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Quakers’ 8th-Grader Steals Show Vs. Trojans

By Matt Spielman 4 min read

Emily McDonald had never played a varsity basketball game until Monday night.

To say the Orchard Park eighth-grader made things look easy would be an understatement.

McDonald scored a game-high 28 points, including 16 in her first varsity quarter, and tied a Quakers' record with eight 3-pointers as Orchard Park held off a late-charging Southwestern for a 55-47 nonleague victory.

"Watching her last year on jayvee as a seventh-grader … she's playing up for a reason," Orchard Park head coach Gary Janas said. "I knew she had the potential to take over a game. I've seen her do it, but I didn't know if she'd transition that quickly here."

The Quakers built a huge lead in the first quarter and needed every bit of it down the stretch.

With 6-foot-4 Madison Stevenson -- who has verbally committed to NCAA Division I Howard -- on the bench most of the night in foul trouble, Orchard Park needed one of its younger players to step up.

McDonald did in a big way by hitting four 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes, including three before the Trojans even made a field goal. The Quakers led 12-0 before Southwestern's Ellie Lawton hit a free throw with 2:35 showing on the first-quarter clock.

"We were totally taken by surprise by McDonald," Southwestern head coach Kay Sirianni said. "She was outstanding. … We played her a little bit better in the second half."

A 3-pointer and a bucket in the lane from McDonald coupled with a basket from Stevenson made it 19-1 before Bella Sirianni broke the Trojans' field goal drought with 1:17 left in the period.

"They played a great zone defense," Coach Sirianni said. "They were aggressive and we weren't able to score on it."

Southwestern shot the ball a little better and cut down on its turnovers in the second quarter, but still trailed 36-17 at halftime as sophomore Reece Beaver had yet to find the scoresheet.

"In the first half we weren't running our offenses," Sirianni said, "and some of our leading scorers weren't scoring at all."

Beaver hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Kira Ricker also hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the Trojans' deficit remained at 19 heading into the fourth quarter.

A bucket from Lily Buckley gave Orchard Park a 16-point lead midway through the final period, but the was the Quakers' last field goal and Southwestern began to chip away at its deficit.

"We took a little nosedive after halftime because I literally have three offenses I've taught them in three days," said Janas, whose team was in a 10-day quarantine until the middle of last week. "Normally I would be matching them, but I was unable to do anything."

A field goal from Ricker and Beaver's fifth 3-pointer made it an 11-point game before Beaver added another basket.

"Once we started making a few shots in the third and fourth quarter, it gave them the confidence to play a little bit harder defensive. They started closing that gap and they got excited about it," Coach Sirianni said. "We were able to get a couple of turnovers, a couple steals and turn those into made baskets."

But the Trojans missed five consecutive free throws with a chance to make it two-possession game. For the game, Sirianni's team was 9 of 26 (34.6%) from the charity stripe.

"In the second half we were terrible at the free throw line," Sirianni said.

Beaver added a late basket and after an Orchard Park free throw, Southwestern missed its final two desperation 3-point attempts as the comeback fell short.

McDonald had four rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals to go along with her 28 points while Stevenson had 10 points and six rebounds.

Beaver led the Trojans with 21 points -- all in the second half -- to go along with four assists, four rebounds and two steals.

"We really have to look at the big picture. This made us better for the playoffs," Sirianni said. "Losing is OK as long as it makes us a better team."

NOTES: Maddie McIntyre grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and Ricker had a team-high five assists for Southwestern, which shot 15 of 51 (29.4%) from the field, including 8 of 27 (29.6%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 19 times. … Sarah McFadden had six rebounds and six assists while Sarah Bass had nine rebounds for Orchard Park, which shot 21 of 59 (35.6%) from the field, including 8 of 15 (53.3%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 16 times.

ORCHARD PARK (55)

McFadden 2 1 5, McDonald 10 0 28, Wawrzyniec 1 0 2, Fitzgerald 0 0 0, Bass 1 0 2, Cullinan 0 2 2, Gomez 0 0 0, Buckley 3 0 6, Mills 0 0 0, Stevenson 4 2 10. Totals 21 5 55.

SOUTHWESTERN (47)

Cobb 0 0 0, Beaver 7 2 21, Lawton 1 5 7, Sirianni 2 2 7, Riley 0 0 0, Hamilton 0 0 0, McIntyre 1 0 2, Engdahl 0 0 0, Cotter 0 0 0, Ricker 4 0 10. Totals 15 9 47.

3-point goals--McDonald 8, Beaver 5, Sirianni, Ricker 2.

Orchard Park 24 12 12 7 -- 55

Southwestern 7 10 12 18 -- 47

Starting at /week.