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Beehler Comes Back, Leads Dunkirk Girls To Upset Win

BUFFALO — After weeks spent apart, the same five girls were finally back on the floor together in the starting lineup for the Dunkirk Lady Marauders on Tuesday. They were ready to go for the playoff run, and when it was all said and done, they shocked the Class B1 girls basketball sectional bracket yet again.

For the second straight year, the Dunkirk Lady Marauders pulled off a playoff upset as a double-digit seed, with a 54-41 win over 5-seed Buffalo Arts at Hutchinson Central Tech School in Buffalo in the first round of the Section VI Class B1 girls basketball playoffs.

“This showed us that it’s very possible to do these things,” said Dunkirk captain Kymi Nance. “Not just to say we’re able to do it, we actually go out there and do it. … Now with our five all going full-speed, there’s no stopping us.”

Dunkirk (11-10, 12-seed) started off slowly — as expected — as they attempted to regain the chemistry the starting five Lady Marauders developed over the season and a half they played together, prior to losing point guard Jessica Beehler to an illness early in the league portion of the season this year.

“You can’t miss five weeks and not be a little rusty,” said Dunkirk coach Ken Ricker of Beehler’s integration back in the offense early in the game. “She plays hard and she certainly makes us better.”

Through the first half of the first quarter, the Lady Marauders remained without a point. Near the halfway point, Octavia Porter came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer for an early 3-2 lead. The Lady Marauders traded points evenly with Buffalo Arts (11-10, 5-seed) the rest of the first quarter and led 10-9 after the frame.

“Kymi has been (taking over as point guard) so everything has been switched around. Now that I’m back, we’ve switched all the plays back and I had to start getting back in shape,” said Beehler. “It was hard. In the first half, I was slow, but we came back and we started running our plays right (in the second half).”

The game was tied at 11-all when Porter came up with a steal and took it all the way for a layup through contact. She missed the and-one free-throw, but Dunkirk led 13-11 with four and a half minutes left in the first half.

With two minutes left in the first half, the game was tied at 17. Dunkirk scored three of the last four points in the half to lead 20-18 at the break, with identical 10-9 Dunkirk quarters. Ricker said his team looked like a 12-seed through the first half.

“I feel it was a learning experience, because we know our capabilities. We know what we have to do,” said Nance.

Halfway through the third quarter, the score was tied again, this time at 26-apiece. With 3:40 to go in the third frame, Nance stayed calm with a screaming defender flying in and drilled a 3-pointer to take a 29-26 lead. After that, Olivia Smith finally found her shot from distance, with a pair of 3-pointers from the corner to give Dunkirk a 37-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“Olivia Smith is the best shooter we’ve got, and she lost confidence early, which is crazy, because she’s shot so well for us this year,” said Ricker.

Smith drilled another 3-point shot in the first minute of the fourth quarter, then Beehler followed up with a contested layup in transition for the game’s first double-digit lead, 42-32. Dunkirk held the lead the entire fourth quarter and cruised to the 13-point victory on the road. After 10 points in each of the first two quarters, the Lady Marauders scored 17 points in each of the frames in the second half.

Nadara Odell led Dunkirk with 19 points, while Porter had 10 points off the bench for the Lady Marauders.

“(Odell) averaged nine points a game more with Jessica (Beehler) than without her,” said Ricker. “Nadara (Odell) ran hard all game and played well for us. … Octavia Porter played hard for us off the bench as well.”

Dunkirk now moves ahead in the bracket to face Olean on Thursday. The game will be in Olean at 7 p.m.

Beehler said without hesitation that moving forward, her focus is simple — beat Olean.

“When we played (in Olean) with Jessica (Beehler) and we were up one going into the fourth quarter,” said Ricker. “All we can as is to go out and give a great effort.

“As long as we don’t beat ourselves, we can beat anybody,” said Nance.

BOYS

DUNKIRK FALLS

TO BUFFALO ARTS

BUFFALO — The Dunkirk Marauders boys basketball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday night, with a 72-57 loss to Buffalo Arts in the first round of the Section VI, Class B1 boys basketball playoffs at Hutchinson Central Tech School.

Dunkirk (1-20, 15-seed) had a performance Tuesday night that was very similar to its season as a whole. At the start, the Marauders fell behind 5-0 to Buffalo Arts (9-10, 10-seed) within the first 20 seconds.

The early hole was similar to that on the season, as the Marauders lost the first game of the year to Class AA Lancaster, 54-23.

“Our schedule this year was probably one of the toughest in Western New York. All the teams we played had great seasons,” said Dunkirk coach Luke Gullo.

While the season began to get out of hand at times, like a pair of losses in which their opponent scored 100 points or a challenging league slate that did not produce a win, the Marauders stuck with it all along and produced what Coach Gullo often referred to as “glimpses.” One of those bright spots on Tuesday was A’Marion Tell, who began the season on the JV team but finished it as the Marauders’ leading scorer in the first playoff game for any member of the Dunkirk team. Tell had 15 points on Tuesday, including three 3-pointers.

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