(Cutline: Zahra Mehr attacks the basket for Hornell. Mehr is a junior. Hornell does not have a single senior on the active roster. Steve Harrison photo)
By JOHN ANDERSON, photos by STEVE HARRISON
A fun drill in basketball is called the 3-man weave. It’s three players sprinting down the floor toward the basket. There is no defense. You sprint and pass and weave, ending in a layup.
That pretty much described the start of the Hornell and Lyons Section V Class B state qualifier Tuesday night in Wayland. And for a few times, it was Selena Maldonado doing a one-person weave, doing what she does best, shocking teams with her speed that can’t be measured on any scouting video.
It was the spark the Red Raiders needed to go on to a 76-44 victory. The Section VI true Class B champion will be decided tonight between Salamanca and Newfane. The winner takes on Hornell in the Far West Regionals with a trip to the state final four on the line.
Hornell (20-3) won the Section V Class B1 title with a 36-27 win over Mynderse. On Tuesday, Jordyn Dyring and Payton Bentley scored 48 points alone.
“The girls did a great job of executing the game-plan tonight. They defended and rebounded with tenacity,” said Hornell coach Jim Dagon. “On the offensive end they did a great job of pushing tempo, sharing the basketball, and stepping into shots with confidence. This is a group with a lot of experience and a lot of confidence, and that comes from the fact that they’ve put in the work necessary to be successful.”
Dagon continued, “Dyring and Bentley were monsters for us tonight finishing with 26 and 22, respectively. They stayed in attack mode without forcing things. Whenever momentum seemed to shift towards Lyons Jo and Payt found a way to seize it back for us right away with big-time plays. Selena Maldonado played an incredible defensive game once again and she controlled the pace for us perfectly at the point, allowing her teammates to run the floor and get great looks to score.”
It was going to happen, Hornell does not have two bad offensive games in a row.
Dyring finished with seven 3-pointers and 26 points with four rebounds and three assists while Bentley made four 3-pointers to go with her 22 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and three assists.
As a team, Hornell had 38 rebounds, 19 assists and shot a blistering 15-of-34 from 3-point land.
Mia Nasca had 11 points, made three 3-pointers, grabbed two rebounds and handed out three assists while Maldonado had 10 points, two rebounds, six assists and four steals. Raegan Evingham scored five points and tore down eight rebounds with two steals and three assists and A’Jonay Hawkins had seven rebounds, a basket and a blocked shot.
Lyons (21-3) did make a run after the initial Hornell lead as Sa’Niyah Bell was a spark. She finished with 13 points as Jayla Bell had 11, Carmella Parker 10 and Kam Bonnell scored eight.
Dagon said the Red Raiders did a great job on defense making sure the small runs by Lyons never allowed the team to get back into the game.
“Mia Nasca got us rolling by knocking down key three pointers early on that sparked our first couple of runs,” Dagon said. “Mia also had the defensive assignment of guarding Jayla Bell tonight along with sophomore Alexis Smith and those two did a fantastic job of not letting Bell take over the game. Jayla is a fantastic player who can break a game open at the drop of a hat, and Mia and Lexi made it difficult for her to find a rhythm tonight especially in moments where it felt like Lyons might go on a run.”
Like they did in the sectional finals, Evingham and Hawkins made sure Lyons did not get second chances.
“Raegan Evingham and A’Jonay Hawkins dominated the glass for us tonight combining for 15 rebounds. We knew that Lyons is a very good rebounding team, especially on the offensive end, so having Rae and A’J takeaway so many of their second chance opportunities was huge for us tonight,” Dagon said. “It was another night where the girls understood what needed to be done to be successful and they went out and executed selflessly and with tremendous effort, and I’m very proud of them for that.”
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