BUFFALO — When Emily Mountain woke up this morning, she watched film.
But it wasn’t just any game film she turned on. It was last year’s Section VI Class B1 championship game, the one her Lewiston-Porter team lost to Depew. The highlights and the taste of defeat spread among her teammates when they met again in the final Sunday for third year in a row, this time for the A2 crown.
After being held to two points in the last encounter, Mountain scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half as Lew-Port defeated Depew, 62-56, for the program’s sixth sectional title and second in three years.
With the win, Lew-Port (20-3) faces the A1 champion, Amherst, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Class A crossover.
“I think we just beat them in transition and that’s where we killed them,” Mountain said. “It’s getting the ball to me (and) I’m finding everyone and just scoring that way.”
While Kaylee Krystzof, who finished fifth all-time in Western New York with 2,422 career points, graduated, Depew still had pieces on its roster from last year, including main scorer, Mia Vannelli. Vannelli scored 20 points last year against the Lancers in the B1 final and entered Sunday averaging 26.3 points per game, the fourth highest total in the section.
Vannelli still scored a game-high 27 points in the loss for Depew, which was slightly above Lew-Port’s goal of 25 points. But the Lancers’ game-plan revolved around shutting down the teammates around Vannelli.
The plan worked in the first half as Depew was held to 21 points, with the Lancers causing turnovers near mid-court that led to points in transition.
“Alyssa Auer is a really good on-ball defender,” Lew-Port head coach Brian Hall said. “We felt confident that Alyssa could do a good job on (Mia). We felt like they had some shooters but we were better defenders, where we get out and challenge those shots. And Mia, she’s going to get her shots. She’s just too good.”
Along with tight defense, Lew-Port once again worked inside the paint, especially in the third quarter. In the frame, the Lancers unleashed its full disposal inside, in both half-court and outlet passing.
For Lew-Port, it didn’t matter who scored. Mountain, Emma Steimer and Aliza Whitehead (13 points) all scored twice inside to help the Lancers build a 46-33 going into the fourth. And by the time Vannelli heated up in the fourth quarter with 12 of Depew’s 23 points, the offensive brigade Lew-Port had earlier in the contest — with only four total 3-pointers — provided the damage.
“We stress balance from the get go,” Hall said. “We’re a great team in transition. We love to run. And our whole key, we felt was, we were the more athletic team. So, we felt we could beat them down the court. That’s what we want to do. We wanted to make it a full court game.”
Depew finished with a 15-8 record.