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Lady Bullets lose heartbreaker in sectional
semi
By Byron Painter
Editor
The Williamsville Lady Bullets girls basketball team had the Piasa Southwestern Lady Birds right
where they wanted them at halftime Tuesday night at the Class 2A Rochester Sectional: ahead.
After trailing by eight points at halftime in each of their two regional wins, the Lady Bullets trailed by
seven at the half. They eventually pulled ahead in the final minute for the first time, but Lizzie Meierotto’s
driving seven-footer found the bottom of the net as the Lady Birds edged past Williamsville 41-40.
Piasa will play the Litchfield Purple Panthers Thursday night in the sectional final; Litchfield edged past
Waverly 45-42.
Williamsville finished a sparkling, though mentally and physically trying, season at 26-4.
The Lady Birds looked to make a rout of the game in the first half, with all 10 of their buckets coming
inside the paint as their high-low post game gave the Lady Bullets fits.
“It was my fault, because we should have been fronting them in the first half,” said WHS coach Jon
Hampton. “This was a tough matchup for us, but when we played behind them in the second half, we
slowed them down some.”
Piasa scored on five of its first six possessions, all of lob passes, on the way to a 12-5 lead after one
period.
“There was no secret to our game plan,” said Piasa coach Steve Wooley. “We can score from the
outside, but we felt like we had such an advantage inside that we wanted to take it right at them.”
The lead swelled to 20-9 with 1:44 left before an Emily Capranica stickback and Lauren Hollinshead
bucket pulled Williamsville within 20-13 by intermission.
The Lady Bullets continued to chip away in the third, thanks to a 9-0 run that eventually pulled them
even at 22.
Kathryn Spenn made two free throws at 3:47, with the foul on the play being called on Piasa
sophomore Gabby Williams, who had 16 of the Lady Birds’ points to that juncture. Her fourth foul sent her
to the bench for several minutes, though thanks to Beth Wild’s eight points, Piasa actually outscored WHS
10-6 during Williams’ time on the bench.
Williams returned at 5:26 of the fourth and needed just 19 seconds to make her presence felt, getting
fouled and splitting two freebies (the first foul shots of the night for the Lady Birds).
It was 37-30 with 2:46 remaining before the Lady Bullets put up one last charge.
Spenn scored at 2:32, then Hollinshead nailed two charity tosses at 2:05.
Hollinshead then scored off a turnover forced by Tamara Abu-Tayeh, who stole the ball and found
Hollinshead for an open layup.
After two free throws from Kaci McAfee put Piasa up 39-36 with 1:47 remaining, Spenn scored at 1:36.
The Lady Birds missed a bonus free throw with 55.3 seconds left, then Spenn scored on a stickback
with 34 seconds left to put WHS up for the first time in the contest.
Meierotto made a nice drive to the basket, noted Wooley, though that was not the original plan for the play.
“They trapped us and took us out of what we wanted to do,” he admitted. “We made enough plays to
win the game.”
Hampton called timeout after the bucket, and Hollinshead took the inbounds pass and sped up the
floor; she passed to Abu-Tayeh, who was covered, and she passed back to Hollinshead; under intense
pressure, her shot banked off the back iron and rimmed out as the horn sounded.
Hollinshead (14) and Spenn combined for 26 points, and Abu-Tayeh added seven.
Williamsville shot 12-for-40 from the field, while the Lady Birds were a sizzling 19-for-28; all of their
baskets besides the game-winner came from inside the paint; in fact, they only took three shots outside
the paint all night, and two of those were within a couple of feet of the paint.
Williams tallied 19 points and Wild 10.
In a year filled with more injuries and off-the-court issues, a 26-win season with a regional, county and
conference champion was pretty amazing, noted Hampton.
