By PAUL GOTHAM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Tuesday night pitted a pair of Section V Class A contenders in Pittsford Sutherland and Honeoye Falls-Lima.
Both teams entered play without a loss in the first of two regular-season meetings.
Round one went to the Knights.
Payton Hamilton scored 18 points. Leora Cook added 13, and the Sutherland defense held HF-L nearly 40 points under its early-season average in a convincing 57-32 victory.
“It’s a step in the growth process,” said Sutherland head coach Dan Judd. “Last week we got a couple wins. They weren’t easy. It was nice to put everything together tonight.”
Hamilton hit a pair of threes and Cook added seven points in the second quarter when Sutherland (3-0) outscored HF-L (3-1), 18-7 to take a 30-11 lead into halftime.
Sutherland’s defense didn’t show any signs of letting up. After limiting the Cougars to three field goals over the first 16 minutes of the game, the Knights forced six turnovers in the third quarter and allowed two field goals during that stretch.
“The defensive end was the key,” Judd said. “Our first couple of games, we hadn’t really been that tight.”
HF-L entered play scoring nearly 70 points per game with an average scoring margin of 32.3.
“We had a really good practice yesterday going through their sets, their players and understanding what they like to do,” Judd said.
And the Knights were able to cut the floor in half to limit the number of available passing lanes for the Cougar ballhandlers.
“In a man-to-man defense, you want to have five guard three,” Judd explained. “We force them to skip it, and then we recover. I thought we did a pretty good job of taking away those easy cuts down the middle.
“We’ve been way too reliant on one guarding one. Sometimes that breaks down. Tonight, I thought we did a really good job of five guarding three. That worked.”
Sutherland was able to convert those turnovers into points at the other end of the floor.
“It got our offense going,” Judd said. “We do these scramble drills every day. They’re really good for those constant 3v2, 4v3 situations. You got to make decisions. There are times you pull it out. If you got numbers, you take advantage of it.”
Ball movement finds Leora Cook for 3. @SutherlandBball 24-6, late second quarter. pic.twitter.com/RDVMqC6jez
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 13, 2023
After graduating Caitlin Bergin and Ellie Bergin from last year’s squad along with Lara Brandt and Dylan Madigan, Tuesday’s test helped put building blocks in place for this year’s Sutherland squad.
“We’re very young. We lost six kids last year, six really important kids. This is a whole new group in a lot of ways. We’re getting better every week.”
Signe Tempest finds a cutting Mackenzie Dermody for two. pic.twitter.com/BH4hj7BU9I
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 13, 2023
Hamilton hit four triples to pace an overall effort that saw six different Knights find the range from distance for a total of nine threes.
“We got some kids who can really shoot it. This is probably the best shooting team I’ve had overall. I’ve got six or seven kids who can really shoot it. We won’t be as good defensively as we have in the past, we don’t have the size and experience. A lot of defense comes with experience.”
The same two teams are scheduled to meet January 23rd at HF-L.
Rebound and outlet. Shaye Angelo leads Caroline Smith on the break. pic.twitter.com/c5fUyyIAgo
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 13, 2023
HONEOYE FALLS-LIMA
Alyssa Richards 0 3-4 3, Shaye Angelo 1 1-2 3 Mollie Finn 2 2-2 6, Maddie Schubach 2 0-0 4, Caroline Smith 3 10-12 16 TOTALS 8 16-20 32
SUTHERLAND
Payton Hamilton 6 2-2 18, Taylor Hamilton 1 1-2 4, Lucy Bush 1 1-2 3, Leora Cook 5 2-4 13, Sadie Bush 1 0-0 3, Maddie Littlefield 1 0-0 3, Signe Tempest 1 0-0 3, Mackenzie Dermody 1 2-6 4, Eden Lewis 2 2-4 6 TOTALS 19 10-20 57
HONEOYE FALLS-LIMA 4 7 6 15 — 32
PITTSFORD SUTHERLAND 12 18 11 16 — 57
3-point goals — Honeoye Falls-Lima 0; Pittsford Sutherland 9 (P. Hamilton 4, T. Hamilton 1, Cook 1, S. Bush 1, Littlefield 1, Tempest 1)
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