By SPENCER BATES
OLEAN — Despite maintaining pace with No. 9 seed Albion through the first quarter of play, hesitation and a lack of conviction led to a 43-25 season-ending loss for the No. 8 seed Olean girls basketball team.
Despite entering the halftime intermission with only 10 points to her team’s name, Huskies coach Chelsea Bowker was satisfied with the first half performance of her team. But as the game progressed out of the break, she saw the same issues that have plagued the team all season rear their ugly heads once again.
“I thought the first half was pretty good, we played a great first half, it’s just a story of what this year’s been, we get tired and then we lose it,” Bowker said. “Turnovers go into fast breaks, fast breaks go into points, then we get tired and we foul, and (Albion) were great from the line tonight.”
And turnovers were an area of the game in which the Purple Eagles excelled, getting numerous run-outs that helped construct the lopsided final scoreline. A number of which came as the result of soft, lobbed passes that were either picked off or knocked out of the air by the Albion defense.
Olean’s Ava Finch (1) launches a 3-pointer while being closed out by an Albion defender. (Spencer Bates)
“Our team, overall, as a group, needs to be more aggressive,” Bowker said. “Whether it’s more aggressive passing, more aggressive on defense, more aggressive on stepping to the ball, anything we do during the game, needs to be more aggressive. We’ll win a lot more games when we get to that level.”
What didn’t help Olean was that one of its more efficient offensive players in Alaina Hirliman missed the game with an injury. That meant the offense needed to find an alternate route to the basket, and oftentimes it stumbled in its buildup. Jourdin Battle ended up assuming Hirliman’s role as the go-to shooter for the Huskies, but some foul trouble kept her from finding any true consistency.
“I mean, with Alaina out, it kind of hurt us,” Bowker said. “Jordan (Battle) did a great job coming in and shooting it. Jordan can do that, but Jordan has to keep herself in the game to make those shots. The more shots we get on the rim, the better we do. That’s why I told them, when they’re open, shoot it. It’s not gonna hurt us.”
Unfortunately, a good number of the shots Olean did end up taking wound up careening off the rim or backboard. Shots, according to Bowker, that her team normally has no issue with.
“We definitely got a lot of open shots tonight and they just didn’t go through,” Bowker said. “I mean, open shots, open bunnies. All we need to do is use that backboard. We even missed layups, shots we normally make. They just weren’t falling for us tonight.”
And as the score ran away from Olean, the final buzzer sounded on its season. One in which Bowker noted she was proud of. After winning just one game last year, she saw a great deal of improvement over the course of the campaign. But what she took the most pride in was the commitment and enjoyment her players had.
“Last year we won one game, this year we won four,” Bowker said. “There is definitely growth. … (For most of my) girls, basketball is not their number one sport. But they come out, they have fun, I do enjoy them, and the positive thing about the season is they always had fun. There was never a point in the season where they were like, ‘I can’t wait for this to be over.’ We have a really good group of girls, and that’s what makes it worth it.”
The Huskies finished the season with a final record of 4-15.
AT OLEAN
Albion (43)
London 6 1-4 14, Prince 3 7-8 13, Snook 3 1-2 8, Jones 2 0-2 4, Newton 1 0-2 2, Knight 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 9-18 43
Olean (25)
Finch 1 4-7 6, Battle 2 0-0 6, Marshall 2 1-2 5, Bates 1 1-2 4, Maull 1 0-0 2, Lazynska 0 2-4 2. Totals: 7 8-15 25
ALB 8 20 32 43
OL 8 10 19 25Three-point goals: ALB 2 (Snook, London), OL 3 (Battle 2, Bates); Total fouls: ALB 20, OL 16; fouled out: Julia Knight (ALB).
