Olean girls oust Albion in semis

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Chanyce Powell puts up a shot over Olean defender Chantel Singleton during the Purple Eagles sectional semifinal loss to the Lady Huskies this evening at Sweet Home.

A red hot shooting freshman guard combined with a strong ball hawking defense keyed No. 2 seed Olean to a 74-41 victory over No. 11 Albion this evening in the semifinal round of the Section VI Class B1 playoffs at Sweet Home.

Freshman guard Sara Pfeiffer exploded for 37 points, including a whopping 32 over the middle two periods, to spearhead the Olean offense and the Lady Huskies aggressive defense forced Albion into some 30 turnovers.

Courtney Martin added 12 points for Olean which now takes a 20-1 record into Sunday’s B1 title contest.

Chanyce Powell led Albion with 20 points as Sierra Newton had 10, Emily Blanchard 6, Caitlynn Snook 3 and Natalie DiCureia 2.

Albion stayed within one, 9-8, late in the opening period after back-to-back layups by Powell, the second coming off a turnover.

However, Olean, which forced 8 turnovers in the period, answered with back-to-back threes by Alyssa Ramarage and Pfeiffer to take a 15-8 lead at the end of the quarter.

Sierra Newton puts up a shot for Albion as Olean’s Courtney Martin tries to block.

The Lady Huskies then began to pull away for good by opening the second period with a 10-0 run including a three, a jumper and two free throws by Pfeiffer for a 25-8 lead.

Forcing another 8 turnovers at the defensive end, the Olean offense took advantage by outpointing Albion 24-15 in the period to open up a 16 point, 39-23, advantage at the half.

Pfeiffer, who had 15 in the second period, kept the hot hand by tacking on 17 more in the third period to help boost the Lady Huskies advantage to 31, 63-32, at the three-quarter mark.

Albion, which had defeated CSAT 47-28 and Buffalo Arts 57-51 to advance to the semis, finishes the season at 10-12.

Albion’s Elisabeth Baker tries to take the ball away from Olean’s Sara Pfeiffer.