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Better Late

Southwestern Overcomes Maple Grove Down Stretch

Southwestern’s Reece Beaver attempts a pass in front of Maple Grove’s Sam Snow during Monday’s CCAA Division 1 West girls basketball at Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School. P-J photos by Jay Young

Southwestern did not see its first lead of the night until there was 3:08 left on the clock in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West matchup with host Maple Grove.

Back-to-back buckets by Gianna Hoose, the second coming on a clean steal-and-drive, would give the Trojans a crucial 39-37 lead and Sofia Genareo would fire home a shot from beyond the arc with time winding down to complete a 46-43 comeback for the visitors.

After taking some time to get going, the pressure of Dave Turnbull’s team began to pay dividends late as Maple Grove struggled to inbound the ball cleanly during crunch time.

“They are always pressuring,” Maple Grove coach Bill Price said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. I thought we started out the first half, played well. The pressure got to us in the second half. Inbounds plays, that is where we lost the game. We just couldn’t get the ball inbounds. It wasn’t just turning the ball over, it was two points for them on turnovers, two quick points. We just have to learn to finish games. We had them where we wanted them.”

Maple Grove owned leads at 14-7 after one quarter of play and 21-15 at halftime, but Southwestern was relentless in its efforts to narrow the gap.

Maple Grove’s Madison Price is tied up by Southwestern’s Sofia Genareo while the Trojans’ Kim Truver defends during Monday’s CCAA Division 1 West game at Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School.

A balanced scoring attack opened up the early margin for the Red Dragons with Anna Tranum and Bre Hill getting to work in the paint while Riley Caskey and Sam Snow hit home on early 3s.

Genareo would pick up an early inside bucket in response, getting her next shot to drop from beyond the arc on a nice pass by Reece Beaver.

Caskey would sink a pair at the free-throw line and finish off a shot from long range to make it 19-7 for the hosts.

Maple Grove would continue to hang on to its lead after halftime, despite a 3 by Beaver and a bank down low from Allison Lundmark of Southwestern.

“We work a lot on conditioning and I thought at the end the conditioning helped us,” Southwestern coach Dave Turnbull said. “I think they got a little tired at the end and our girls were up to the challenge. This is a tough place to win a game. Their crowd really gets into it. I thought it was a complete team win, everyone who got on the floor contributed in some way, shape or form. Hopefully we can use this and build off of this.”

Southwestern’s Gianna Hoose shoots over Price.

Turnbull knew that he would need a big final period from his team to leave Dutch Hollow Road with a win, and he got it in the form of a 17-point fourth quarter.

Beaver closed the gap to four after finishing off a turnover, but Maple Grove responded with a long 2 by Snow.

Adding to the key efforts of Hoose and Genareo down the home stretch was some nice work on both sides of the ball by Ellie Lawton, who finished off an inside bucket and a jumper when her team needed them the most.

“Gianna Hoose has a motor like few I’ve seen, she just plays so hard,” Turnbull said. “Ellie Lawton came up with four big points at the end of the game that were critical for us, and she played just outstanding defense on their point guard. It was a team win, Sofia Genareo hit the big shot at the end.”

The win improves Southwestern to 2-2 on the year while Maple Grove will now look to rebound from an 0-3 start as both teams race to the top of the league after their first league contest.

NOTES: Hoose would finish with a 15 points, eight rebounds and five steals. …Genareo had 10 points, six rebounds and five steals while Lundmark had 7 points and five rebounds. … Caskey would lead Maple Grove with 17 points and four steals while Hill grabbed 7 points, nine rebounds, six steals and two blocks. … Snow finished with 9 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

SOUTHWESTERN (46)

Beaver 2 0 5, Lawton 2 0 4, Kranzo 1 1 3, Genareo 4 2 10, Dibble 0 0 0, Truver 0 2 2, Lundmark 3 1 7, Hoose 7 1 15. Totals 19 5 46.

MAPLE GROVE (43)

Tranum 2 2 6, Caskey 5 4 17, Grissom 0 0 0, Price 0 0 0, Tarbrake 1 0 2, Mansfield 1 0 2, Hill 3 1 7, Snow 3 2 9. Totals 15 9 43.

3-point goals–Beaver, Genareo 2, Caskey 3, Snow.

Southwestern 7 8 9 17 — 46

Maple Grove 12 5 10 7 — 43

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