By TIM IRVING
In a normal season, Fairport and Penfield would have played twice before sectionals.
“Even though we didn’t play in the regular season, they’re still Fairport, we’re still Penfield, it’s still gonna make a great rivalry,” Patriots coach Mark Vogt said as his team came away with a 60-48 win in the Class AA Sectional quarterfinals.
Penfield opened up strong in the paint with Kennedy Cone scoring seven inside and Eva Elliot scoring six on drives to the hoop. Sophomore Ella Meabon kept the Red Raiders in it with eight points. Emma Blumenstock hit a basket at the first quarter buzzer and the Patriots led 20-14.
“One of the things we focused on was trying to get ahead of teams,” senior Haley Emmick said afterwards.
The sophomore sensations, Meabon and Bella Pucci combined to knock the lead down to 24-22 in the second before Elisa Faklaris keyed a 10-2 run, scoring all eight of her first half points in the quarter. Kylie Bell had two baskets inside as well after Cone got into some foul trouble and the Patriots had a 34-24 lead at the half.
Pucci came out of the locker room on fire, scoring on a rebound and then sticking a three-pointer to cut the lead to five.
The lead got down to three on a Meabon three-pointer with two minutes left in the third and Penfield turned to their captains. Blumenstock and Faklaris hit back-to-back three-pointers and the lead was back out to eight going to the fourth.
“They’ve been there before, this is very important to them and they made plays, “ Vogt said.
Again, Fairport rallied back. Pucci made two lay-ups off assists from Meabon and Penfield turned to their bench to maintain the lead. Jackie Funk and Grace Alexander made big baskets in the paint and yet still couldn’t put the Red Raiders away.
Blumenstock hit a baseline jumper with 2:20 go to and Emmick scored on consecutive trips to push the lead back out to nine with a minute to play.
From there, Penfield went 8-of-10 from the free throw line to lock it up.
Vogt remarked, “Our whole strategy is to wear teams out and go on a run and fortunately for us, that’s what happened.”
Meabon scored a game-high 20 and Pucci 17 for Fairport. Faklaris led the Patriots with 13 and Emmick added 10 while Cone and Blumenstock scored nine each.
The Patriots face Gates Chili in the Class AA semifinals on Wednesday.
SCORING
Penfield
Eva Elliot (6), Emma Blumenstock (9), Jackie Funk (5), Haley Emmick (10), Kennedy Cone (9), Elisa Faklaris (13), Grace Alexander (4), Kylie Bell (4).
Fairport
Sarah Hirschler (4), Ne’vaeh Buntley (2), Rachel McCoy (3), Ella Meabon (20), Bella Pucci (17), Megan Thurley (2).
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