Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Heise pours in 43 points, Hilton remains unbeaten

by Leave a Comment

Hilton’s Mallory Heise (14) squares up to the basket during first-half action. Heise set the single-game scoring mark with 43 points in leading the Cadets past Penfield, 74-68 on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. (Photo: LAURA ACCIAIO)

By PAUL GOTHAM

HILTON, N.Y. — Less than three weeks after setting the program’s single-game scoring mark, Mallory Heise decided to up the ante, Tuesday night.

The Hilton senior exploded for 43 points as the host Cadets (No. 1 NYSSWA Class AA) remained unbeaten (13-0) on the season with a 74-68 victory over Penfield.

Heise unloaded six 3-pointers in the first half to stake the Cadets to a 43-32 lead heading into the locker room.

“She always has the look, but I was watching warmups tonight and I’m like uh-oh, Penfield might be in trouble with guarding her,” said her head coach and uncle, Dave Heise. “There was just a focus about her.”

The senior guard hit seven 3-pointers on the night and finished 13-of-25 from the floor.

VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM LAURA ACCIAIO. 

She was at her best in the third quarter when the Cadets struggled to score, and Penfield cut their double-digit lead to two.

The St. Bonaventure University commit responded with one of those triples and added another 15 points in the fourth quarter.

“What’s incredible about her is there’s an intensity yet a looseness,” the Hilton head coach said. “Those are really hard to pair up. She can stay really calm and loose even though the game is on the line. I’d love to check her heart rate sometimes, her resting heart rate, because I think she’s able to drop it down pretty fast.”

Heise scored 41 against Brighton on January 16th to set the program mark at that time. Tuesday’s effort came against a Penfield squad that holds opposing offenses to 33.7 points per game.

“She’s one of the best players in the state,” Penfield head coach Mark Vogt said. “When you have someone like that on the floor, you have to adjust to her.”

Penfield’s defense, the best among Section V large schools for average points against, looked the part coming out of halftime.

After Hilton produced points on 11 of 17 second-quarter possessions, the Patriots held the Cadets to one field goal (a Heise turnaround jumper in the low post) on its first nine trips down the floor in the third frame.

“Our defense, we like to run and jump,” Vogt said. “That involves communication because you have to rotate and pick up players. We did a better job of that in third quarter. We were getting to shooters and making them take contested shots.”

And the Patriots converted on the offensive end.

Emma Alexander capped a 16-5 run with a drive from the wing for a layup to tie the game at 48.

“I have great respect for Mark Vogt and that program,” Dave Heise said. “You’re going to get a dog fight every time you play them. They had a game plan. They had an excellent third quarter. We’re usually on the other side of that.”

Maddie Murphy responded for Hilton with a steal and layup. The Cadets went on to score seven straight.

Cassidy Cone and Alexander hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 55-54 game with 6:22 on the clock, but Hilton had a lead it did not surrender.

“They’re tough,” Vogt said. “There’s a reason why they’re unbeaten. They made three plays more than us. We’ll get better from this.”

Penfield (12-3) came into the night’s action winners of eight straight, seven of those by double digits.

“I told them before the game, at halftime and throughout the second half ‘We want these types of games; we need these types of games,'” Dave Heise said of the discussion with his team. “We want to battle through it and test our resolve. Both teams made six-O, seven-O, eight-O runs, but we answered which was good. That said a lot about us.”

Six different players scored for Hilton in the fourth quarter.

“We try to emphasize that,” Heise said of the distribution on the offensive end. “We have those bunches in us. This was a good night for us.”

Heise finished with eight rebounds, five steals and three assists to round out the performance.

“I think she’s the best two-way player in Section V,” Dave Heise said. “I don’t think I’m being biased in that. I think she’s been that for two or three years, now. Against the really good teams, I give her the toughest defensive assignment.”

Murphy added 13 points, four rebounds, four steals and four assists. Paige Siciliano had nine points and four rebounds. Elena Graziano accounted for four rebounds, four steals and four assists along with one point on the night.

Cone hit three 3-pointers and led Penfield with 20 points. Audrey Funk had 18. Alexander scored 13.

The Patriots host Greece Arcadia/Olympia for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off on Friday.

Hilton travels to Rush-Henrietta for a 7:15 p.m. start time on Friday.

PENFIELD
Sara Petre 3 1-1 7, Reegan Sercu 1 0-0 2, Emma Alexander 3 6-8 13, Aleah Petre 0 2-2 2, Bella Cohoon 2 0-0 4, Cassidy Cone 8 1-2 20, Olivia Lanning 1 0-0 2, Audriana Funk 7 1-2 18 TOTALS 25 11-15 — 68

HILTON
Elena Graziano 0 1-2 1, Paige Siciliano 2 3-5 9, Madeline Patton 1 1-2 3, Mallory Heise 13 10-12 43, Ella Simonelli 2 1-2 5, Maddy Murphy 5 2-2 13 TOTALS 23 18-25 — 74

PENFIELD 16 16 16 20 — 68
HILTON 18 25 7 24 — 74

3-point goals: PENFIELD 7 (Alexander 1, Cone 3, Funk 3); HILTON 10 (Siciliano 2, Heise 7, Murphy 1).

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *