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Midlakes Sports
by Ginny Konz
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The 7th and 8th grade girls had been busy with two games a week up until the winter break when they took a break as well and only had one game, away. Their seasons will have concluded by the time you read this since they had games on Monday and Tuesday.
On February 13 their opponent was Wayne. The 8th graders won, 25-23, in overtime, their second overtime win in less than a week. Liz Maloney scored 10 points in that game, Emmi Clark had 7. The 7th graders lost by one point, but that was the closest game of the season up to then, so they felt like they continue to make progress.
The February 15 games were against Mynderse. The 8th graders lost a close one, 27-23. Liz Maloney scored 8 points, Shannon Murphy 6. The 7th graders lost big time, 47-20, and were discouraged again. However, they did score 20 points which had been average after the first few games.
The varsity girls began sectional play on Saturday, February 18, when they hosted Dansville. The Midlakes 8-1 run to open the game was a preview of things to come. Alex Oaks (10 points) and Whitney Dixon (7 points) were hot from outside in the first period. In the second period Hollie Rinaldo's rebounding didn't give Dansville many second chances, and she "got her groove" from the high post for 6 in that quarter while Liz Donk was also "on" for 7. The score was 37-17, Midlakes, at the half.
In the 3rd quarter we seemed to be in a hurry to shoot instead of working the plays; we blew an attempt to break the press that should not have been difficult; and we did a fair amount of fouling that put Dansville into the bonus in that period. They stepped up their intensity, and yet, with all that we extended our lead to 52-28.
We definitely did not take care of the ball well in the last period but played tough defense. Most of Dansville's 7 points in the final quarter came from free throws, but we nearly doubled their output. The final score was 65-35, Midlakes, setting up another trip to Waterloo last Wednesday. Whitney went on to score a total of 18 points and grabbed several rebounds; Liz Donk added 9, Aerica Maslyn and Hollie each had 8 points.
The cheerleaders, meanwhile, had traveled to SUNY Geneseo for the Section V competition and finished 2nd in Class BB. Coach Laura Hovey was named Coach of the Year in that class. Congratulations to Coach Hovey and the girls.
Those wrestlers who had qualified coming out of sectionals were participating in state qualifying matches that same Saturday, with disappointing results. Chris Teed made it to the final match in the 275 lb. weight before losing - a great season and post season for Chris. Morgan Hoven, who had been undefeated up until that point, was disqualified on a "slam" call. He was winning the match, 7-2, when his opponent stood up. Morgan picked him up to take him down, the other wrestler kicked and fell to the mat. The wrestler and his coach knew he should not continue, but they wanted a one-second restart so that Morgan could continue in the tournament after the match-ending injury. The trainer refused to allow that, so by rule Morgan lost the match and was eliminated. The coach from Genesee Valley apologized profusely several times, but "it was truly a sad ending to an outstanding season," reported his dad, Chris Hoven, who is also the assistant coach.
The boys' basketball team began their sectional play last Tuesday, hosting the 9th seed, Bath Haverling. Since we were the 8th seed, it promised to be a close game. It was a terrific defensive battle, and we emerged from the first 8 minutes with a 3 point lead, 14-11. Thanks to good ball distribution and rebounding we extended our lead to 8 midway through the 2nd and were sitting on a 32-21 lead at the half.
We started the 2nd half with a 7-2 run, and Bath called time out. No difference; we had a 20 point lead with 3 minutes to go in the 3rd period and it held up. We extended our lead to nearly 30 points in the fourth before backing off, and the final was 62-41.
The Finger Lakes Times article covered it well - Bath thought they had things under control, having identified Ben Sheppard, Caleb Frederick and Greg VanderBrook as the "guys to watch." Zach Maslyn surprised them with 19 points (three 3s), a fistful of rebounds, and a blocked shot. Greg picked up 13 in spite of their attention, Torey Pieters had 8 points and, like the rest of them, had a great defensive game. Winning meant we had to travel to Hornell last Friday.
The girls' game against #3 Waterloo last Wednesday was a much closer game than expected, and we had chances to win but fell just short, 48-45. We started by turning the ball over trying to dribble and having it stolen, got that corrected but still turned the ball over a lot in the face of their defense. We did the same thing to them.
They were making the 3; we only had 2 for the night. They were terrible from the free throw line, we made 9 of 14.
From a 5-0 Waterloo lead to start, we caught up and led momentarily before settling for a 15-13 Waterloo lead after 1 period. They had extended it to 29-17 by the half and may have thought the game was over. We were just getting warmed up. We cut their lead to 5 (29-24, mostly on free throws) early in the third period and were in the bonus. The score was 29-28 with 3:30 left when Waterloo finally scored, another 3, but we tied at 32 on a basket by Whitney Dixon. The 3rd period ended with Waterloo clinging to a 36-34 lead, a period in which the referees seemed to forget their role - things got rough.
We seemed to be elsewhere mentally in the opening minutes of the 4th period, turning the ball over and committing fouls (fortunately they missed about as many free throws as we attempted). With 2 minutes to go Waterloo had a 43-38 lead; we cut it to 3 then traded 3 pointers. Things looked hopeful for an upset when the score was 46-45 with 29 seconds to go and we had the ball. We shot, missed but rebounded, shot and the shot was blocked and went over to Waterloo. We fouled immediately, and this time the shots were made. We did not get a last shot off, and the final score was 48-45, ending our season.
Whitney had 16 points, with one 3 and 5/6 in free throws. Liz Donk added 11, with one 3 and 4/6 in free throw shooting. Hollie had 8 points, but her blocks and rebounds were her major contribution. Alex Oaks' 6 points were important, but so was her hustle. The entire team played as a team, minimized mistakes, and gave Waterloo more than they expected. It was a good season, girls.
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