High school sports: NAC West Fills Section 10 Class D Girls Final 4

Feb. 21—CANTON — Hammond, Heuveton, Hermon-DeKalb and Lisbon created an All-NAC West Class D Final 4 at the Class D-Arama of the Section 10 Girls Basketball Tournament at SUNY Canton on Sunday.

Hammond, Heuvelton and Hermon-DeKalb advanced as the first, second and fourth seeds and number six Lisbon upended number three Colton-Pierrepont. Heuvelton (17-4) and Lisbon (12-9) will play in Wednesday's 6 p.m. semi-final game and Hammond (15-1) and H-D (15-6) will match up at 7:45 p.m. at SUNY Potsdam.

The Class D Boys Final Four was also completed Sunday as top seeded Chateaugay used precise execution on offense and defense to dispatch Edwards-Knox in a game which was postponed on Saturday by poor road conditions in Franklin County caused by drifting snow.

Hammond 88 — St. Regis 36: St. Regis Falls' duo of Rhea Work and Amanada Cox had firmly established themselves as formidable combination in the low blocks heading to Sunday's game with Hammond.

But Coach Erin McDonald's team never had a chance to utilize their size and skills significantly as Hammond's full court press produced steals on the Saints' first seven possessions and led to a 10-0 lead. The Red Devils used flurries of transition scoring off 16 steals to take a 29-4 first quarter lead and a 50-13 halftime margin.

"St. Regis Falls has two good post players and we knew they could give us trouble. We got our zone press working well and took control. Livy (Crosby), Ava (Howie) and Hailey (Manning) did a great job trapping up front and Landree Kenyon intercepted a lot of passes in the middle," said Coach Alyssa Crosby.

"We will have a different challenge facing Hermon-DeKalb. We go from the double post of St. Regis to their quickness and outside shooting."

Ava Howie emerged as the prime transition finisher scoring 12 of her 26 points in the first quarter and Kenyon used putbacks, fade away jumpers in the lane and Euro-Step drives through traffic to score 24 points with 10 in the second quarter.

Sadey Sprabary tallied 13 interior points and Manning and Natalie Howie each finished with eight. Crosby and Lily Towne finished with six and two points.

Rhea Work led St. Regis Falls with 18 points off low post moves and Amanda Cox tallied four points. Olivia Wilson buried two 3-pointers netting six points and the Saints' scoring was rounded out by: Emily Arcadi (5), Kendra Richardson (2) and Summer McDonald (1).

H-D 45 — Chateaugay 25: Chateaugay had plenty of grit and determination but Herman-DeKalb used the shooting and ballhandling skills of Hannah Gollinger, Olivia Simser and Hannah Coller to effectively attack the Bulldogs' man-to-man defense. Gollinger buried four straight jumpers with two 3-pointers to score 12 points in the second quarter and netted seven in the third as the Demons pulled away from a 6-6 first quarter tie.

Simser buried three 3s scoring 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Demons who forged a 28-13 advantage in the middle quarters and Coller added four points while directing the offense.

"We went the weave. It was an offense used by Coach Steve Morrill at Hermon-DeKalb years ago and we felt it would work well because Chateaugay is so aggressive on defense," said H-D Coach Bob Bice.

"We started slow and I think we showed our youth. But we picked it up. Chateaugay is also a young team and it was great to play them because they are so good defensively. Kaltelyn Morgan is an outstanding player for them inside and she played a great game."

Jayla O'Donnell and Aaliyah O'Donnell (6 rebounds) produced six and five points inside.

Kaelyn Morgan delivered a series of tough inside finishes and went 5-6 at the foul line leading the Bulldogs with 15 points. Other scoring came from: Katelyn Bleakley (5), Ireland LaPlante (2), Madison McComb (1) and Avery McDonald (1).

Lisbon 38 — C-P 21: Lisbon made only nine of 30 free throws but the shortcoming at the line was never a major stumbling block for the Lady Knights who followed up their best season in recent years under Coach Dicky Marcellus with a break-through postseason win.

Coach Marcellus missed the game with a non-COVID illness and JV coaches Courtney LaBeau and Matt Russell stepped in to guide the win.

"We wish the circumstances were different and we are hoping that Dicky is back with us for the next round. We made a plan knowing what Colton-Pierrepont was going to throw at us and these girls did a great job executing it," said Coach LaBeau.

"We had to deal with their defensive pressure and JV call-ups Leah Warren and Ava Bouchey really stepped up. This team is the first JV group that we coached and it was an honor to coach them again."

The Knights overcame a 9-8 first quarter deficit to take a 15-13 halftime lead and held the cold-shooting Colts scoreless for almost 11 minutes in taking a 22-18 lead after three quarters.

Gabby Taylor and Leah Warren buried three pointers in the fourth quarter to spark a 16-3 finish. Rachel LaRock supplied an early spark for the offense and finished with 10 points to lead a balanced offense along with Julia Rishe who scored eight points, Warren with six points and Gabby Taylor with four points. Other scoring came from: Jaylin Massia (2), Grace Smith (3), Madison Parker (3) and Eliza McLear (2).

Kiana Hogle led C-P with 11 points and Jaeleigh Jacot and Issy Vaccaro each added five.

Heuvelton 60 — Edwards-Knox 25: The Bulldogs used their defensive pressure to deny the Cougars any opportunity to repeat Lisbon's upset in the first game of the day. Katie Cunningham buried an 3-pointer, Bella Doyle smoothly scored eight inside points in both the first and second quarter and Rylin McAllister drilled three 3's in the second quarter as HCS took a 19-3 first quarter lead and a 38-6 halftime margin.

Doyle finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals and McAllister delivered 15 points on five 3s with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Cunningham (2 assists, 2 blocks) and Ali Trathen (4 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals) each tallied seven points and Raya McGaw (4 rebounds), Ashley Weston (3 rebounds) and Dakota Mouthorp (4 assists) each added two. Carley Simmons added four rebounds and Lily Spooner grabbed three.

Lily Lottie went 8-11 at the free throw line scoring 20 of the Cougars' points and Cam Huckley and Dekoda Matthews added three and two points.

"We got the job done and got the win but we know we have a lots of things to work on," said Heuvelton Coach Rob Powers.

"Bella Doyle had a great game. Let's hope she has seven more like that in her system."

BOYS GAME

Top seeded Chateaugay (20-1) rounded out the Boys Class D semi-finals using their quickness to the ball and the boards on defense and quick ball movement, quick decisions and quick-release jumpers on offense to advance past 8-13 Edwards-Knox 58-30.

The Bulldogs will meet NAC East rival Tupper Lake at 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday at SUNY Potsdam after NAC West Co-Champions Heuvelton and Harrisville meet at 6 p.m.

Walker Martin (8 rebounds) served as a linch pin for the offense scoring 19 points with two three pointers, converting three spinning step-through drives down the lane and setting up teammates with skip passes.

Jake Johnson netted three 3s in a 13-point, 8-rebound, 3-steal effort. Ethan Cook hit three 3s scoring 11 points with eight rebounds and Brandon Leonard tallied eight points with six rebounds, 5 steals and 5 assists.

Owen Rockhill and Peter Reynolds added three and four points.

Dylan Wood led E-K with 14 points and Kale Harper and Andrew Franklin each tallied six. Mason While and Ethan Stalker each added two points.

"We were very pleased with the way we executed tonight and we will need to do it again when we play Tupper Lake. We beat them in both games this season but they both went right down to the end," said Chateaugay Coach Mike Martin.

Brandon 8 rebs

Ethan 6 rebs 5 steals 5 assist

Kai 8 rebs

Jake 8 rebs 3 steals