Averill Park cruises past Ballston Spa, 81-28
AVERILL PARK, NY >> The high octane offense of the Averill Park Girl’s Basketball team continues to roll, posting 81 points in there 81-28 win over Ballston Spa Tuesday night at Averill Park High School.
“We wanted to work on execution tonight,” said Averill Park Head Coach Sean Organ. “As always, defense has to lead the way. I felt that tonight our defensive effort was strong, as it was the last couple of games. We are pleased with that effort.”
Averill Park took no time building a comfortable lead Tuesday, taking a 21-9 first quarter lead and then a 45-17 first half lead into halftime. In the first half, senior Kelsey Wood posted 17 points and her sister Amelia added 14.
Amelia finished with her 14 point total while Kelsey finished 24 points in the win.
“It comes down to trying new things when you get a comfortable lead like we built up,” said Organ. “We can do things defensively that we haven’t necessarily had a chance to run in games, maybe some new offenses we are giving a look to see what works well, what needs to improve, and what doesn’t look good at all.” Organ continued. “I think the biggest thing in a game like this is we want to expand our bench. We want our kids
who don’t always get opportunities, I want to see what they can do. I want to see what they can do in these moments and I want to see how hard they play. I was really proud of our bench, they really carried us in the first half and especially in the second half, really from the middle part of the third quarter on. There were no more starters out there, it was players seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven that did a really good job. I think it was a good confidence booster for them.”
Averill Park scored 23 more points in the third quarter with their bench beginning there take over of time. Anna Jankovic and Kelsey Wood helped stretch the lead in the first half of the quarter and then players like Bailee Lange and Emma Burdick came in to further the cushion for the half of the quarter and the whole fourth quarter.
On the Ballston Spa side, they utilized the three ball when they needed to, draining five three pointers in the loss. The Scotties were led by Allie Piscitelli’s seven points and Madysen Thomas’ six in the loss.
Averill Park is now 12-2 overall and 7-1 against Suburban Council opponents. Ballston Spa is 2-12 overall with an 0-9 record against Suburban Council opponents.
Averill Park will travel to Guilderland Friday while Ballston Spa will host Shen Tuesday, February 4.
Averill Park has just five games remaining on the schedule and guarantee they will put just as much effort into those games as they did with their cushion in Tuesday night’s win.
“You talk about the little things and we can’t break the good habits that we have built,” said Organ. “The girl’s themselves deserve that credit in the sense that they know that, one, if they don’t get on the ball for a loose ball they are letting there teammates down and, two, if they are not willing to get down on the floor for a loose ball or box out, there is someone else over there wearing a white jersey that is willing to do that.”
AVERILL PARK 81, BALLSTON SPA 28
Averill Park High School Averill Park, New York Averill Park 21-24-2313-81 Ballston Spa 9-8-7-4 - 28 AVERILL PARK (12-2) Emma Burdick 1-1-5, Kindsey Hitchcock 1-02, Taylor Holohan 3-06, Anna Jankovic 5-0-12, Bailee Lange 1-0-4, Alison Lapinski 2-1-10, Michelina Lombardi 2-0-4, Amelia Wood 7-0-14, Kelsey Wood 9-0-24 BALLSTON SPA Samantha DeVito 0-1-3, Lauren Jesmain 1-0-3, Callie LaGoy 2-0-4, Allie Piscitelli 0-2-7, Emily Robbie 2-0-4, Abby Teitsche 0-0-1, Madysen Thomas 0-2-6