Girls Hoops: Amherst, Iroquois advance in A-2

Simply put, Leah Shutts saved the season.

Shutts hit a 3-pointer with 21.8 seconds left in regulation to force OT as No.2 Amherst outlasted No.3 Lake Shore, 70-63, in their Section VI Class A2 semifinal game.

The win earned the defending A-2 champion Tigers a return trip to Buffalo State College where they will face No.4 Iroquois Sunday at 6pm.

Iroquois punched its ticket to the championship game by upsetting top-seeded East Aurora, 44-43, on Riley Riedel’s layup with 1.2 seconds left. “I have no idea,” Riedel said with a smile, moments after celebrating with her team. “I drove and I realeased the runner…oh my God it was so exciting!”

Leah Shutts (16 points/10 rebounds) basket came off a pass from Emma Klein,who grabbed her own rebound after she missed a free throw. “We were expecting to go far this year. We’ve been working really hard for this,” Shutts said. “It would have been a really big disappointment if we lost.”

Tying the game at 58-58, the play perfectly illustrated the importance of doing the little things right.

A facet of the game that was somewhat of a concern early on for the Tigers, as they relied too much on the outside shot instead of driving to the hoop. There was also lack of urgency in rebounding, but as the game progressed Amherst tightened up that aspect of its game as they outworked Lake Shore.

“We believe a lot in details,” Amherst coach Mike Chatelle said. “Whether rebounding offensively, defensively. Making our foul shots, playing good defense-sure we missed a foul shot, but we didn’t let them get the rebound.”

Lake Shore sophomore Shawnie Cornfield (27 points) gave her team a boost when she nailed 3-point shot late in the second quarter for the 1,000th point of her career.

Fighting hard to climb out of a 10 point hole the Eagles were eventually able to overtake the Tigers, 55-53 in the third quarter, but couldn’t hang on for the win.

“It’s right there for those girls. We have a very talented team with a big heart, sometimes we just don’t put it all together,” Lake Shore coach Danielle Arnone said.

“Unfortunately tonight we missed a lot of layups, foul shots, missed the boards and that team you’ve got to do all the little things right to get it done. And we didn’t.”

Lake Shore had won the previous two A-2 titles before Amherst’ s victory last year.

Ella Wanzer (15 pts), Morgan Halt (13), Hannah Bardeen (10) and Emma Klein (10) were all in double figures in scoring for Amherst, which had 43 rebounds as a team.

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