By HUNTER O. LYLE
SALAMANCA, NY – Beginning their Section VI Class B title defense in dominating fashion, the Salamanca girl’s basketball team breezed by Medina, surging in the second half and emerging with a 66-46 first round victory.
Almost exactly a year ago, the Warriors were holding their blue patches. After entering the then-B2 bracket as the second seed, Salamanca waltzed through the competition, averaging 20-plus-point margins of victory as they earned the Section VI title. Flash forward to this year, the girls are equally as excited to make a deep run again, but know the key to success is a shallow depth of field.
“Just one game at a time, that’s our mindset. We know it’s going to be a hard pass this year, just the way the bracket shook out this year,” said Salamanca head coach Joe Hinman. “We just have to be ready.”
The key to beating Medina, however, was pace. Off of the jump, the Warriors immediately began pushing the tempo, using long outlets, quick cuts and swift passing to speed the Mustangs into discomfort. Salamanca took the same approach on defense, implementing pressure for the full length of the floor to force their opponents into mistakes.
Their initial strategy began producing sooner rather than later. Coming away with several early steals, as well as a handful of offensive rebounds from Makenzie Crouse and Co., the Warriors turned Medina turnovers into points in transition or trips to the free throw line, building a slim 14-9 lead just under the four minute mark.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs’ own offense still hadn’t found its rhythm. Unlike Salamanca, Medina chose to let their individuals lead the way, running multiple isolation or one-one-one sets, especially to their standout freshman, Caliyah St. Louis. Unable to find a crack in the defense, they instead settled for forced jumpshots or heavily contested layups.
“We wanted to slow (St. Louis) down as much as we could. We were putting different looks, zone, man and throwing different defenders on her, just trying to slow her down because we knew she ran the offense for the most part,” said Hinman. “Slashing, shooting, she does a lot of nice things and it’s pretty impressive the way she’s able to take command of that team.”
Despite suffering some late stumbles in the form of a handful of turnovers and empty possessions, Salamanca held onto a seven-point advantage heading into the second quarter thanks to a Liana Jimerson steal and Ella Crouse score at the buzzer.
The momentum built in the final seconds of the first, evidently carried over into the next period of play. Continuing to lead with their defensive foot forward, the Warriors dialed in on their ability to turn stops into points, starting with a steal and fastbreak score from Ella Crouse in the opening minute. Salamanca continued to oppress Medina early on, with Makenzie Crouse coming away with an emphatic swat at the rim, as they held the Mustangs scoreless for three full minutes while growing their lead to double-digits.
However, after amassing a 27-14 advantage on the scoreboard, the Warriors then went quiet. After being able to shed Medina’s full-court-press for the majority of the first and second quarters, Salamanca quickly became bogged down in the open court, surrendering several turnovers in the process.
As their fumbles continued, including three consecutive giveaways, the Mustangs began to claw back within reach. With a mix of their own outlets and transition scores, as well as a few trips to the free throw line, Medina managed to tack on seven unanswered points, pulling to within six with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
While Salamanca eventually ended their three minute drought with a successful and-one opportunity from Arabelle Reynolds, their brief slump had allowed the Mustangs to stay within single-digits as they entered the break.
“We just got a little carless. I think we want to play fast, but our decisions happen quicker in our head than they do when we have the ball,” said Hinman. “(At the half) we just wanted to make sure we were playing fundamental basketball and weigh our options. We need to be better decision makers moving forward.”
Returning to the hardwood for the final 16 minutes of play, the Warriors chose to steal back the momentum with force. Starting on Medina’s first touch of the third quarter, Salamanca attacked with a low-corner double-team that forced the ball into their hands. Their shock-and-awe defense, which appeared with a high-octane full-court-press, relentlessly hounded their opponents into submission, creating four consecutive Mustang turnovers that quickly sparked a scoring run.
As Medina continued to sputter, Salamanca got hot and stayed hot. Eight unanswered points turned into 12, which ultimately turned into 16 as the Warriors found themselves atop a 47-23 advantage.
“The mentality was just to put our foot on the gas. We kind of put the first half behind us and really ramped things up in the third. That’s our style of play, the fast paced execution, looking up, sharing the ball,” said Hinman. “It was just a lot of little things that we did the right way. The execution was huge.”
With their season’s hope starting to dwindle, Medina’s frustrations and desperations materialized in excessive physicality, only exasperating their struggles as they put Salamanca in the bonus with four and a half minutes still to play in the third. Although they were able to finally take the lid off the basket late, splitting a trip to the charity stripe before converting a late-quarter steal into two points, the Mustangs looked up at a 26-point deficit with one quarter to go.
Already realizing their victory was just eight minutes away, the Warriors began rotating in their reserves in the early minutes of the fourth. As they ran through the motions as they awaited the final buzzer, Salamanca was able to find their cherry on top. With just 27 seconds left to go, Makenzie Crouse reached up and pulled down her tenth rebound of the game, tallying her 700th career rebound.
After the celebration, the Warriors rejoiced again soon after as they welcomed their first playoff win of the year.
With nine Warriors making their way into the scorebooks, Maliyah Foster led the way with 15 points, followed by Ella Crouse and Jimerson, who both had 14 points in the win.
Moving to the Class B quarterfinals, the Warriors next will see No. 6 Allegany-Limestone. Having already seen and beaten the Gators twice this year, Salamanca is cautiously optimistic as they look for a three-game sweep.
“It’s difficult to beat a team three times in a row. (Allegany-Limestone) is a local rivalry school that we go up against every year, so we know that we get their best shot every time we play each other,” said Hinman. “The preparations are going to be huge and we need to make sure we’re not glancing past them. We have to take it one game at a time, one step at a time.”
The game between the Warriors and Gators is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at Salamanca at 6 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Medina (46)
Demmer 7 4-4 19, St. Louis 4 3-6 14, Heschke 3 1-2 8, Maxon 2 0-0 4, Wilson 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 3-9 46
Salamanca (66)
Foster 7 1-2 15, E. Crouse 5 3-4 14, Jimerson 4 5-7 14, Reynolds 2 3-3 7, M. Crouse 2 3-8 7, Wass 2 0-0 4, Haley 1 0-0 2, Earley 0 2-4 2, Galante 0 1-2 1. Totals: 23 18-30 66
Medina 12 23 27 46
Salamanca 19 31 53 66
Three-point goals: MD (3) St. Louis 2, Demmer, SA (2) E. Crouse, Jimerson; Total fouls: MD 22, SA 15; Fouled out: Dakes (MD).
