The emphasis on the fundamentals worked as the fourth-seeded Golden Falcons knocked off the Lakewomen 45-30 to advance to Saturday’s 2 p.m. final against No. 2 Portville.

“We worked a lot on fundamentals this week,” Falconer head coach Emily Scholeno said. “We have been in the gym so many days that we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”

“We just needed to execute the fundamentals,” Scholeno added. “We had also watched the film on them, so we knew what traps were going to come and what type of defense that we would have to run.”

Scholeno picked wisely on which defense to run against the Lakewomen and her girls played it perfectly. While it appeared Wilson was controlling the game because it possessed the ball much of the first quarter, Falconer’s defense doing its job by not allowing the Lakewomen any open or easy shots.

Falconer’s Ava Fenton (11) drives to the basket while teammate Grace Lundmark (12) sets a screen on a Wilson defender during Thursday’s Section VI Class C1 semifinal at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex. P-J photo by Christian Storms

Falconer made it difficult for Wilson to find any open chances and when they did come, the Lakewomen’s bad shooting did them no favors leading to plenty of Falconer rebounds and soon the lead in the game.

Grace Lundmark and Tess Spangenburg reaped the biggest rewards on the defensive glass with Lundmark grabbing 11 of her 16 boards and Spangenburg grabbing all nine of hers on the defensive side of the floor.

“We worked a lot on boxing out,” Scholeno said. “We just had to find what was going to work for the rebounding.”

Trailing 18-14 to start the third quarter, Wilson made its last big push to regain the lead. Peyton Mcinnis and Bella Lemke both hit treys in the third and the Lakewomen were able to get within one point, trailing 29-28, but that’s as close as they would get.

The thorn in Wilson’s side all night on both sides of the floor continued to be Lundmark. She made sure there were no easy trips to the basket for the Lakewomen, blocking two shots in the game. She also led the Golden Falcons with 17 points.

“She works very hard down on the glass,” Scholeno said of Lundmark. “She doesn’t let things rattle her, she kind of zeros in. She loves the game and would put her head through the wall for anyone and any coach.”

While Lundmark did her work in the paint, the Golden Falcons 3-point shooter Spangenburg had struggled in the first half. She didn’t land a shot in the first half, but when she started heating up, the Golden Falcons started to put the game away. Spangenburg scored all 10 of her points in the second half with three 3-pointers. That included a back-to-back sequence to put the game out of reach at 43-29.

“Tess is really upbeat,” Scholeno said. “As soon as she hits those 3s, you know she’s going to come down and play hard defense. If she misses she’s just going to keep working at it.”

Falconer’s defense was strong throughout and its best came in the final quarter when Wilson did not make a single field goal, only getting its two points from the free throw line.

NOTES: Falconer finished 19 of 47 (40%) from the field. Ava Fenton finished with 8 points, Kayla Lynn had 6 points and Dani Krenzer had six assists.

FALCONER (45)

Lynn 3 0 6, AKrenzer 0 0 0, DKrenzer 1 2 4, Fenton 4 0 8, Lundmark 8 0 17, Harper 0 0 0, Spangenburg 3 1 10. Totals 19 3 45.

WILSON (30)

RFaery 1 1 3, KFaery 0 0 0, Lemke 2 2 8, MMcinnis 0 0 0, Allcom 0 0 0, PMcinnis 4 0 9, Cliffe 0 1 1, Frerichs 2 1 5, Hurtgam 0 0 0, Miller 2 0 4. Totals 11 5 30.

3-point goals–Spangenburg 3, Lemke 2, PMcinnis, Lundmark.

Falconer 8 10 13 14 — 45

Wilson 7 7 14 2 — 30