By NICK RICHARDSON
Era Sports Writer
ULYSSES — Coming into the 2016-17 season, both Coudersport and Northern Potter figured to be two of the strongest teams not just in the Northern Tier League, but in the entire area. Sure enough, both squads came into Thursday night’s contest with just one loss.
After two regular-season meetings, it’s evident which side has the upper hand, as the Lady Falcons cruised to a 66-52 victory to improve to 14-1 overall and a perfect 10-0 in league play.
Northern Potter’s (12-2, 7-2) only two defeats this year have both come at the hands of Coudersport; the Panthers fell 65-38 back on Dec. 27.
Coudy featured a balanced scoring attack led by Ally Easton (21 points), Skyler VanWagenen (16 points), and Haley Keck (16 points).
“It’s good to play against a good, quality team like that and get a good road win,” Falcons coach Chris Fink said.
The first quarter essentially served as a one-on-one showdown between Coudy’s Easton and Northern Potter’s Kalie Cowburn. The two players accounted for most of the early scoring, with Easton dominating in the paint while Cowburn’s excellent midrange game was on full display.
Fink also pointed to Easton’s great defense as a big factor in the victory.
“I thought Ally gave a phenomenal effort inside,” he said. “I don’t know how many blocked shots she had, but on a lot of their dribble penetration, she made up for a lot of our mistakes inside.”
While Easton had a fantastic all-around game, Cowburn would go on to finish as the game’s leading scorer with 27 points. She also added 12 rebounds for a double-double.
Unfortunately for Northern Potter, the Lady Panthers weren’t able to come up with enough secondary scoring to keep up with the Lady Falcons’ deep stable of scorers.
Coudersport used their excellent team speed to push the tempo offensively, overwhelming the Panthers defense. A VanWagenen 3-pointer with four minutes left in the half put the Falcons up 27-17. It wouldn’t be her last key long ball, either.
With the Panthers hanging around near the end of the half, VanWagenen sunk another trey right before the buzzer to give Coudy a 30-22 halftime advantage.
The start of the third quarter was rather sluggish, as it took more than two minutes for Coudy to find the scoreboard. Northern Potter’s offensive struggles were even worse, as it took the Panthers more than four minutes to finally find the bottom of the net (unsurprisingly, it was Cowburn who banked in the shot).
“There were only a couple of things that I thought we needed to adjust at halftime,” Fink said. “That third quarter, I thought we came out and played well.”
Coudy held the home team to just six third-quarter points, taking a 46-29 lead into the final period.
“I thought that third quarter was key,” Fink said. “We kind of shut them down defensively and we got out running a little bit and hit some shots.”
Once again it was Van Wagenen who provided one of those shots, sinking yet another deep ball with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter to put the Falcons up 51-30.
The Panthers eventually found their stroke, with Gracie Hamilton making frequent trips to the free throw line in the late going to finish with 14 points.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep up with the visitors, whose shooting only seemed to improve as the game wore on.
“They’re a really good team,” Panthers coach Cindy Cowburn said. “These are the types of teams you have to play to compete in this district.”
Both teams’ next opponent will be Otto-Eldred; Northern Potter hosts the Lady Terrors on Saturday, while Coudersport travels to Duke Center on Monday.
At Ulysses
Coudersport (66)
Skyler Van Wagenen 4 5-8 16, Perkins 2 0-0 4, Gleason 2 2-2 8, Ally Easton 10 0-0 21, Haley Keck 4 7-9 16, Wood 0 1-1 1, Totals 22 15-20 66.
Northern Potter (52)
Morgan 1 1-2 3, Anderson 0 2-2 2, McCutcheon 1 0-0 2, Gracie Hamilton 4 6-11 14, Hyde 0 0-2 0, Kalie Cowburn 10 6-6 27, Lewis 1 2-2 4.
Coudersport 17 30 46 66
Northern Potter 10 23 29 52
Three-point goals: Coudersport 7 (VanWagenen 3, Gleason 2, Easton, Keck), Northern Potter (Cowburn)
Total fouls: Coudersport 22, Northern Potter 16. Fouled out: Northern Potter – McCutcheon
JV: Coudersport, 31-8
Cameron County 63, Austin 29
AUSTIN — Madison Harrier and Madi Guisto combined for 35 points to lead Cameron County to victory over Austin in their North Tier League basketball game on Thursday.
Harrier led the Lady Red Raiders with 18 points, while Madi Guisto added 17 tallies.
