By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
OLEAN, NY – Giving up over 30 turnovers throughout four quarters, the Olean girls’ basketball team suffered their eleventh loss of the season, falling to Southwestern 65-20.
The Lady Huskies and Lady Trojans faced off earlier this month on Wednesday, Jan. 8 when Southwestern defended their home court with a 65-29 win. With that memory still circulating throughout the locker room, Olean knew what to expect.
“You know they’re going to come out aggressive and you have to be ready for it,” said Olean head coach Chelsea Bowker. “They’re aggressive, they’re well coached and they go hard all the time.”
With that being said, knowing what to expect and knowing how to stop it are two different things. As has been the problem throughout the season, the Lady Huskies’ stumbled out of the gates. Opening with two turnovers and an otherwise stagnant half court offense, Olean saw the Lady Trojans jump out to a 6-0 lead in the first four minutes.
From there, turnovers crippled the home team. Giving up possession after possession, Olean’s offense didn’t get a chance to garner any momentum, let alone produce a cohesive offensive set. Olean’s sole basket of the quarter would come with just 30 seconds left when Alaina Hirliman cashed in on a short jumper. After a total of 13 turnovers in the initial eight minutes, the Lady Huskies found themselves down 16-2.
Turnovers would continue to plague Olean heading into the next quarter. Giving up four in just the first minute in and a half, the Lady Huskies watched as the gap on the scoreboard swelled. Bad passes, travels, ripped away possessions and drawn charges accumulated into 12 more turnovers and a 35-point deficit going into halftime.
“Turnovers just kill us. My kids just aren’t confident,” said Bowker. “They’re not confident in their dribble, they’re not confident in their left hand and it hurts us when being pressed by teams that are aggressive.”
The third quarter would prove to me the best for Olean. Anna Bates would lead the charge by scoring four points early with a layup and post maneuver. She would rip down two offensive rebounds in the period, scoring one and dishing the other out to Jourdin Battle for a made 3-pointer later on.
Alaina Hirliman takes a contested jump shot during Olean’s loss to the Lady Trojans. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
However, despite the uptick in offensive production, their defense still struggled to contain the Lady Trojans. Along with scoring in transition off of steals, Southwestern moved the ball crisply as they weaved through traffic and shook up the defense. While Olean would have their best scoring quarter of the game with nine points, Southwestern would tack on 20 to their side of the scoreboard and with just one quarter left, held a 61-15 lead.
In the final eight minutes, both teams went through the motions, waiting for one more horn to sound. Olean would add five points to their side of the scoreboard – Battle hit another 3-pointer as Ava Finch would go 2-for-2 at the line with nine seconds left – while Southwestern would score just four, nevertheless pulling out a blowout win on the road.
Bates and Battle led the Lady Huskies with six points each while Finch, Hirliman, AJ Easton and Ayonna Battle would all chip in two points.
“We just want to finish strong. We have Allegany-Limestone on Monday and then we finish with Dunkirk and Fredonia,” said Bowker. “We just need to finish strong, play hard and have fun. Tonight wasn’t fun but hopefully we get back to that next week.”
AT OLEAN
Southwestern (65)
G. Sirianni 10 2-2 27, Cresanti 7 2-2 16, C. Beaver 3 0-2 7, Genareo 2 1-2 5, B. Sirianni 1 0-0 3, Lewis 1 0-0 2, Pearson 1 0-0 2, Robinson 1 0-0 2, B. Beaver 0 1-4 1. Totals: 26 6-8 65
Olean (20)
Bates 3 0-2 6, J. Battle 2 0-0 6, Finch 0 2-2 2, Hirliman 1 0-0 2, A. Battle 1 0-2 2, Easton 1 0-0 2. Totals: 8 2-6 20
Southwestern 16 41 61 65
Olean 2 6 15 20
Three-point goals: SW (7) G. Sirianni 5, B. Sirianni, C. Beaver, OL (2) J. Battle 2; Total fouls: SW 8, OL 14; fouled out: None.
JV: Southwestern 49, Olean 22
