Big second half sparks Aquinas past Hornell Monday
By Chris Metcalf for the Hornell Sun, photos by STEVE HARRISON
HORNELL – Hornell girl’s basketball coach Brian Dyring doesn’t like scheduling cupcakes.
Despite already playing in a tough, highly competitive LCAA D-I, Dyring loves to schedule some tough non-conference opponents as well to help his team’s preparation in hopes of making a run towards the ultimate goal, a sectional title.
Dyring’s youthful Lady Raiders welcomed a tough Aquinas (8-4) squad into town Monday afternoon and came up short during their 72-56 loss in non-league action.
The game was much closer than the final score as the Lady Irish led by just a single point at the intermission.
Aquinas out-scored Hornell 23-15 in the third and 20-13 in the fourth to pull away.
Aquinas was paced by Ajayah Orr with 32 points including seven, 3-pointers.
Molly O’Toole also chipped in with 21 points, including 10 points in the third period.
Hornell was led by freshman Jordyn Dyring with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Senior Maddie Moore added 15 points and eight rebounds while eighth-grader Raegan Evingham garnered a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Selena Maldonado also added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Hornell and Aquinas will meet again Feb. 15 in Rochester.
“Our kids, as always, played as hard as they could but ran out of gas late in the game against a very skilled and athletic opponent in Aquinas,” coach Dyring said. “I thought we rebounded the ball very well but did a really bad job in locating and recognizing who the shooters are and where they were located. We need to do a better job with our court awareness and the other team’s player personnel that’s on the floor. We have to do a better job communicating as well.
“Several times when we weren’t in the press we would find a player that thought we were in the press and when we were pressing at times we would have a player that wasn’t pressing,” Dyring continued. “All fixable things but they need to be cleaned up sooner than later as we have two big league games left this week at Way-Co (Wednesday) and at Dansville (Friday). If we can clean those things up it will go a long way in helping us be more successful against the elite teams.”
STEVE HARRISON PHOTO GALLERY:
