Sage 76, Cazenovia 53
In basketball - well, any sport really, but especially basketball - a small stretch of a game can make a huge difference.
Basketball is also a game of runs, so if a team keeps fighting, things can fall their way and perhaps they'll find their way back into the game. Sometimes though, the run a team hits you with can be insurmountable. That's what the home Russell Sage Gators gave Cazenovia.
This one took special interest to me because each team features a freshman from the Little Falls girls squads that won't be forgotten for a long time, and perhaps the two most noted names in Gen Schoff (Sage) and Kelli Shepardson (Cazenovia). This tidbit meant next-to-nothing in the game itself, but it's not something you see every day, especially coming out of a Class C program. They both saw their share of run - Schoff starts, and Shep will find herself among the first off the bench, playing as much or more than some of the starters. Cazenovia held a lead in the opening moments, but that stopped after Megan Plahanski's bucket made it 4-2. Amie Jefferson (Colonie) tied it for Sage, and Sara Tironi (Cambridge) split a pair of free throws to give Sage a lead at 5-4 3:02 into the game. They'd never give that lead up. Sage extended their run to 10-0 on a made free throw by Krystyn Knockwood (Troy) - the run was broken by none other than Kelli Shepardson. She followed that with a putback a minute later, and the teams traded points for nearly 4 minutes consecutively before Megan Bowman had back-to-back breakaway layups off her own pickpocketing to make it 20-12. Cazenovia responded by going on an 8-2 spurt, the last 4 coming from Erin O'Malley. 22-20.
That's when it all went downhill.
2 Amie Jefferson free throws. Lea McClain bucket. Frankie Pearson trey. Megan Bowman. That all happened in 74 seconds. Skylar Girard (Glens Falls) hit a pair of free throws to quickly bring the Wildcat deficit back to single digits, but that was short-lived. Sage eventually reeled off an 8-2 spurt in the final 1:36 of the half, pushing the halftime lead to 16 at 43-27. Free throws were the Gators' friend - that, and Cazenovia's carelessness with the ball. Caz coughed it up 19 times in the 1st half, and although both teams hit the double bonus relatively easily, Caz had so many team fouls in the half, the announcer gave up on the amount and started saying 'over the limit'. Cazenovia went 10/13 in the line that half, which is a decent amount of free throws in its own right. Sage went 13/22. Jefferson herself went 8/9, and she led Sage with 12 at the break.
Cazenovia had a chance to get back into it with a nice start in the 2nd half. Well, that didn't happen. The Gators ran off 13 straight to start the half, and a Krysta Vanacore three gave them their largest lead of 29 at 56-27 with 16:22 left, only to be matched once. Over a stretch of 9:09 spanning the late stages of the 1st half and early stages of the 2nd, the score went from 22-20 to 56-27 - a 34-7 Sage run. It came at a price that may have an effect beyond this game, though. Frankie Pearson, a sophomore from Hoosick Falls and arguably their best player, knocked down a corner 3 and got fouled in the process. I've seen more graceful landings. She came down on a defender's foot and man, did that ankle roll... an ankle that had a brace on it. If anyone reading this has sprained an ankle while wearing a brace, you know the feeling. It's worse and causes more damage. The dangers of braces and your muscles relying on the strength of the brace. Been down that road. Wish the best for her, because it looked nasty. On Caz's end, Sky Girard done stepped it up a notch. In 3 previous games, she scored 24 points in 50 minutes. That included a 21 point outburst over the weekend against Hilbert. That momentum kept on rolling, as she was a bright spot for the Wildcats, even when they were getting walloped. They finally got their 1st points in the half on a pair of Shepardson free throws 4 minutes in. Girard then scored 9 points in a 3:13 stretch, including back-to-back threes. She hit another one a couple minutes later, and a Mary Salo hook shot off the glass finally got Cazenovia back within 20. That lasted 48 seconds. Even with Pearson out of action and mainly 2nd string players in, Sage was able to go on a final 11-1 run while holding their opponents without a field goal for 6:17, bringing the lead to 29 one more time on a Julia Race layup.
Amie Jefferson led all scorers with 20 points - that included going 12/14 from the line, and she added a game high 14 rebounds. Pearson added 14 points and 4 steals, including 3 treys, before going down with 17:38 left. Vanacore added 12, all of them coming in the 2nd half. Megan Bowman also finished in double digits - the emotional leader of the crew had 10 points and a game high 8 assists and 4 steals. All 7 of Krystyn Knockwood's points came before halftime. Sara Tironi started down low and added 5 points to the cause. Julia Race had 4, and Lea McClain and Gen Schoff had 2. Cazenovia's only double digit scorer was Skylar Girard - the freshman followed up her 21 last game with 17 in the only game she'll be playing this year relatively close to her hometown. That included going 4/6 from downtown. Erin O'Malley added 8 points and a game high 5 blocks, and Kelli Shepardson had 6 and 5 rebounds. Although Shep came off the bench, she actually led Cazenovia in minutes played with 23. Rachael McDonough (Lansingburgh) and Mary Salo (Berne-Knox-Westerlo) had 4 points apiece, and McDonough added a team high 11 boards. 6 Wildcats recorded 2 points each - Kali Davis (Jordan-Elbridge), Shanna Staff, Megan Plahanski, Haley Zambito, D'Andrea Watson, and Taylor Spranger. Nateasha Williams (Northville) and Sierra Szwec had 1 point each, rounding up the 13 players who scored for Cazenovia.
Yo, Sage's backcourt is serious!
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