By JOHN LIKANJE
Webster Schroeder knocked down 11 three-pointers and held Penfield to single-digit points in two of four quarters in a 58-46 victory to win the 2023 Section V class AA title at Rush-Henrietta High School. It’s the Warriors’ second sectional title in program history and first since 1976 when they won the Class A championship.
“We laugh and say that the first one doesn’t even count because the whole staff wasn’t even born yet,” Webster Schroeder head coach Codi Mrozek said after the game. “It’s just a huge accomplishment and thing that this team really deserves. Our record shows that we’re a very good and competitive team. But to stay consistent the whole season and be able to win sectionals in the classification that we’re in is very difficult. We got a lot of great opponents.”
“Our team was very talented last year,” the second-year head coach said when comparing last year’s class A sectional final squad. “We were the underdog in that game. (Pittsford) Mendon was definitely the top dog. That was new territory for us. A lot of those girls that were on that journey last year are with us this year, so they knew what that felt like. They were ready to go and prepared. They knew that if we played well and controlled what we could, we could win this one today.”
Mrozek’s squad dialed up the long-range shot early with seven makes in the first half, including four in the second period. Sophomore guard Addison Morgan netted two of her game-high five made three-pointers in the stanza. Sarah Ferruzza and Mya Perales both nailed a deep shot.
Overall, five Warriors (Ferruzza, Ava Gallup, Morgan, Perales and Bria Watkins) drilled a three-pointer. Besides Morgan, Gallup and Watkins both converted two long-distance field goals.
“It did work out in our favor,” Mrozek said about her club’s outside shooting. “We knew that they were going to pack the paint and make it as difficult as they could for Mariah (Watkins) to get into the paint and go to work. We knew that we had to trust each other and make those extra passes to kick it out. If we continued to make outside shots, it’s going to be difficult for them to defend. Luckily, tonight our role players did a fantastic job being ready to shoot the ball on kick-outs.”
The Warriors held the Patriots to six points in both the first and third quarters. In both periods, Mrozek’s club combined to force 21 missed field goals and 11 turnovers. The Warriors outscored the Patriots, 25-12, in that span as well.
“We faceguarded (Penfield senior guard) Grace Alexander,” Mrozek said. “We know that a lot runs through her, so we tried to take her as much as we could out of their offense. We knew that we could score, but we had to get more stops in order to extend our lead. Defensively, just being in help defense. They crash the boards really hard. Any rebound we got, we were swarmed right away, so we had to balance through that.”
Morgan, who combined for 13 points in the first two sectional games, stepped up with a team-high 18. The 5-foot-6 guard hit two three-pointers in the third quarter – both of which snapped scoring droughts for the Warriors. Morgan drilled the team’s final long-distance shot of the contest midway through the final stanza for a 47-33 lead as well. The sophomore guard scored nine points in each half.
“Addy is just such a gamechanger for us,” Mrozek said about her sophomore guard. “We laugh and say that we really have six starters. Addy is new to our program this year and she’s made an instant impact. She’s such a great spark off the bench for us. Tonight, she performed fantastic and did everything that we needed from her and hit some really, really big shots to give us that lead.”
Mariah Watkins came alive for 10 of her 15 points in the second half, including eight in the fourth quarter. After being held to one made field goal in the first 23 minutes of game play, the junior guard conducted the offense with a layup near the end of the third period and four free throws plus two inside finishes in the fourth.
“In the second half, what allowed Mariah to get open a little bit more was that we were hitting those three-point shots,” Mrozek explained. “Penfield started to get out on our shooters, which allowed more space for Mariah to attack the basket.”
Bria Watkins (9), Gallup (6), Ferruzza (5) and Perales (5) rounded out the scoring for the Warriors.
For Penfield, Emily Fordham led with 15 points, including nine in the second half. The senior guard sparked an attempted Patriots’ rally with eight fourth-quarter tallies via two layups, a three-pointer and a charity stripe conversion. Fordham finished with four layups, the lone long-range make and four free throws. Jackie Funk came alive in the final 16 minutes as well with eight of her 11 points. The senior guard scored six quick points between the second and third quarters on a pair of three-pointers before adding a trio of foul shots and a layup in the final stanza.
Alexander (6), Cassidy Cone (5), Ashley Kalvitis (5), Anna Coyle (2) and Lena Lipani (2) rounded out the scoring for the Patriots.
Webster Schroeder advances to the NYS class AA Far West Regional and will take on the Section VI Class AA champion (either Lancaster or Jamestown).
“This is fun for us now,” Mrozek said when looking ahead to the state tournament. “I think the weight is off our back here in Section V. Now is the time to stay true to what we’ve done and enjoy this. If we show up and continue to stay consistent, I think that we can stay on this journey pretty far.”
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