Albion girls bow; Medina and Newfane romp in Class B1 quarterfinals

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Brylie Hapeman passes the ball backwards as Gracie Morrison defends for Fredonia during the host Purple Eagles sectional loss to the Hillbillies this evening.

Plagued by ice cold shooting, No. 4 seed Albion dropped a low scoring 35-29 decision to visiting No. 5 Fredonia this evening in the quarterfinal round of the Section VI Class B1 girls basketball playoffs.

In another B1 quarterfinal, Medina romped to a lopsided win over a higher seeded city school for the second playoff game in a row as the No. 10 Mustangs blitzed No. 2 I-Prep 63-37.

Top seeded Niagara-Orleans League champion Newfane likewise romped to a B1 quarterfinal victory 50-27 over visiting No. 9 Alden to improve to 20-1.

Setting an ominous tone for the evening, Albion shot just 1 of 11 from the field in the opening quarter and fell behind 8-2. Katie Price led Fredonia during that stretch with 5.

Albion’s Caitlynn Snook puts up a shot as Fredonia’s A’Cetta Farriat tries to block.

Baskets by Natalie DiCureia, Sarah Gregori, Sierra Newton and Caitlynn Snook in the second period kept Albion within eight, 19-11, at the half but the Purple Eagles continued to be hampered by cold (4 of 16) shooting. Hannah Gullo led the Hillbillies in the period with 7.

A jumper by Janae Doty and a layup by Snook kept Albion within six, 21-15, midway through the third period.

Threes by DiCureia, Brylie Hapeman and Doty then pulled Albion to within one, 25-24, but the Purple Eagles could get no closer.

A late three by A’Cetta Farriat, who had a total of seven points in the period, gave Fredonia a little breathing room at 28-24 at the three-quarter mark.

Continued frigid shooting down the stretch then hampered Albion’s comeback hopes as the Purple Eagles hit on only 2 of 16 shots in the decisive final stanza.

After going 0 for 9 to open the period, Albion did cut the deficit to five, 32-27, with three and a half minutes to go after a three-point play by Snook.

A jumper by Snook kept Albion within five, 34-29, with 50 seconds to go but the Purple Eagles could not score again as a costly turnover helped to doom the comeback bid.

Price scored 10 and Farriat and Gullo 8 each on the evening to lead the way for Fredonia.

Snook tallied 9, Doty 7, DiCureia 6, Hapeman 3 and Gregori and Newton 2 each for Albion.

Fredonia will next face Newfane in the semifinals on March 1 at Kenmore West High School.

Medina 63, I-Prep 37
Maddie Williams scored 20, Camri King 19, Je’ne Brown 14, Deviere Brown 5,  Kharise Johnson 4 and Hannah Sones 1 to lead Medina in the 63-37 romp over I-Prep.

Medina raced out to a 17-3 first period lead as King scored 7 and Williams 6.

The Mustangs kept rolling building up commanding leads of 29-13 at the half and 50-20 after three periods. Williams scored 7 in both of the middle two quarters while King and Je’ne Brown both tallied 6 in the Mustangs big 21-7 third period uprising.

Medina will next face No. 11 Dunkirk in the semifinals on March 1 at Kenmore West. Dunkirk defeated No. 3 City Honors 67-63.

Newfane 50, Alden 27
Roaring out to leads of 31-10 at the half and 43-11 after three periods, Newfane went on to defeat Alden 50-27 as Paige Emborsky scored 12, Emily Foltz 11 and Megan Knoll 10.

Wilson 63, 42
In a Class B2 quarterfinal, No. 4 Wilson defeated N-O League foe No. 5 Akron 63-42.

Section V Girls Playoffs

No. 7 Lyndonville will visit No. 2 Fillmore and No. 8 Kendall will travel to No. 1 Wheatland-Chili in the Section V Class D1 girls quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday.

Boys Basketball Sectionals

No. 3 seed Medina will host No. 6 Dunkirk at 7 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinal round of the Section VI Class B1 boys basketball playoffs. No. 4 Newfane will host No. 13 Fredonia in another B1 quarterfinal at that same time.

In Section V boys Class D1 quarterfinals, No. 13 Lyndonville will visit No. 5 Mt. Morris at 6 p.m. Saturday.