Averill Park rolls to win over Gloversville
COLONIE, N.Y. » Averill Park’s varsity girls basketball team is one win from a four-peat.
Gloversville kept things close for a quarter, but Averill Park pulled ahead and continued to extend the lead in a 61-47 Class A semifinal victory at Colonie High School Tuesday night. The Warriors took a 20-point lead in the third quarter and had an easy fourth quarter.
No. 1 seed Averill Park moves on to face No. 2 Amsterdam — who beat Queensbury earlier in the night — in the Section II Class A championship at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Hudson Valley Community College.
Averill Park had three players reach double-digit points, led by Stephanie Jankovic’s 17, Lena Piche finished with 14 and Kelsey Wood had 12 points. Gloversville’s Kerri Hauser led all scorers with 18 points.
Averill Park head coach Sean Organ said the team’s plan was to be aggressive and get control of the game early.
“We wanted to take control of the tempo, be aggressive to the basket and be unselfish,” Organ said. “We were really concerned about (Harmony) Philo, we were really concerned with (Jasmine) Gonzalez and how good those players really were. They are prolific scorers, so really our first key to having success was trying to be the best defensive team we could. I thought we played really hard tonight.”
Averill Park jumped out to a 20-12 lead and continued to build on it early in the second period.
At the start of the second period, the Warriors went on a 15-2 run to make it 4929 and kept that strong play going into the half.
“We had some players step up and give us some nice minutes, our starters and some kids came off the bench,” Organ said. “I feel like our kids are hungry right now and we will see what it leads to Friday night.”
The Averill Park defense held Gloversville to eight points in the quarter.
Averill Park and Gloversville traded baskets in the third quarter, but time was running out for the Dragons.
Averill Park continued to pile on points until the final buzzer sounded. The Warriors outscored the Dragons 17-13 in the fourth to make the final margin of victory 22 points.
Organ said the team was able to get the big lead because his team had experience on its side.
“I think a couple things lead to that,” Organ said. “I think we are a little more experienced than they were and I think we were a little bit deeper than they were. Those were two key factors that helped us in the second half. It wasn’t the prettiest game out there tonight, but that is the postseason where it is survive and advance.”