H'port advances to face SCAA rival J-T in semifinal round
"We got a little excited in the second quarter and I told the girls to just calm down, play our game and do a better job taking care of the basketball," said Hammondsport coach Alan Perry. "We're dealing with an injury to our guard position, but the girls are coming on strong."
BY SHAWN VARGO THE LEADER

ERIC WENSEL/THE LEADER Hammondsport 's Kelly Walling fires a pass over C.G. Finney's Jasmine McClendon.

HAMMONDSPORT - It may have taken an entire half of basketball for Hammondsport to find its groove, but once the Lakers found it, it was smooth sailing in their Section V, Class DD girls quarterfinal game.

Second-seeded Hammondsport topped No. 7 C.G. Finney 50-40 Thursday, Feb. 22, in a game that wasn't as close as the final score showed.

Hammondsport will now face No. 3 Jasper- Troupsburg in the semifinals at 6 p.m.

Tuesday in Dansville. The Wildcats downed Fillmore 39-33 Thursday.

Trailing by two points e n t e r i n g h a l f t i m e, Hammondsport opened the third quarter with a 14-0 run that the Falcons never recovered from. In fact, the Lakers maintained a 12- to16-point lead until the final minute of the contest.

"In sectional play, every win is a tough one. We're just happy to win tonight and we'll try to build on it and keep getting better."

The first half was a battle of the presses. Hammondsport forced 12 turn overs, while C.G. Finney caused 11 by the Lakers. Add to the mix each team's shooting woes - Hammondsport shot 26 percent from the floor to the Falcons' 31 percent - and C.G. Finney was able to muster a 21-19 halftime lead on Jasmine McClendon's running jumper at the buzzer.

With C.G. Finney's Takiya Wall in early foul trouble, Morgan Wall carried the Falcons with 15 points in the first half - nearly all coming on offensive put - backs or shots from the paint.

Hammondsport spread its first-half scoring among six players, with Jenna Presley leading the way with eight points, with Carlie Brown adding four.

But during the intermission, Hammondsport found the answers it needed to battle the C.G. Finney press - and took control quickly as Sylvia Sable netted the first five points of the second half. Kelly Walling dropped in the next five points for the Lakers as Hammondsport's lead jumped to 29-21 just three minutes into the third.

"We slowed it down and didn't try to push the ball as much as we did in the first half," Brown said. "Moving the ball around and passing better in the second half helped."

Following another Sable basket, Presley scored Hammondsport's final five points of the quarter, giving her 13 points for the game and the Lakers a 36-24 lead entering the final quarter. She also had nine rebounds.

"One thing we've worked on all year is our defense and tonight it was our defense that won the game," Perry said. "We were able to pull away because of our defense."

Brown helped put the game away by scoring 11 straight points for the Lakers. She finished with 15 points. Walling and Sable each chipped in with eight.

Morgan Wall countered with 11 fourth-quarter points for the Falcons, as she finished with a gamehigh 26 points.