PENDLETON — If the Sweet Home Panthers wanted to make a statement in Tuesday’s ECIC boys basketball opener at Starpoint, then head coach Paul Schintzius’ team just rewrote War and Peace.
Led by junior guard Keron Briggs’ game-high 23 points and senior center D.J. Nettles’ 17, the Panthers ran past Starpoint, 75-28.
“We wanted to start out strong in our first game — on the road. We wanted to make a statement and I’m glad we did that,” coach Schintzius said.
“I think we’re a different team than the other teams in this league with our pressure defense. That’s our calling card. We’ll live and die by it.”
The Panthers (3-1, 1-0 ECIC) will live a long and fruitful season if they continue to play like they did on Tuesday, leading the out-manned Spartans (2-3, 0-1 ECIC) 23-9 after one quarter, 47-19 at the half and 61-22 after three periods.
“Our game plan was to come out strong in our first league game to help set us up for the rest of the season,” Briggs said.
“Coach Schintzius wanted us to play as a team and he got us to do that.”
Nine different Panthers found the scorer’s sheet as freshman forward Jordan Johnson rounded out the double figures scorers with 12 for Sweet Home.
Junior guard Jon Corbi led the Spartans with 13 points. Tony Ryer and Joe Scibilia added five apiece for the garnet and gray.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lockport 52, Niagara Falls 40
NIAGARA FALLS — If you were expecting to see the preseason Section VI Class AA favorites Tuesday night at the Wolvearena, you might have missed them.
The Lockport Lady Lions, widely-regarded as one of the best teams in Western New York, needed a strong second-half surge to clip a scrappy Niagara Falls squad 52-40, Tuesday, topping NFL girls basketball action.
“We didn’t give a very good effort,” said Lockport head coach Bill Shaw. “Sometimes we walk into a gym and just think it’s going to happen. Hopefully, we learned a lesson from this one.”
Lockport (2-2 overall, 2-0 NFL) struggled in the first half, largely due to an effective 3-2 zone from Niagara Falls. The Wolverines (2-2, 0-2) attempted to neutralize the Lady Lions’ massive height advantage with their defensive quickness.
“I actually thought we did a pretty nice job with the zone and getting out to Lindsay Burke in the first half,” Falls coach Martha Amoretti said.
In the third quarter, though, Burke and teammate Amy Johnson began to heat up. They each had six points in the quarter, while LHS built its lead to nine late in the period.
Then in the fourth, Leah Sobieraski found her touch in the paint, netting 10 of her game-high 16 points. She also finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.
“We were finally a little more patient there in the fourth quarter, which was nice to see,” Shaw said.
Burke finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Johnson added nine points and 12 rebounds and Caroline Randall scored 15 for Lockport.
Lakea Crittenden had 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals; and Aquilah Thomas scored 14 for NFHS.
“I want to see the same intensity we had at the beginning for the entire game,” Amoretti said.
Roy-Hart 48, Barker 18
BARKER — Amanda Walker scored a game high 15 points and Liz DeWaters and Ashley Scrini each netted nine to lead Roy-Hart past Barker.
DeWates also grabbed off 10 rebounds and Sam Smith 9.
Scrinzi scored six in the first quarter to help spark Roy-Hart out to a 13-4 lead. The Lady Rams maintained leads of 20-9 at the half and 33-14 at th three-quarter mark. Walker scored eight in the third.
Wilson 59, CSAT 30
Jessica Curry scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Wilson charge. Lindsay Frauen added 14 points in the win.
Kim Daunce had 12, and Sam Buckner tallied 13 boards.
Kaylyn Billups had 12 points for CSAT.
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