the girls got a little bit tired,” Hannon said. “We weren’t as quick to the ball as we were to start off the game. We missed some easy opportunities [and had] some careless turnovers.”
The Lady Gators trailed 27-23 at halftime and were still down four midway through the third when Brooke Giardini had back-to-back layups to make the score 35-31. After a long 3-point miss by a Bradford player, Giardini made another layup, setting up Kinney’s long-ball make to tie the game at 36.
Giardini, a 5-foot-6 junior guard, hauled down seven rebounds and shared game-high scoring honors with teammate Morgan Davis, as each tallied 23 in the winning effort.
Davis, a 6-foot-1 junior center, had a monster game with 20 rebounds. Her two free throws in the waning seconds of the third quarter gave the Lady Gators a lead for the first time since the opening minutes at 40-38.
In the fourth, a Davis short jumper brought the lead to five. Bradford’s Bri Wells, who scored 18 to lead the Lady Owls, cut into the deficit with two free throws with 3:35 left, but Allegany-Limestone pulled away for the win.
“We caught back up and got right back to where we should be,” Hannon said, “and there at the end, I think we had four consecutive trips down the floor we turned the ball over on travels – some careless turnovers on some sloppy passes. It comes back to we’re a young team.
“We have a lot of kids playing who haven’t played at the varsity level yet, so there’s going to be some growing pains. I thought the kids played relatively well. There were a few sequences I wasn’t pleased with.”
In the first half, the Lady Owls used a balanced scoring effort in part because of the opposition’s focus on Wells. That left Brinya Moffett able to score from under the basket and to hit three 15-footers. Moffett finished with nine points, eight of which were scored in the first quarter.
“She shot the ball extremely well in the first half,” Hannon said. “We pretty much told her she was going to have opportunities because [Davis] wasn’t going to come out of the paint and cover her on the outside. Then she got into a little bit of foul trouble so we had to change the way we had our rotation going and that kind of took her out of the flow.”
A total of 47 fouls were called between the two teams, including 28 on Bradford. The Lady Gators shot a staggering 25-for-39 from the charity stripe, while Bradford was just 8-for-18.
Allegany-Limestone advances to the girls championship against Franklinville at 4:15 p.m. today, while Bradford has another 11 a.m. tipoff against Olean High in the consolation matchup.
Galeton 59, Bucktail 35
GALETON – Makaya Shadle dropped 23 points to lead Galeton over Bucktail in a non-league matchup Thursday night.
Laura Parsell added 16 for Galeton.
At St. Bonaventure
Bradford (47)
Wells 6 5-8 18, Moffett 4 1-4 9, Weaver 0 1-2 1, Marshall 2 0-0 2, Smith 4 1-2 9, Brooks 1 0-0 2, Mealy 2 0-0 4, Maley 0 0-2 0. Totals 18 8-18 47.
Allegany-Limestone (58)
Wolfgang 2 0-0 4, Giardini 7 9-12 23, Kinney 1 4-4 7, Davis 6 11-19 23, Broadwell 0 1-2 1, Seamon 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 25-39 58.
Bradford 14 27 38 47
A-L 9 23 40 58
Three-point goals: Bradford (Wells); Allegany-Limestone (Kinney).
Total fouls: Bradford 28, Allegany-Limestone 19.
At Galeton
Galeton (59)
K. Pagano 1 0-0 2, M. Shadle 8 5-9 23, L. Parsell 6 4-8 16, O. Pagano 2 1-2 5, C. Parsell 5 0-0 10, Lundington 1 0-0 2, Cara Parsell 0 1-2 1. Totals: 23 11-21 59.
Bucktail (35)
Spriggs 1 1-2 3, R. Werts 3 0-0 6, D’Onofio 3 0-0 9, Stidfole 1 1-3 3, T. Werts 1 0-0 2, Cowfeiz 4 1-2 9, Cross 1 0-0 3. Totals: 14 3-7 35.
Galeton 17 28 47 59
Bucktail 4 11 19 35
Three-point goals: Galeton 2 (Shadle); Bucktail 4 (D’Onofio 3, Cross).
