By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — It was a tale of two halves for the Salamanca girls basketball team.
The first half, head coach Joe Hinman admitted, his Warriors were simply not playing their game.
Offensive sets were slow to develop, passes went awry and there was just an air of confusion and disjointedness about the team on both ends of the floor.
The hosts entered the half up seven points over Olean, but the feeling from Hinman was that the gap should have been much wider. Fortunately for him, his squad responded to their uncharacteristic first half with an emphatic second half that saw the Warriors nab a 58-22 win.
“We just needed to clean things up,” Hinman said. “Our offense to defense transition, our positioning too. It’s just the little things that we needed to correct, and we did so in the second half. It was a seven-point difference at the half, and then we just blew it up. That was the way that we should play. That was our style of basketball. It shouldn’t take that long to get going. But we made the corrections, and we fixed our mistakes.”
One aspect of the Salamanca identity that went missing through the first 16 minutes of game time was its willingness to attack the paint. Several times, Hinman urged his players to be more aggressive and to find use the size advantages they had.
In the second half, they did just that.
“I think we knew we had some mismatches most of the game,” Hinman said. “It was just a matter of finding the mismatches and attacking the basket. They were in a man defense, so we had a lot of opportunities to rip and go. … We needed to make sure that we came to a jump, stop, throw a fake, and we did that in the second half. So it was good to see us turn it around and play that team basketball.”
Leading the way for the Warriors was Maliyah Foster, who scored a game-high 19 points. Behind her, Kynleigh Wass scored 12 and reeled in five rebounds. Ella Crouse (seven points) and Makenzie Crouse (four points) each grabbed five rebounds as well.
Alaina Hirliman led Olean with a team-high 11 points with nine coming from beyond the 3-point arc. However, she was the only member of the Huskies to reach double figures and, in the words of head coach Chelsea Bowker, more players need to contribute on the scoring front if they are to have success.
“It’s super nice when Alaina’s making shots, but Alaina can’t be the only one making shots, because when she goes cold we score one point in a quarter,” Bowker said. “So yeah, it’s great she can hit shots, but I need other people to start contributing.”
Olean’s Alaina Hirliman (4) fights through contact while going up for a layup against Salamanca. Hirliman scored a team-high 11 points for the Huskies in their loss to the Warriors. (Spencer Bates)
It was also senior night in Salamanca and, for a team that has been heavily reliant on its younger players this season, Hinman noted that the role the seniors — Makenzie Crouse, Charli Ross and Leilene McComber — have played in setting the trajectory of the program and impacting the development of their teammates has been pivotal.
“They’re just leaders,” Hinman said. “If it’s not going their way, they find a way to get someone else involved. They always lead by example at practice. On game days they’re good role models for our younger kids. And they’ve set that precedent, especially last year, they’ve set the standard for our program moving forward for years to come. We’re following that path again this year. So hopefully it’s like that for the next five, seven, 10 years. It’s thanks to them.”
Salamanca and Olean both have just three games left in the regular season and both are eying strong finishes to the season ahead of the playoffs.
For Hinman, he wants his team to keep in mind the difference between the first and second halves they played against Olean as they embark on a challenging end to the schedule.
“We got Southwestern and Randolph and those are going to be pretty substantial games for us heading to the playoffs,” Hinman said. “Randolph will be a good tune up game for us as the (regular season) finale, but Southwestern, we know what the expectation is going there. So hopefully we bring it to them at their place and Dunkirk for the two last league games. We just gotta make sure we just finish strong and get everyone on board for the playoffs in a few weeks.”
Salamanca’s Kynleigh Wass (2) goes up for a reverse layup against Olean. Wass recorded 12 points and five rebounds for the Warriors in their win. (Spencer Bates)
Meanwhile, Bowker is emphasizing effort. Putting results aside, she noted that she wants to see her team close the regular season out fighting.
“Just finish the game,” Bowker said. “Finish the game playing hard. That’s just not what we did here today. That’s really all I asked for from them. I don’t care how many games we lose as long as they’re playing hard, and they just didn’t have it tonight.”
Up next for Salamanca is a crucial game on the road against CCAA Div. I leaders Southwestern. That game is set for Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
As for Olean, it will return home to face Cattaraugus-Little Valley on Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m.
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AT SALAMANCA
Olean (22)
Hirliman 3 2-5 11, Bates 1 2-3 4, Brown 2 0-1 4, Dohdenowyz 1 0-0 3. Totals: 7 4-11 22
Salamanca (58)
Foster 4 10-12 19, Wass 5 2-3 12, E. Crouse 3 1-2 7, Reynolds 1 4-7 6, M. Crouse 2 0-0 4, Galante 1 0-0 3, Jimerson 1 0-0 3, Ross 1 0-0 3, Earley 0 1-2 1. Totals: 18 19-28 58
OL 5 14 16 22
Sala. 12 21 42 58
Three-point goals: OL (), Sala. 3 (Jimerson, Foster, Ross); Total fouls: OL 22, Sala. 15; Fouled out: Jones (OL).
