Horseheads never found its rhythm offensively and saw its season end Saturday, March 21 with a 57-35 loss to North Tonawanda in a Class AA girls basketball state semifinal at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.
The Blue Raiders trailed 18-5 through one quarter and finished 9-for-47 shooting from the field.
Horseheads ended up with an 18-4 record after winning a third consecutive Section 4 title and its first regional championship since the 2002 team made it to the Class A state final when New York had four classes instead of six.
“I thought we got some good looks to start the game. We just didn’t knock down shots,” Horseheads head coach Andy Scott said. “I think we shot about 20%, maybe even less, from the field, which isn’t characteristic.
“I think maybe some of it had to do with some nerves. Maybe other (part of it) had to do with their length a little bit, but I thought we had some really good looks, we just had a couple of ins and outs. When the first few don’t fall, things start to tighten up a little bit.”
Section 6 champion North Tonawanda (22-3) advanced to play Bethlehem (13-10) in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship game, scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Sunday, March 22 at Hudson Valley CC. Bethlehem beat Nyack, 50-46, in the second semifinal.
North Tonawanda is New York’s top-ranked Class AA team by the New York State Sports Writers Association. Horseheads is No. 2.
“Unfortunate, but at the same time we played a really good team. That probably had something to do with it, too,” Scott said of the offensive struggles.
University at Buffalo commit Annabelle Day led North Tonawanda (22-3) with 15 points on 6-for-18 shooting from the field. Her 3-pointer with 2:35 remaining gave her 2,000 career points. Day had team-highs 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
Jakayla Brown, a 6-foot-3 Niagara University volleyball commit, had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots for the Lady Jacks. Lilly Day contributed 10 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals.
“I thought defensively we did a decent job,” Scott said. “Our goal was to hold their three starting guards to about 35 points and hold the team under 50.
“I thought we really amped up our defense in the second half, full-court pressed them a little bit.”
Freshman point guard Samantha Bonnell led Horseheads with 11 points, including a 7-for-10 effort at the foul line. Maddie Ribble added 8 points and two 3-pointers. Giana Hughey had 9 rebounds.
Horseheads had seven turnovers in the first quarter and finished 4-for-28 from 3-point range.
After leading 33-16 at halftime, North Tonawanda held the Raiders to three third-quarter points to extend the advantage to 47-19.
North Tonawanda shot 45% from the field and had a 30-23 rebounding edge.
Scott took note of his players continuing to dive on the floor for loose balls while trailing by 20 or more.
“I was really proud of the hustle and heart they showed,” he said.
Scott, who reached 400 wins with this group’s regional title, pointed out the program went from a STAC title in 2023 to sectional championships the past three seasons. The run included a loss in a sub-regional two years ago, a loss in the regional final last year, and a victory in the regional championship this season. The hope is to take an additional step next year and reach the title contest.
“Today was our 125th day of the season, which is a long season,” Scott said. “They played literally through three different seasons. They started the season in the fall, they played through the whole winter and today was the first day of spring. That’s pretty good when you’ve got one day left in the season that you could have played in and you made it this far.”
Horseheads will lose five seniors to graduation, with four starters underclassmen. Scott said this year’s group was “awesome.”
“We’re going to miss those kids a lot because even though a lot of them didn’t start, they were very competitive in practice and made us better,” he said.
“They were also very unselfish kids. Their goal was to try to make the team better. That’s a rare thing these days. They should be commended for being great teammates because you don’t see that all the time anymore.”
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Horseheads girls’ season comes to close with loss in state semifinal
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