Cameron County held a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and continued to pull away the remainder of the contest.
For Austin (0-13), Madison Hooftallen grabbed 11 rebounds and Jade McKeirnan was credited with 10.
“Cameron County is pretty strong, but our kids played pretty well,” said Kurt Logue, Austin coach. “It was a good game and we’re getting better every game.”
Austin returns to action on Saturday in a non-league game at Cowanesque Valley. JV action gets under way at 2 p.m.
At Austin
Cameron County (63)
Madi Guisto 5 6-6 17, K. Guisto 1 0-0 2, Madison Harrier 8 1-6-18, Smith 1 2-6 4, Fledderman 1 0-0 2, K. Guisto 2 0-2 4, McKimm 2 2-2 7, Schatz 3 3-4 9. Totals 23 14-26 63.
Austin (29)
Brewer 4 0-0 8, McKeirnan 1 0-0 2, Rotello 1 0-0 2, Glover 3 0-0 6, M. Hooftallen 2 0-0 6, T. Brewer 1 1-2 3, R. Hooftallen 0 2-4 2. Totals 11 3-6 29.
Cameron County 15 34 51 63
Austin 5 14 18 29
Three-point goals: Cameron 3 (M. Guisto, Harrier, McKimm); Austin 2 (M. Hooftallen)
Total fouls: Cameron 4, Austin 16. Fouled out: none
JV: Cameron County, 30-20
Smethport 53, Otto-Eldred 32
SMETHPORT — Smethport’s Abbey Woodard and Katie Treat pulled off a rare feat Thursday night, each recording a double-double in the Lady Hubbers’ North Tier League win over Otto-Eldred.
Woodard scored a game-high 26 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Katie Treat pumped in 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
“Abbey and Katie dominated the game tonight on both the boards and in the paint,” said Eric Lutz, Smethport coach.
The game was tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, but then the Lady Hubbers took control and their effort in the second and third periods drew praise from their coach.
At halftime Smethport led 22-11 and had a comfortable 37-15 advantage after three.
“I was pleased with our team defense,” Lutz pointed out. “We took control in the second and third quarters, giving up just four points in each.’’
High scorer for the Lady Terrors was Tiffany Bair with eight points.
Smethport (3-7 NTL, 7-8 overall) travels to Oswayo Valley on Monday.
At Smethport
Otto-Eldred (32)
Shelander 2 2-2 6, Tiffany Bair 4 0-0 8, Greeley 1 0-0 2, Thomas 2 1-2 5, E. Smith 2 2-2 6, Frederick 2 0-0 5, A. Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 5-6 21
Smethport (53)
Szarowicz 0 0-0 0, Wright 0 0-0 0, E Treat 0 5-5 5, Abbey Woodard 10 6-10 26, Jack 1 0-0 2, Katie Treat 9 2-4 20. Totals 20 13-19 53.
Otto-Eldred 7 11 15 32
Smethport 7 22 37 53
Three-point goals: O-E 1 (Frederick)
Total fouls: O-E 17, Smethport 10. Fouled out: Thomas (O-E)
Galeton 74, Oswayo Valley 27
GALETON — A balanced scoring attack that featured three players in double figures carried Galeton to victory over Oswayo Valley in girls North Tier League basketball action Thursday.
Leading the Lady Tigers were Makaya Shadle with 18 points followed by Cortney Parsell with 17 and K. Pagano with 11 tallies.
Galeton (11-5) limited the Lady Green Wave to single digit points in all four quarters.
High scorer for Oswayo was Shayla Bickel with 11 points.
At Galeton
Oswayo Valley (27)
S. Malagrino 3 2-3 8, K. West 1 0-2 2, M. Gross 1 0-2 2, S. Bickel 4-2-4-11, J. Edwards 1 0-0 3, A. Matthews 0 1-2 1. Totals 10 5-13 27
Galeton (74)
K. Pagano 5 1-2 11, M. Shadle 7 1-1 18, L. Parsell 2 2-4 6, O. Pagano 3 0-2 6, C. Parsell 6 2-2 17, H. Ludington 3-0-0 6, B. Kalacinski 1 0-0 2, E. Olofson 0 2-2 2, K. O’Donnell 3 0-0 6. Totals 30 8-13 74
Galeton 21 37 53 74
Oswayo Valley 8 15 20 27
Three-point goals: Galeton 6 (M. Shadle 3, C. Parsell 3), Oswayo Valley 2 (S. Bickel, J. Edwards)
JV: Galeton, 23-19
