Ladycats continue impressive season; Girls knock off Hammond and Canton

by Dick Sterling

The Gouverneur Ladycat basketball team have shown that they are one of the best teams in Section 10. Last week the girls roared to a fantastic start and then held on with an impressive 43-42 victory over the Hammond Lady Red Devils, currently ranked number three in the New York State Class D New York Sportswriters Association Poll, and followed that up with a 48-40 victory over the Lady Bears of Canton, a team that went 6-0 this past spring in the COVID19 mini season and 27-1 in the Northern Athletic Conference (NAC) Central Division over the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. Gouverneur have now beaten both the number three and four (Copenhagen) ranked Class D teams in the state.

Last Monday the Ladycats entertained Hammond and got off to an unbelievable start. Raelin Burns drained two three-pointers early to give Gouverneur a 6-2 advantage. Cierra Besaw then connected for another three to start a 13-0 run and put the Ladycats up 9-4. Burns and Caitlyn Storie followed that up with two more three-pointers to make the score 15-4. Burns scored inside on a layup and Chloe Smith put an exclamation point on the run with a pair of free throws. The scoreboard read 19-4 and Hammond called a timeout to collect themselves and try to figure out how to slow down the Ladycats.

Hammond scored the last four points of the opening quarter to cut the lead to 19-8 and opened the second with four more points to cut into the big lead. The Lady Red Devils continued to chip away and managed to outscore Gouverneur 14-5 in the second quarter to close the half trailing by just two points 24-22.

Hammond continued to pressure the Ladycats in the third quarter and managed to outscore them 9-6 to grab a slim 31-30 lead heading to the final quarter. Landree Kenyon scored the first basket of the final quarter to give the Lady Red Devils their biggest lead at 33-30, but the Ladycats , behind a three-pointer from Meredith Bush tied the score at 33. Bush followed that up by scoring inside to put the Ladycats back in front 35-34. A free throw from Burns and a steal and a layup from Smith, followed by another inside basket from Smith brought the score to 40-34 with 1:05 to play. Alyvia Crosby connected on a three-pointer for Hammond to cut the lead to 40-37 with 52 seconds to play. Burns, who finished with a game-high 20 points for the Ladycats, scored inside with 20 seconds to play to put Gouverneur up by five at 42-37. Crosby, who scored the Lady Red Devils last eight points, scored on a short jump shot to make the score 42-39. Smith hit a crucial free throw on Gouverneur’s next possession to give them a four-point lead and Crosby closed out the scoring with a clutch three-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining. The Ladycats held Hammond scoreless over the final seconds to secure the 43-42 victory.

Smith and Bush combined for 10 of Gouverneur’s 13 points in the final quarter (five each). Crosby scored 13 to lead Hammond. Ava Howie added 12.

On Thursday the Ladycats improved to 3-0 in the NAC Central Division by handing Canton a rare division loss. The Lady Bears opened strong by building a 13-6 lead after one quarter, but the Ladycats fought back to cut the Canton advantage to 24-21 at the intermission. Gouverneur took control in the third quarter as they managed to outscore the Lady Bears 17-11 to take a 38-35 lead and won the final quarter 10-5 to walk off with a 48-40 decision. Burns, once again, scored 20 points to lead the Ladycats. Smith tossed in nine. Ava Hoy scored 11 to lead Canton. Freshman Callie Klassen added eight.

Here’s a recap of other games from last week involving Gouverneur area teams:

Tuesday, Jan. 4

BOYS BASKETBALL

Tupper Lake 51 Edwards-Knox 48 – A high scoring first quarter showed the Lumberjacks open a 24-17 advantage, the Cougars clawed their way back to cut the lead to 40-39 headed to the final quarter, but Tupper Lake prevailed. No individual stats were available for this game.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hermon-DeKalb 66 Brushton-Moira 20 – The Lady Green Demons raced to a 27-8 lead at the intermission and then put the game away with a 23-2 run in the third quarter. Hanna Gollinger scored 16 to lead Hermon-DeKalb. Olivia Simser added 14. Emma Russell scored nine to lead Brushton-Moira.

WED. JAN. 5

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hermon-DeKalb 57 Salmon River 31 – The Green Demons raced to a 21-4 advantage after the first quarter and rolled to the non-league decision over the Shamrocks. David White scored 15 to lead Hermon-DeKalb, Andrew Matthews scored 14 and Jacob Spencer added 12. Hawi Francis scored a game-high 20 to lead Salmon River.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Edwards-Knox 40 Harrisville 33

THUR. JAN 6

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hammond 55 Hermon-DeKalb 44 – Landree Kenyon scored 14 points and Sadey Sprabary added 13 to lead the Lady Red Devils over the Lady Green Demons. Olivia Simser (21 points) and Hanna Gollinger (18) combined for all but five of Hermon-DeKalb’s total.

FRI. JAN. 7

BOYS BASKETBALL

Harrisville 64 Edwards-Knox 26 – Tanner Sullivan netted 19 points to lead the Pirates to a NAC West Division victory over the Cougars. Tucker Kelly scored 13 and Nolan Sullivan added 11 for Harrisville. Ethan Stalker scored 11 to lead Edwards-Knox.

Canton 68 Gouverneur 47 – Chris Downs scored 18 points to lead three Golden Bear players in double figures. Sam Roiger tallied 16 and Cooper Ladouceur added 12. Caden Storie scored 15 to lead hr Cats. Raine Rumble added 13.

Hermon-DeKalb 68 Hammond 39 – The Green Demons were on fire offensively in the opening quarter as they opened a 20-point advantage 32-12 and went on to trounce the Red Devils. Andrew Matthews scored 23 points to lead Hermon-DeKalb. Adam Lynch scored 20 and David White added 11. Logan Jones scored 13 points to lead Hammond. Terin Rosenbarker added 12.

SAT. JAN. 8

BOYS BASKETBALL

Madrid-Waddington 37 Edwards-Knox 31 – Jacob Morgan scored 12 points to lead the Jackets over the Cougars. Drew Harmer netted 11 and Kaden Kingston added 10. Mason White, Ethan Stalker and Kale Harper scored eight points each to lead Edwards-Knox. Dylan Wood added seven as the quartet scored all of the Cougars points.

Ausable Valley 47 Harrisville 44 – Ausable Valley used a 21-13 run in the third quarter to build a lead over the Pirates and then held off a Harrisville comeback attempt in the final quarter.