Joomla Login LightBox powered by WowJoomla.com

WELLSVILLE — The opening minutes put the Spring Hill High School girls’ basketball team in a hole as they battled Baldwin for the Wellsville Invitational Top Gun Shootout tournament title.

But, the Spring Hill Broncos came roaring back to defeat the Baldwin Bulldogs 56-49 for the title, running its record to 9-2 on the season.

“We won,” Spring Hill coach Clay Frigon said. “We got down early, 11-0, but fought back.”

Spring Hill Broncos Jami Hodge, Ericka Simpson and Ashley Miller were selected to the all-tournament team.

Miller scored seven of her game-high 19 points in the first quarter to ignite the Broncos.

Spring Hill was outscored 13-10 in the first quarter, but battled back to hold a 17-16 edge in the second frame.

The Broncos were outscored 10-9 in the third quarter and then rallied with an 18-10 fourth-quarter run to win the game by seven points.

In the final frame, the Broncos made just two field goals, but pulled away from the Baldwin Bulldogs by sinking 14 of 18 free throws to seal the victory.

Simpson hit double figures with 14 points. Stacey Czereda had nine points.

Other players scoring for Spring Hill were Courtney Swope, Rhi Lloyd and Hodge.

The ride to get to the finals was a Jekyll and Hyde affair for the Spring Hill girls Thursday evening.

Spring Hill looked like Hyde to open the game, falling behind 14-3 in the first 4 minutes and 20 seconds as Piper went on a 10-0 run. Six Spring Hill turnovers in that span led to three field goals for Piper.

The Broncos led by 12 in the third quarter, 34-22, when the Pirates stormed back to tie it at 41-41 with 3:38 left in regulation.

Despite making just three field goals in the fourth quarter, the Broncos were able to protect its lead and preserve the victory with five clutch free throws, winning 51-44.
“We had that deer in the headlights look in the beginning of the game,” Frigon said. “We couldn’t get into any kind of a rhythm.

“We battled through it,” he said. “We finally got a rally, and our defense got us some points. I was very impressed with how we were able to finish the game.”

After cutting the deficit to 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, Spring Hill went on a 17-6 run in the second quarter to take a seven-point lead into the intermission.
Piper would not go away quietly, putting another rally together in the third quarter and start of the fourth.

The Pirates outscored the Broncos 12-10 in the third quarter, but Spring Hill held a 13-10 edge in the final frame to hold on.
Hodge led the Broncos with 17 points.

Swope finished with six points. Czereda added nine points. Other players scoring for the Broncos were Miller, Lloyd and Simpson.

 TrackBack URI for this entry