By TIM IRVING
East Rochester found themselves in a tie game with 2:26 to play and Frewsburg with all the momentum in the Class C Girls’ Far West Regional.
So, they turned to their only senior, Sam Lewis, right?
Try eighth-grader Aniyah Eldridge.
Scoreless until that point, she stuck a long three for her only basket of the game and the Bombers held on for a 60-57 victory and advanced to the program’s first New York State semifinal.
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“That is the most clutch three-pointer I’ve ever seen,” Lewis said. “She’s so calm and smart for an eighth-grader.”
Lewis and Aniyah’s older sister, Zarriah, were dominating the Bears for the first 11 minutes of the game. Lewis did everything, steals, blocks, assists, rebounds and points.
Zarriah hit two three-pointers in the first quarter and had 13 points in the first half.
But Frewsburg turned it around, they started getting the steals and the shots that weren’t falling for them, started not falling for the Bombers and a 12-0 run left knocked a 21-point advantage down to nine at the half.
“We’ve never played a team like that before,” Lewis said of the Bears. “We matched up really well.”
The Bears kept chipping away and with a minute to go in the third quarter, Taytum Jimerson made a three-pointer to give the Bears the lead, 46-45.
“We always just try to stay positive and not get down on ourselves and get back to our game, “ junior Lily Funk said.
She and Lewis hit free throws and Lewis got a steal off of the inbounds after Funk’s second from the charity stripe and the lead was back up to five.
The Bombers got back to the original game plan, their advantage inside with the 6’ Funk and Lebria Hickman.
Frewsburg’s guards kept the pressure on and both Hickman sisters showed frustration, especially in the body language of the eighth-grader, Aniyah.
Coach Mark Florack called time out and settled his team down, trying to get them to keep pounding the ball inside but with the shot clock winding down, Eldridge showed the ice water in her veins.
With 1:35, the Bombers went back inside to Funk and had a five-point lead, 58-53.
After a Bears basket cut the lead back to three, Funk made an extra pass inside to Hickman and the lead was five with 32 seconds left.
With seven seconds left, the lead at 60-57, the Bears had no team fouls and need to commit five to send ER to the line.
After three fouls, Lewis grabbed the ball and got away to run out the clock.
And after not getting a chance at States last season, the Bombers are off to Hudson Valley for the first time in school history.
Lewis, who had a triple-double with 18 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists says, it’s all icing on the cake. “We just wanted to make it to States and to be in the semifinals is just gonna be a great experience and obviously, I wanna win but win or lose, I’m super proud of this team.”
The Bombers face Millbrook of Section 9 in the semifinals at 9am Saturday morning in Troy.
SCORING
Frewsburg 57
Teghan Trocki 21, Tyra Clark 7, Taytum Jimerson 13, Elise Sposato 12, Ava Jimerson 4.
East Rochester 60
Sam Lewis 18, Zarriah Eldridge 13, Lebria Hickman 10, Lily Funk 16, Aniyah Eldridge 3.
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