Fredonia’s Cecelia Tonelli drives to the basket during Friday’s Section VI Class A2 prequarterfinal girls basketball game against Tonawanda. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

FREDONIA — The playoffs couldn’t have started much better for the Fredonia ‘Billies.

Friday night.

Fredonia sunk a pair of 3-pointers within the first minute of action. Three minutes in, Fredonia’s lead was 14 points. Two minutes after that, the ‘Billies extended the lead to 18 points — all before Tonawanda even scored a point.

After its dominant 18-0 run to start the contest, Fredonia led the rest of the game by double digits en route to a 64-27 win over the visiting Tonawanda Timberwolves in a Section VI Class A2 prequarterfinal at Fredonia High School.

“We definitely have our confidence now,” Fredonia head coach Brianne Flowers said after the victory. “We’ve got that first playoff game under our belt.”

No. 7 Fredonia (11-10) wasted no time, as Juliana Snyder drilled a 3-pointer just 30 seconds into play. Snyder hit another 3-pointer moments later, but it was Cecelia Tonelli who did the bulk of the work for Fredonia in the period. Besides Snyder’s two 3-pointers, Tonelli had the other 12 points for Fredonia on its 18-0 run to start the game — including a pair of 3s of her own.

“Our shots were falling to start, which was a really big thing. We were able to speed up and start the way we wanted to. We had a lot of momentum that helped us start the game,” Flowers said. “It’s definitely a sigh of relief … because we’ve struggled to score most of the year. It was nice to see. It propelled us the rest of the way.”

As dominant of a start as it was for Fredonia’s offense, its defense was just as impressive.

Fredonia’s defense held No. 10 Tonawanda (2-19) off the scoreboard for the first six minutes of the contest. The same was true for the first six minutes of the second quarter, too, as Fredonia extended its lead. Even as Fredonia only managed eight points in the second quarter, its defense held Tonawanda to just four points, all in the final two minutes.

Madelyn Polhamus carried the Fredonia offense through the middle two quarters as the rest of the team went cold from the field. Polhamus had six of the eight Fredonia points in the second quarter, then added eight more in the third quarter as the ‘Billies put the game out of reach. By the end of the third quarter, Fredonia’s lead was up to 30 points, 48-18.

Fredonia was led by Tonelli with 19 points on the night, while Polhamus had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, along with four assists and four steals. While neither player scored in the final period with Fredonia up by 30, four others scored in the final frame.

Bella Buckley brought her total on the night to nine points — third on the team — with a 3-pointer and a free-throw in the final period. Anna Delcamp had four points on a pair of buckets in the fourth quarter, while Nora Polhamus made a shot in the period, as well. Finally, the bench erupted in cheers after a pair of late 3-pointers from Addie Stellrecht, her first varsity points as a JV callup. Her six points matched the most anyone on visiting Tonawanda had.

“We put up some of the most points we’ve scored all year. Hopefully we take this into the next game and build on it from there,” Flowers said.

Up next, Fredonia faces No. 2 Buffalo Academy of Science on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Buffalo. The winner will head to Buffalo State University on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the Class A2 semifinals.

“They are definitely a different caliber team. We have to tweak some things and tidy up our passes to get ready for that,” Flowers said of facing the No. 2 seed on the road next week. “Hopefully, now the girls believe they are here because they deserve to be here. Records can be very deceiving.”

TONAWANDA (27)

CHeuser 3 0 6, Browning 2 0 4, Sandy 1 0 2, BHeuser 2 0 6, Mangold 0 0 0, Sevenski 2 0 5, Popovich 0 0 0, Cristi 1 2 4. Totals 11 2 27.

FREDONIA (64)

Russo 0 0 0, Carmona 0 0 0, Burrows 0 0 0, Muck 1 0 2, Delcamp 2 0 4, Buckley 3 1 9, Krenzer 0 0 0, Smith 0 0 0, MPolhamus 7 0 14, Snyder 3 0 8, NPolhamus 1 0 2, Tonelli 7 3 19, Stellrecht 2 0 6. Totals 24 4 64.

3-point goals–Heuser 2, Sevenski, Buckley 2, Snyder 2, Tonelli 2, Stellrecht 2.

Tonawanda 5 4 9 9 — 27

Fredonia 18 8 22 16 — 64