DELHI – It will be the Tri-Valley League versus the Delaware League in the Section IV Class D girls basketball championship game.
Top-seeded Stamford/Jefferson, the DL champ, and No. 2 seed Cherry Valley-Springfield, the TVL champ, advanced to the finals with wins Wednesday, March 4, in the semifinals at SUNY Delhi.
The two teams will play for a section title at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 7, at SUNY Delhi.
Cherry Valley-Springfield 50, Laurens/Milford 29
Bailey Thayer scored 13 of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Patriots won a rematch of the TVL title game.
“She did a great job,” CV-S coach Kelly Taggart said. “They all did a great job. They all stepped up in one way or another. They played true team ball. It was great.”
The game was tied at 14 midway through the second quarter, but CV-S went on a 12-2 run aided by three-point baskets by Allie Ackerman and Mackenzie McGovern for a 26-16 halftime lead.
Laurens/Milford cut the lead to seven on a layup and a couple of free throws by Kyrah Andrades with 2:16 left in the third quarter. However, Ackerman made a three as the shot clock expired with 1:21 left and then another with 14 seconds left to close the quarter on a 6-1 run and give the Patriots a 35-23 lead.
In the fourth, Thayer took over inside, scoring all but two of her team’s 15 fourth-quarter points. Emily Fox scored the other two points for the Patriots on an assist from Thayer.
Andrades scored 16 points and Bella Garlick scored nine points to lead Laurens/Milford (13-9).
Ackerman scored 15 points, including four three-point baskets, and McGovern scored 12 points for Cherry Valley-Springfield (17-4).
Stamford/Jefferson 49, Richfield Springs/Owen D. Young 42
McKenna Hoyt scored a game-high 23 points as top seeded Stamford/Jefferson beat No. 4 Richfield Springs/Owen D. Young.
S/J led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but had trouble putting away the Eagles.
RS/ODY cut the lead to five points, 47-42, on a bank shot by Dakota Butler with two minutes left.
The Eagles had the chance to make it a one-possession game a couple of times, but couldn’t get a good look.
Hoyt scored on a pass from Emily Ecklund with 42 seconds left for the final points.
“They gave us everything we could handle and more, that’s for sure,” S/J Coach George Nebesnik said.
“It’s something we have kind of been doing all year,” he continued. “The other team will stay close or get back in it, but then somebody makes a big shot, or we go on a little bit of a run, and we start to pull away. Tonight, what they did at the end of the third quarter, going into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, really helped us in the fourth quarter.”
RS/ODY played their two-three zone tight, trying to keep S/J from making shots inside. However, Butler and Issy Seamon both got into foul trouble in the third quarter. Although neither fouled out, both played the fourth quarter with four fouls.
Seamon scored 18 points, while her sister, Gabby, scored 11 points and Butler scored six points for Richfield Springs/Owen D. Young (13-7).
Eklund scored six points and Tierney Turner scored 16 points for Stamford/Jefferson (20-2).