Rams beat rival Raiders
BY CHRIS GILL THE LEADER

JASON COX/THE LEADER Bath's Lakeshia McCloud (32) pulls down a rebound in front of Hornell's Jordan Brungard during Friday's game.

BATH - Hovering around the .500 mark, and midpack in the Section V, Class BB standings, Bath Haverling viewed Friday's, Jan. 4, game against blood rival Hornell as a mustwin situation . The Rams responded with a 49-35 win at home in a Livingston County Athletic Association girls basketball game.

"We went through a tough stretch in our last five games where our opponents were 40- 8. It was nice to get a win at the midway point of the season ," said Bath coach Randy Abrams. "We've got to make a move, we're right in the middle of the road in Class BB."

Evenly played through the first 11 minutes, the momentum slowly shifted towards Bath's side until the Rams' Nikki Murat knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to give her team its first lead of the game off a Hornell turn over, and one minute later teammate Rachel Oest followed that up with one of her own to put Bath ahead by four and key a damaging run for Hornell.

In the second quarter alone, the Red Raiders turned the ball over eight times - and finished with 25 in the game while Bath exploited their opponent's weakness.

"Turnovers and free-throw attempts. They out-worked us tonight, out-hustled us," said Hornell coach Kirk Scholes. "We stopped executing and started turning the ball over. We missed a ton of layups tonight when we did get opportunities in the second and third quarters, just didn't finish."

Early in the second half, Lis Hall and Oest hit jumpers off Hornell turnovers to build an eight-point lead as part of a 12-2 run that ballooned the lead to 14 points. Key to the run was Oest, a graceful-shooting freshman who has a knack of making people forget she's on the floor - until she knocks down a shot or grabs a key offensive rebound.

Friday, she led the Rams with 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

"She's started the last two or three games for us, working really hard and she had that spark tonight," Abrams said. "Defensive pressure or scoring, for the first three quarters she was really a difference-maker."

Not to be outdone, Hornell was fueled primarily by Jordan Brungard - the Red Raiders' forward who kills defenders with high-arcing shots and innate toughness inside. She led all scorers with 16 points, despite being double and triple teamed.

Leah Fuerst scored nine points and made four steals for Bath (5-5), while Murat and Hall each chipped in eight points. In support roles, Katie Mauro had five points and Shawna McNeil and Jessica Smith each chipped in four for Hornell (3-6).