“Every day it seemed like we were hanging by a thread, and these girls deserve credit, for how they
have been raised and how mentally tough they are,” he said. “It was a big honor to coach them this year.”
semi
By Byron Painter
Editor
The Williamsville Lady Bullets girls basketball team had the Piasa Southwestern Lady Birds right
where they wanted them at halftime Tuesday night at the Class 2A Rochester Sectional: ahead.
After trailing by eight points at halftime in each of their two regional wins, the Lady Bullets trailed by
seven at the half. They eventually pulled ahead in the final minute for the first time, but Lizzie Meierotto’s
driving seven-footer found the bottom of the net as the Lady Birds edged past Williamsville 41-40.
Piasa will play the Litchfield Purple Panthers Thursday night in the sectional final; Litchfield edged past
Waverly 45-42.
Williamsville finished a sparkling, though mentally and physically trying, season at 26-4.
The Lady Birds looked to make a rout of the game in the first half, with all 10 of their buckets coming
inside the paint as their high-low post game gave the Lady Bullets fits.
“It was my fault, because we should have been fronting them in the first half,” said WHS coach Jon
Hampton. “This was a tough matchup for us, but when we played behind them in the second half, we
slowed them down some.”
Piasa scored on five of its first six possessions, all of lob passes, on the way to a 12-5 lead after one
period.
“There was no secret to our game plan,” said Piasa coach Steve Wooley. “We can score from the
outside, but we felt like we had such an advantage inside that we wanted to take it right at them.”
The lead swelled to 20-9 with 1:44 left before an Emily Capranica stickback and Lauren Hollinshead
bucket pulled Williamsville within 20-13 by intermission.
The Lady Bullets continued to chip away in the third, thanks to a 9-0 run that eventually pulled them
even at 22.
Kathryn Spenn made two free throws at 3:47, with the foul on the play being called on Piasa
sophomore Gabby Williams, who had 16 of the Lady Birds’ points to that juncture. Her fourth foul sent her
to the bench for several minutes, though thanks to Beth Wild’s eight points, Piasa actually outscored WHS
10-6 during Williams’ time on the bench.
Williams returned at 5:26 of the fourth and needed just 19 seconds to make her presence felt, getting
fouled and splitting two freebies (the first foul shots of the night for the Lady Birds).
It was 37-30 with 2:46 remaining before the Lady Bullets put up one last charge.
Spenn scored at 2:32, then Hollinshead nailed two charity tosses at 2:05.
Hollinshead then scored off a turnover forced by Tamara Abu-Tayeh, who stole the ball and found
Hollinshead for an open layup.
After two free throws from Kaci McAfee put Piasa up 39-36 with 1:47 remaining, Spenn scored at 1:36.
The Lady Birds missed a bonus free throw with 55.3 seconds left, then Spenn scored on a stickback
with 34 seconds left to put WHS up for the first time in the contest.
Meierotto made a nice drive to the basket, noted Wooley, though that was not the original plan for the play.
“They trapped us and took us out of what we wanted to do,” he admitted. “We made enough plays to
win the game.”
Hampton called timeout after the bucket, and Hollinshead took the inbounds pass and sped up the
floor; she passed to Abu-Tayeh, who was covered, and she passed back to Hollinshead; under intense
pressure, her shot banked off the back iron and rimmed out as the horn sounded.
Hollinshead (14) and Spenn combined for 26 points, and Abu-Tayeh added seven.
Williamsville shot 12-for-40 from the field, while the Lady Birds were a sizzling 19-for-28; all of their
baskets besides the game-winner came from inside the paint; in fact, they only took three shots outside
the paint all night, and two of those were within a couple of feet of the paint.
Williams tallied 19 points and Wild 10.
In a year filled with more injuries and off-the-court issues, a 26-win season with a regional, county and
conference champion was pretty amazing, noted Hampton.
“Every day it seemed like we were hanging by a thread, and these girls deserve credit, for how they
have been raised and how mentally tough they are,” he said. “It was a big honor to coach them this year.”
Issue Date: Feb. 17, 2011