It’s a Plainsmen rout in regional
Shen tops West Genesee, returns to Class AA final four
SYRACUSE, N.Y. » All week long the Shenendehowa girls basketball team was preparing for West Genesee’s packed-in defense and its sharp-shooting three-point threats.
While they remained defensive minded, the trademark Plainsmen transition game took the Wildcats out of their game plan.
Shenendehowa rolled to a 48-31 win in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA Regional contest at Onondaga Community College Saturday afternoon.
The Plainsmen hadn’t trailed in its last two contests and only trailed the Wildcats for one minute early in the first quarter, before junior co-captain Cam Tooley drilled two consecutive threepointers and Shenendehowa never looked back.
“We had a full week to prepare, we knew what we had to do, and we knew what we had to do to win,” Tooley said. “We were focused all week in practice, we were all working so hard and we knew all of us just wanted this so much. I think we showed it with all the hard work and how we played out there tonight.”
When Tooley wasn’t hitting from outside the arc — three of her five buckets were beyond — she was driving the lane. She sacrificed her body, either making the bucket or being sent to the free throw line time and again.
“Coach Murphy had been telling us all week that if you drive and kick it’s going to be there and to be ready for shots,” Tooley said. “We all knew that we had to be
ready and I think we all hit some pretty important shots today.”
Tooley led all scorers with 20 points, and when she wasn’t scoring, she was often found co-captain Alex Tudor racing down the court after a defensive rebound, ready to receive a pass on the hop and convert time and again.
“It’s awesome, if we can just get a rebound and Alex is always up there so you can just throw it up there, she’ll be there,” Tooley said. “We usually get the bucket so that’s nice.”
Tudor put her track skills to work and was always prepared to receive a pass Saturday.
“I don’t know if that team was expecting us to run that much, Coach Murphy said this was a smaller court so he wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to run on them,” Tudor said. “We were just getting the ball on the defensive end and going and Cam (Tooley) always finds me, so it worked really well today. We were just outrunning them out there, it was great to see.”
The Wildcats, like other teams, were focused on the Plainsmen captains, allowing Megan Gillooley to become the third star. She scored 13-points in the regional victory.
“They kind of in the beginning and even throughout the whole game they were kind of pushing more towards Cam and I,” Tudor said. “Meg just took that full charge and she just went for it, went to the basket and she did what we needed her to do today and it was amazing. We need that for every game going forward.”
It’s one thing to know you’re number might be called and asked to be productive, but live fire can be a different scenario.
“I have to take a breath sometimes, but it’s very intense,” Gillooley said. “A lot of adrenaline is going on and anything can happen at any time. He always says to girls on the bench, ‘You never know when your name is going to get called, so just always be ready.’
“I was ready today; we had everyone on the bench in the game, so it was a very good feeling to have everyone ready to go.”
Saturday’s regional game wasn’t the first starring role scenario for Gillooley, especially after preparing all week for the Wildcats.
“I just tried to get to the basket a lot and tried to make the offense keep going,” Gillooley said. “I know Cam and Alex were going to be pretty guarded the entire time, they do a lot of switching on screens, so I just knew I had to get to the basket and try to be the third scorer for the team today.”
Just like a heavyweight fight, there was a feeling out process by both teams, but the Shenendehowa ability to move the ball quickly out of the West Genesee offensive end was a key.
“We had a tough time executing the half court, we really did,” Shenendehowa coach Joe Murphy said. “We were able to get up and down the court a little bit in transition and then offensively we did a great job in the first half.
“The second half they got a little bit more open looks on the three point line than we wanted, but credit to them, the Smith players are good players, they put pressure on you by attacking and then kicking out, they had us on our heels, they really did. The girls answered the call like they have been all year.”