Seward swats Lady Yellowjackets in sectional title

TED WADDELL
Posted 3/16/17

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — “Runner-up is never as good as winning,” said Eldred’s Jordan Lepes, moments after the Lady Yellowjackets lost 51-35 to the Lady Spartans of S.S. Seward …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Seward swats Lady Yellowjackets in sectional title

Posted

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — “Runner-up is never as good as winning,” said Eldred’s Jordan Lepes, moments after the Lady Yellowjackets lost 51-35 to the Lady Spartans of S.S. Seward during the Section IX Class D girls’ basketball championship match.

“I definitely don’t think we played our best… it was unfortunate when you know you could have [but] you just didn’t pull it off,” added the 17-year old senior guard/forward.

The game pitted #1-seeded Seward (18-3) against #2-seeded Eldred (7-8) at Sullivan County Community College on March 1.

In the first period, the Lady Spartans outpaced Eldred 10-5, but in the second frame the Lady Yellowjackets buzzed back to outgun their opponents 10-6.

At the half, Seward took a razor-edged one-point lead into the locker room (16-15).

In the first few ticks of the second half, the Lady Spartans announced to the world that they were in the game to win, as they fired off a couple of threes from outside the arc.

Seward dominated the final two frames (17-10 and 18-10) on the way to a 16-point win, their fourth victory in the four times the teams met on the court during the 2016-17 season of hoops.

The game could have been titled “Game of Fouls” (apologies to George R.R. Martin), as between the two squads, they racked up a combined total of 44 trips to the charity line: Seward 18/26 (69%), ECS 10/18 (56%).

And that’s a lot of fouls.

Seward’s top scorers: Erika Straub (18 points including a trio of threes), Alexa Roach (13 points including two threes), Emi Knecht (8).

Eldred: Jordan Lepes (12), Sami Clemmons (8), and Kasandra Weatherly chipped in a three.

Ryan Jasper, coach of the Lady Yellowjackets, said of the season, “It certainly had its ups and downs… but in the end, it was too little, too late” as his hoopsters started to rebound from a slow start.

“It’s a great group of kids... they play hard and leave it all on the floor.”

Joe DiMattina coaches the Lady Spartans.

His take on the game, noting they had an 8-0 run in the third period, and at one point were up by nine as they began nailing their shots from the free-throw line:

“We really did a great job of hilling our foul shots… the season topped off pretty well,” he said.

Samantha “Sami” Clemmons plays guard and down low for the Lady Yellowjackets.

“There were some bumps in the road… some good games, and some bad ones,” said the 16-year-old junior.

Seventeen-year-old senior Emi Knecht takes to the court as a point guard for the Lady Spartans.

“I think we did really well overall,” she said. “We just get better as the games go on.”

For more photos visit www.riverreport er.com/sports.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here