Sordetto Leads Ken East To Victory

There is something about the East/West rivalry that brings out the best in Serena Sordetto.

Sordetto, a junior, earned Player of the Game honors and dropped 29 points as the Kenmore East Lady Bulldogs scored a 66-49 win over the Kenmore West Lady Blue Devils in the nightcap of the East/West varsity double header that was played at Ken-East Friday night.

Sordetto hit trio of 3-point shots on the evening and scored 18 of her points in the first half.

“I’m just really going into the game motivated,” said Sordetto. “I played against some of these girls for years. I’ve played with some of them since third grade. It’s fun to go out there and just have a great rivalry game.”

Great is exactly what this rivalry has been especially in recent years and the Blue Devils and Bulldogs have been trading wins. Sordetto made her name in this rivalry two years ago as a variety rookie when she sank a pair of free throws that cemented a Ken-East win at home.

But this evening was a little more of a struggle as Sordetto has been battling a sinus infection all week long.

“She did a great job. Over the years she’s always played well against West,” said East coach Jack Blanch.

“She was really under the weather the last few days. Today, she came out strong. I told the girls (records) don’t matter. (West) coach (Jeff) Martin and the coaches there do a great job over there and I knew it was gonna be a battle.”

That’s exactly what it was as both teams played hard and didn’t shy away from physical play. The Bulldogs raced to a 14-3 lead early in the first quarter and closed the frame with a 21-7 lead. The Blue Devils were able to create quality looks at the basket in the first, but all too often they rushed their shots. The desperation in Ken-West’s showed that they were trying too hard to close the gap as soon as possible. Instead of methodically chipping away at the ‘Dogs lead.

“We were not a patient team at all in the first half. We turned the ball over a lot,” said West coach Jeff Martin.

“I give Ken East all the credit in the world their big guns stepped up. They’re whole team played outstanding. Their big guns, (Kendall)Mills and Sordetto, played a great game for them.”

The Blue Devils certainly didn’t fade without a fight.

Anna Quinlan (15 points) sank back-to-back 3’s to open the second to get West back in the game,21-13.

Emma Pfohl left it all on the floor as she hauled in eight rebounds and tallied 15 points of her own for West. Pfohl scored six points inside the paint in the second that pulled West within eight, 31-23.

Abby Borkowski had 10 points for Ken West, but Mills and Sordetto took over in the third as the Bulldogs quickly took charge with a 51-31 lead.

Mills was 12 of 14 from the line.