By TIM IRVING
Pittsford Mendon girls basketball can hurt opponents in many ways, with one of the best starting fives in the State.
Williamsville South learned that painful lesson as the Vikings rolled past the Billies, 77-35, in the Class A Far West Regional at Rush-Henrietta on Saturday.
The poison Mendon used in this game came in the form of senior guards Anaya Coleman and Lily Kennedy.
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Kennedy scored the first basket of the game, left all alone underneath the hoop and from there, she and Coleman just seemed to take turns and on the occasions of a miss, another senior, Bridget Miller, scored all six of her points in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 21-7 first quarter lead.
“We wanted to get out fast and set a good pace and I think we did a good job of that,” Kennedy, who scored nine in the first quarter, said.
The Vikings had just three players score in the second quarter but a stingy half court defense had Coleman running away from the Billies, ten of her team-high 16 first half points coming in the second.
Kennedy added six points for 13 in the first half and Dani Strauf added four as the lead grew to 41-14 at the half.
If Williamsville South was thinking of a rally in the third quarter, that was quickly quashed as Kennedy and Coleman had their own track meet, scoring the first 15 points for Mendon to put it away.
“We knew we had to make short, great passes instead of looking for home runs and worked on it in practice and then came out here and executed,” Coleman said after a 28-point performance.
Williamsville South’s normally effective trap defense was negated by Pittsford Mendon’s standard offense.
“It’s good defense but we worked on getting to open spaces, really what we’ve done all season long, and it worked perfectly,” Coleman, who has committed to Monmouth University said.
Coming off their sixth Sectional title, the Vikings head to Hudson Valley for the first time in two years, where they are still the reigning Class A State and Federation champions.
Coleman said, “I came here in ninth grade and a lot of the team has been together since sixth grade, so the chemistry is there and the past two years, we haven’t gotten to go to States and that’s our biggest reason why. We’re doing it not just for this group but for the groups in the past the didn’t make it so, the chemistry is huge.”
Mendon plays Friday morning in the Class A semifinals at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.
SCORING
Williamsville South 35
Gretchen Dolan 18, Leah Solomon 7, Precious Mitchell 4, Grace Mauro 3, Caroline Kanaley 3.
Pittsford Mendon 77
Anaya Coleman 28, Jess Robinson 3, Lily Kennedy 26, Danielle Strauf 6, Kate Hennessey 3, Brooke Bowler 4, Emma Giordano 1, Bridget Miller 6.
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