ALBANY — At the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Intersectional Wrestling Championships in Albany on Feb. 24, Franklinville’s Evan Leonard (170) capped off an incredible season.
Leonard entered the tournament as the 20th seed in his weight class and after going 1-2 on the weekend in NYSPHSAA’s Div. II, he finished the season with an excellent 36-8 overall record. Franklinville wrestling head coach Jake Smith recently said that Leonard is “a product of what Franklinville has been building over the past few years” and a great leader and example for the younger Panthers.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Class C Quarterfinal
Ellicottville 51, Franklinville 44
ELLICOTTVILLE — Thanks to a big 26-point performance from Natalie Leiper, No. 4 Ellicottville kept its season alive on Feb. 23 after taking down a rival, No. 5 Franklinville.
Leiper led the Eagles (13-8) with 11 made baskets, six rebounds and three assists. Dalayla Alexander and Ande Northrup completed the 3-pronged attack of the hosts. Alexander finished with 12 points seven assists and four rebounds while Northrup tallied 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.
For the Panthers (15-6), Grace Cornell led the scoring with 17 points, 15 having come from drained 3-pointers. Sofia Bentley added 13 points and Mckenzie Chase finished with 10 in the scoring column as well.
{p dir=”ltr”}With the win, Ellicottville moves onto the Section 6 Class C semifinals where it will face No. 1 Holland at Jamestown Community College on Wednesday.
Randolph 57,
Maple Grove 17
RANDOLPH — With 27 points for No. 2 Randolph (15-6) in its Section 6 Class C Quarterfinal win over No. 7 Maple Grove, Skylar Herington surpassed the 1,000 point mark for her career.
The freshman star led the Cardinals on Feb. 23 as the only scorer to finish the game in double figures. She also tallied five rebounds and four assists in the process. Zoelle Dickerson was big on the boards for Randolph with a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with eight points. Quinn Pence filled the stat sheet with nine points, six assists, four rebounds and seven steals.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Class C Quarterfinal
Panama 76,
Franklinville 50
FRANKLINVILLE — A 20-point performance by Matthew Spittler on Feb. 24 was not enough to keep No. 4 Franklinville’s season alive as it fell to No. 5 Panama.
Despite having been able to keep pace with its visitors in the first quarter, the game slowly slipped away from Franklinville (14-7) and was put to bed after a 31-point third quarter from Panama (20-2).
The only other Franklinville player who ended the game with double figure points was Noah Shenk who finished with 11 points, meanwhile Bretton Blecha finished with nine points and was big on the boards with 11 rebounds.
Leading the charge for Panama was the high-scoring duo of Tate Catanese and Carter Brink who scored 24 and 20 points respectively. Bryce Hinsdale tallied 16 points and Jordan Mescall added 10 points for Panama as well.
Randolph 91, Barker 47
RANDOLPH — An all-around dominant performance by No. 1 Randolph on Feb. 24 has given them a berth into the Section 6 Class C semifinals after having defeated No. 8 Barker handedly.
Drew Hind had another spectacular night shooting the ball as he finished with a game-high 36 points, with six buckets drained from 3-point range. Star sophomore guard Kevin McElwain got in on the fun with 25 points of his own 21 of which were also the result of 3-point baskets. Roan Kelly was the only other Cardinal in double figures, scoring-wise, as he finished with 10 points.
GIRLS BASKETBALLAT ELLICOTTVILLEFranklinville (44)Bentley 4 5-6 13, Cornell 5 2-2 17, Frank 1 2-2 4, Chase 5 0-2 10. Totals:
Ellicottville (51)Alexander 4 0-0 12, John 1 0-0 2, Northrup 4 0-1 11, Leiper 11 2-4 26. Totals:
Franklinville 8 21 33 44Ellicottville 14 27 42 51Three-point goals: Franklinville 5 (Cornell 5), Ellicottville 7 (Alexander 4, Northrup 3). Total fouls: Franklinville 11, Ellicottville 14. Fouled out: None.
