How much girls hoops talent will be on display Sunday at Portville Central School?
Among the 22 players taking part in the fourth annual Big 30 Basketball Senior Classic, nine played on teams that reached the state playoffs. That doesn’t include two Franklinville selections, Ally Haskell and Amy O’Neal, who are unable to participate — the Panthers hope to be playing in New York’s Class D state championship game that day in the Albany area.
The girls game pitting New York and Pennsylvania tips off at 4 p.m., with the boys contest to follow at 6 p.m. Doors open at 3:15 p.m. Admission is $5, and proceeds benefit the Big 30 Athletic Fund, which awards scholarships to student-athletes in the Big 30 area and supports activities associated with all-star teams selected by the Olean Times Herald.
The 10-player New York roster, led by current Wellsville coach Michelle Alvord, is highlighted by three Allegany-Limestone players who played in the Class C state semifinals Friday, Morgan Davis, Brooke Giardini and Molly Wolfgang.
“We’ve played Allegany-Limestone the last few years, but for this season, scheduling didn’t work out,” said Alvord, who will be assisted on the bench by Tony DeSain, the longtime former Whitesville coach and current Wellsville aide. “They’re just three really solid seniors. We’ve had really good games, so it’ll be nice to be on the other side and get to coach them.”
Pennsylvania, led by former Coudersport coach Matt Splain, now the Otto-Eldred superintendent, has two players each from state qualifiers Coudersport (EmmaRae Easton and Haley Keck), Kane (Trinity Clark and Rachael Morgan) and Otto-Eldred (Ali Cousins and Camryn Thomas).
“I know that two of the Otto-Eldred girls will be there, so I’m looking forward to being able to work with them a little bit,” Splain said. “You miss the games when you get away from it, so it’ll be nice to be back in a game for a day and get a chance to be part of some high-level competition. We should have a nice group of girls to work with.”
Northern Potter has two players set to compete for the Pennsylvania team, Kalie Cowburn and Rebecca Morgan. Splain’s roster also has one player each from Oswayo Valley (Shayla Bickel), Ridgway (Emily Fullem), Smethport (Abbey Woodard) and St. Marys (Bekka Bauer).
Splain coached four ultra-successful seasons at Coudersport from 2001 to 2005, going 102-15 with three District 9 titles and four state tournament appearances. His 2003 team reached the state semifinals. He left the school to become a principal at Otto-Eldred, his alma mater.
“I’ve known Brian Green for a number of years,” he said of the Big 30 Athletic Fund president and current Coudy girls coach. “He’s been a great coach, and I respect him highly. Being asked to do that was quite an honor. I had some good battles with him (while Green was coaching at Northern Potter) and he took over for me after I left, so it was kind of special to have that invite from him. One of my former coaches, Lance Baker, coached in the (second) year. It’s nice to follow in his footsteps.”
Alvord, after coaching stops at Friendship, Whitesville, Keuka College and Hornell, took over the Wellsville program for which she once played. Over the past seven seasons as the Lions’ mentor, she is 105-47, including a Section 5 title in 2016.
In the Big 30 game, Alvord will get one more chance to coach Wellsville 1,000-point scorer Jordyn Pettit. In addition to Pettit and the three Allegany-Limestone players, taking the court for New York will be Evelyn Cortez (Ellicottville), Mady Domster (Portville), Riley Howe (Cuba-Rushford), Emily Kelley (Andover), Karah Landries (Genesee Valley) and Emie Taylor (New Life Christian).
“It’s an honor, and I’m looking forward to obviously coaching girls I’ve coached myself and have actually coached against,” Alvord said. “It’s a nice way to cap off some great careers for some great players in the Big 30.”
Alvord attended the first three editions of the Big 30 Basketball Senior Classic, so she has a good idea of what to expect Sunday.
“I know it’s a pretty fast-paced game, and I know it’s a pretty high-scoring game,” she said. “I don’t want to say it’s not a lot of defense, but it is kind of your typical all-star game. But it’s nice to see the kids that play against each other (during the season), when they get on the floor and play together. It’s fun to watch.”
She added: “Being an all-star game, I don’t know if there’s a whole lot of strategy that goes into it. The most important thing is just to go out and have fun and be competitive, because I’m sure they’re all competitive in nature.”
Teams will only practice briefly the day of the game.
“I’ll talk to the girls a little bit and see what they like to do, if there’s things we can try to take advantage of,” Splain said. “You have a couple girls that have worked together, and try to take advantage of some of that. Making sure that they have fun is the most important thing.
“We want to win, of course. … If you keep score the idea is to win, right?”
The latest Big 30 Basketball Hall of Fame class will be inducted at halftime of the boys game. Honorees are Kathy Carroll Beals (Salamanca), Dave Steffan (Sheffield), Joe Vecellio (Bradford Central Christian), Ron Sweeney (Fillmore) and Jeff Nix (Portville).
