By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — With 1:04 left in the third quarter of Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D quarterfinal, the undefeated Elba girls’ basketball team faced a 10-point deficit.
Thirteen-plus minutes of game time later, the Lancers were celebrating consecutive regional titles.
Brea Smith scored 13 of her game-high 20 points over the final 12 minutes and a defensive adjustment paid dividends as Elba rallied to defeat Section VI champion Sherman, 54-48 at Buffalo State College.
With the win, Elba (23-0) gets the rematch it wanted.
“These girls, ever since we lost that state semifinal last year, they’ve been hunting,” said Lancers’ head coach Charlie Pangrazio. “They’ve been wanting to get back there. They want a chance at Northville, again. They won earlier today, so we know we got them.”
Smith sank 6-of-8 free throws over a nearly three and half-minute span in the fourth quarter. The junior forward then gave the Lancers their first lead of the game when she sank two more from the stripe with 1:04 left in regulation.
Brea Smith hits from behind the 3-point arc. Elba is within 5 at 38-33. pic.twitter.com/4QWw3peX4N
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 15, 2025
“These girls, with the experience they have, yeah we get a little down, but they know if they stay within our plan, that we’ll be okay.”
After a desperation 3-pointer from Kelsey Wagner sent the game to overtime, Elba scored the first six points of the extra session and did not surrender the lead.
Kelsey Wagner sends us to overtime. NYS Class D: Elba 44 Sherman 44 #sctop10 pic.twitter.com/vPuJxtGdkE
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 15, 2025
The emphasis for the Lancers during overtime was to get the ball to Smith in the post.
“The big vision for our guards is to get it underneath to her,” Pangrazio said. “They (Sherman) collapsed, but she’s so strong in the paint. We worked a lot with that. Coach Kevin Bezon, he helps us a lot working with our post players.
“She likes to be out there shooting threes. Once we get her in the paint, she’s tough to stop. That was the difference for us.”
At the other end of the floor, Elba’s defense held Sherman without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes. Emmersen Crawford hit a pull-up jumper with 2:09 left in the third quarter. The next Wildcats’ basket came when Carlie Gable converted a rebound and putback with :14 seconds left in the fourth.
“We stopped switching,” Pangrazio said of the Lancers tactics against screens. “We came into the game thinking we wanted to switch everything, so we decided to stop switching. Just hedge and then cut underneath that and that seemed to work quite well because they couldn’t get to the rim the way they like to. Fortunately, it worked out well for us.”
Sydney Reilly added 14 points in the win. Mariah Ognibene had 11. Maddie Hall scored eight.
Mariah Ognibene snaps an 8-0 Sherman run. Sherman 36-28 late pic.twitter.com/X9JdvNJv32
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 15, 2025
Crawford paced Sherman (21-2) with 19 points. Baya Oehlbeck had 13. Wagner accounted for nine.
Baya Oehlbeck from distance. Sherman 32 Elba 26 mid 3rd. pic.twitter.com/sXqDqdO9tW
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 15, 2025
Elba and Northville will tip-off next Thursday, 4:15 p.m. at Hudson Valley Community College.
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