MOUNTIES MARCH TO STATES- BEAT ELMIRA ND 68-57-MOUNTIES CLASS C CHAMPS
MHTS UPDATE- 3/10: Great news from Herkimer Community College today as Little Falls kept their state championship dreams alive with a convincing win over Elmira Notre Dame in Class C Regional play.
Little Falls won 68-57 to earn a ticket to the NY State Final Four. Way to go ladies and good luck the rest of the way.
Jenna Becker had a great game for the Mounties pouring in 26 points and grabbing 22 rebounds as Little Falls advanced to the NY State Final Four for the first time in 27 years.
It was a great day for the Becker sisters as Hannah scored 15 points of her own to help lead the Mounties to victory. Gen Schoff helped the Little Falls cause scoring 12 points. The win improves the Mountie’s record to 18-5.
Little Falls trailed by one, 15-14 but jumped out to a 6 point lead at the half, 30-24. Elmira pulled to within two at 39-37 before the Mounties pulled away for the win.
The Mounties (18-5) play Randolph from Section VI at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.
MHTS UPDATE: Jen Schoff led the Mounties scoring 14 points, Amy Hart added 11 as Little Falls wins Section III Class C crown beating Fabius-Pompey 46-44.Jenna Becker sealed the win with a baseline jumper with :37 seconds left to go. The Mounties now (17-5) will host the Section IV champ at a site in Section III next Saturday. Site and time TBA.
2012 Class C1 Section III Champions-Little Falls Mounties
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN….LITTLE FALLS CLAIMS C1 CROWN BEAT HERKIMER 72-49
Fred Miller-MHTS
Photos-Jeff Pexton-MHTS-PGI
Miss the game? Hit the link to listen to MHTS/ESPN instant replay!
It was close until it wasn’t, as the Little Falls Lady Mounties (16-5) picked up the 2012 Section III Class C1 Girls Basketball Championship, as they blew past a stubborn bunch of Herkimer Magicians, 72-49, in the first of two games played at Herkimer County Community College.
It took a 24 point outburst in the third quarter to help, longtime, Little Falls coach Pam Munger’s troops shake their next-door neighbors.
A bunch of neighbors who tried to overstay their welcome, by more than holding their own, with the perennial CSC power Little Falls.
The win earned the Mounties their third Section III title in the last six seasons and Little Falls will now mount up and head to the Carrier Dome, in Syracuse, to tangle with Class C 2 Champ, Fabius-Pompey Friday night at 5PM.
Fabius-Pompey knocked off previously undefeated Weedsport by the score of 53-46 in another Tuesday night matchup.
Mounties sophomore Gen Schoff (10) gets an earful on her way to the basket from Herkimer defender Kayla Guidi (10) late in the game.
The use of the “Magnificent Seven” in this story’s headline is all about the seven total players who make up the Little Falls roster.
Seven players makes for a short bench and a lot of long nights on the hardwood.
Despite the uptempo game that Herkimer coach Paul Valasek and his green clad Magicians threw at Little Falls, the Mounties ran just as fast or maybe faster than their counterparts and used a stifling defense and glass cleaning rebounding corp to break this one open.
The one two punch of Gen Schoff, 25 points, and Jenna Becker, 17 points, were just too much for Herkimer to handle.
If a shot was missed, the two went after the ball with all they had and made sure their second or third attempts found their way to the bottom of the net.
Of the 72 points scored by Little Falls, Schoff and Becker accounted for 42 of the those points.
Schoff tallied 10 in the first half and then 15 in the second, when the doors were blown off this one.
Becker acted as though she had petitioned for permanent residency under the offensive glass, grabbing missed shots and banking them in off the board.
The senior scored 7 points in half number one and 10 in the second sixteen minutes to help lead her team to the big win.
Herkimer's Samantha Carswell (21) puts up a 2nd quarter jumper as Mounties defender Jenna Becker (5) gets a hand up.
Herkimer did not back down, as they tried to beat their local rivals for the first time in three tries this season.
Speaking of three, the Magicians trio of Samantha Carswell, Sarah Kinney and Kayla Guidi did their level best to spoil the Mounties night.
Carswell, a star, if there ever was one, poured in 23 points in her swan song for Herkimer.
Kinney, also a senior, playing her last game for Herkimer High, chipped in 12 and Kayla Guidi went out in style, scoring 11 of her own, as the Magicians ended their season with a record of 12-7.
In a game played in front of a jam-packed house, if their ever was one, both teams packed the house for this title tilt. The favored Mounties jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead as Gen Schoff scored 5 of her team’s first 6 points.
The Mounties led 6-1 with 5:38 to go in the first quarter.
Herkimer let everyone know they came to play by knotting things up at 9-9 when Kayla Guidi drilled one in from long range with just 2:59 left in the period.
After one, Little Falls had battled its way to a 17-13 lead.
Jenna Becker banked one in off the board to put Little Falls up 23-15 early in the third.
Little Falls forward Jenna Becker (5) tangles with Herkimer's Hannah Delude (3) underneath.
It looked like the tide would turn for good until Sarah Kinney completed an 8-2 run by the Magicians to cut the lead to just two, 25-23, with 2:20 to go until the half.
Sam Carswell sped the length of the court to score and cut the difference to two again, 28-26, as the first half ended with nothing decided.
Whatever coach Munger told the troops during the intermission really paid of, as the Mounties were off and running to the next round of post-season play.
It was suddenly a double-digit lead as Amy Hart hit a pair of free throws to make it 39-28 with 4:15 to go in the decisive third quarter.
An 11-3 outburst by the purple and white made life miserable for the Magicians, as the lead became too much to overcome at 52-34, as the third quarter came to a close. Kelli Shepardson capped the run scoring two of her 9 points.
Speaking of points, the point had been made. The Magnificent Seven was too much to handle on this night.
A twenty point fourth quarter helped Little Falls earn the 72-49 win over Herkimer as the battle between the 2nd seeded Mounties and 7th seeded Magicians came to an end.
Good luck to the Mounties the rest of the way and special thanks to the staff at Herkimer County Community College for making our visit a great one!
Five Herkimer players played their last games: Samantha Carswell, Kayla Guidi, Sarah Kinney, Kathryn Wright and Rachel Waseleski.
Little Falls 72 Herkimer 49
Boxscore:
1 2 3 4 Total
Herkimer 13 13 10 13 49
Little Falls 17 11 24 20 72
MHTS Scoring Summary:
Herkimer:
Samantha Carswell-23
Sarah Kinney-12
Kayla Guidi-11
Chelsa Jory-2
Rachel Waseleski-1
Synchronized Cheering? Sure looks that way as Mountie fans work in unison.
Little Falls:
Gen Schoff-25
Jenna Becker-17
Hanna Becker-11
Amy Hart-10
Kelli Shepardson-9
