By PAUL GOTHAM
CALEDONIA, N.Y. — Tournament MVP Allie Williams finished with a double-double and scored the go-ahead basket as Oakfield-Alabama held off host Caledonia-Mumford, 45-43 in the finals of the 2023 Cal-Mum Holiday Tournament, Friday.
Trailing 39-36, Williams scored back-to-back buckets to give the Hornets a lead they did not surrender.
“I can’t say enough about Allie,” Oakfield-Alabama head coach Jeff Schlagenhauf said of the ninth-grade forward. “She kinda got thrown into things into the sectional finals last year. She’s really coming on now. She’s looking to score.”
The Hornets (7-1) went on to win their sixth straight game.
“I’m really happy for them,” Schlagenhauf said. “They worked really hard. I told them before the game let’s go outwork them. By that fourth quarter, we made some plays that we needed to make.”
The victory came after Cal-Mum scored 10 straight early in the third quarter to erase a halftime deficit and take a lead into the fourth quarter.
Hazell Nickerson scored five of her game-high 17 points in the third quarter to pace the Raiders’ offense. The 6-foot-1 junior forward converted a rebound and putback to give Cal-Mum a 36-33 lead heading into the final stanza.
“Hazell’s a tough matchup,” Schlagenhauf said. “We don’t have a lot of size. We knew she was going to get hers. We just had to make her work for it.”
Jess Sosnowski hit a three from the left wing to tie the game at 36.
Cal-Mum’s Mackenzie Poray followed with a triple of her own. It was the Raiders last advantage of the game.
Williams finished both her baskets in the lane, the second off an upfake where she got the defender in the air before driving for a layup.
“It’s huge,” Schlagenhauf said. “You got kids now with big-game experience. It’s a tournament atmosphere with a pretty full gym. They were able to hold off a really good team. I’m sure Cal-Mum is going to make a deep run in their sectional bracket. Now, I can go back and remind them what we did in this tournament.
“Experience is sometimes the best teacher you have. For these young kids, early in the season to be in those situations, anything like this is great.”
Oakfield-Alabama was without starting guard Caitlin Ryan who was sidelined with an illness.
“It’s next kid up, and some of our young kids were incredible,” Schlagenhauf said. “We got three freshmen. I brought up a fourth. They all got big minutes. It’s great for us to get the win, but it’s also great to learn a little bit.”
Ryan averages 11 points per game for the Hornets.
“Not having her it was a matter of who’s going to get those extra shots. Who’s going to get those rebounds. We did it by committee.”
Cal-Mum had two shots to tie the game on their final possession.
Alea Groff and Piper Hyde joined Williams on the All-Tournament team. Groff had seven points, five rebounds and three assists. Hyde contributed eight points, three steals and two assists.
Sosnowski added nine points. Rylee Denny (6), Sayde Bush (2) and Alexa Clark (3) also scored for Oakfield-Alabama.
Nickerson and Ava Amorese represented Cal-Mum on the All-Tournament squad. Nickerson finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Amorese had 13 points and six rebounds. Emma Brogan (2), Shea Drazkowski (6) and Malina Bellos (2) also scored for Cal-Mum.
Chyene Whitcomb (Wheatland-Chili) and Isabel Laney (York) rounded out the All-Tournament team.
Leave a Reply