By PAUL GOTHAM
EAST ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Four different players combined for 13 3-pointers, and the No. 8 East Rochester girls’ basketball team cruised to a 68-46 over No. 9 Avon in Class C1 opening-round action, Wednesday night.
Zarriah Eldridge and Emma Romach hit two treys apiece in the second quarter when the Bombers built a 40-17 advantage heading into halftime.
“It’s contagious,” first-year head coach Sam Rizzo said of the hot shooting. “We do a lot of shooting drills (in practice) for that moment when it catches. Our thought has been if you’re open, shoot. That backfires sometimes when we just chuck up shots. I thought for the most part, we made some pretty good decisions with the ball tonight.”
Eldridge and Romach finished with a game-high 16 points apiece. Both connected for four treys on the night.
Emma Romach hits the pull-up jumper. @ERBombers up 27-12 in the second quarter. Class C1 pic.twitter.com/aJN8rZIbAV
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 23, 2023
Emma Romach hits the pull-up jumper. @ERBombers up 27-12 in the second quarter. Class C1 pic.twitter.com/aJN8rZIbAV
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 23, 2023
Aniyah Eldridge also hit four triples, and Lily Funk found the range from distance once.
The performance was exactly what the two-time reigning champions needed.
“It’s an experienced group, but there’s nerves,” Rizzo said referring to the Eldridge sisters and Funk who all started on last year’s state semifinalist squad. “You get a sense of the thing. Even the first couple minutes back and forth, there were a lot of nerves.”
Aniyah Eldridge scored 14 in the win. Funk had 11.
Rizzo pointed to his squad’s preparation leading up to Wednesday’s outcome.
“We had two good practices. Sometimes sectional week is off because we’re on break. But those two good practices with some energy, with some enthusiasm they carried into the game.”
Aniyah Eldridge connects from distance. pic.twitter.com/yiePuUujMB
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 23, 2023
The win was the fifth in six games for East Rochester (14-7) which has among its setbacks this year double-digit losses to Penfield (Class AA), Victor (AA) and Our Lady of Mercy (A).
“We’re okay with what happens as long as we play our best and we take something away from it,” Rizzo said. “The Penfield game, we didn’t play awful. They’re just good. We didn’t hit shots, then they’re out and running.
“Mercy we didn’t play our best game. With Victor, we were right there. When you’re playing some of the best schools around, that’s kinda the mindset. You’re not going to see anyone that’s better than Penfield. That’s no disrespect to anyone else.”
The Bombers will face top-seeded Canisteo-Greenwood in the quarterfinals.
“We know Canisteo-Greenwood is the only undefeated team in Section V. They’re a good program. There’s a reason why the schedule was set up. It’s to prepare.”
Aaliyah Carmichael (4), Lebria Hickman (4), Alex LaBounty (2) and Giovanna Morreale (1) rounded out the scoring for ER.
Kennedy Fries led Avon (13-8) with 15 points. Sarina McDowell scored 14. Ella Dailey (10), Maria Geary (3), Addison Urbanik (2) and Maggie Vanderbilt (2) also scored for the Braves.
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