By PAUL GOTHAM
FAIRPORT, N.Y. — The starting five of Pittsford Sutherland girls’ basketball needs little introduction.
Lucy Bush, Kenzie Dermody, Taylor Hamilton, Petra Hunt and Maddie Littlefield all were on the court last March when the Knights advanced to the state quarterfinals.
Ten months later, Dan Judd’s squad looks ready to make another postseason run.
“We were young for so long, and now we’re here,” Judd said after Sutherland improved to 11-0 with a 67-53 win at Fairport, Monday night.
Maddie Littlefield led three in double figures with 24 points for a Sutherland team that can score in a variety of ways.
More importantly, the Knights have a variety of players who can contribute to that scoring.
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“These kids are really unselfish,” Judd said. “They share the ball great. I thought there were some really good decisions tonight.”
Littlefield hit three 3-pointers in the first half to help Sutherland to a 32-19 lead heading into the locker room. Bush connected on a pair from distance and had 11 of her 18 points over the first 16 minutes of action.
“Our kids did a good job of passing up good shots for great shots. It’s innate in most of these kids. They’re great kids. They’re unselfish by nature, really team-oriented and not really individual-oriented.”
Littlefield extended the lead to 21 early in the fourth quarter when the senior guard drove the lane and finished at the basket for a 54-33 advantage.
Two trips down the floor later, Hunt converted an and-one for the largest lead of the night at 57-35.
Monday’s win was Sutherland’s 10th by double digits this season and came against a Fairport (10-2) team which had won eight straight heading into action.
The Red Raiders, who have won back-to-back Section V Class AAA championships, also reached the state quarterfinals a year ago.
“We scheduled this game pretty quickly,” Judd said. “We knew they were going to be good. We knew we’d be pretty good and definitely wanted to play them in a non-league game.”
Hunt posted a double-double in the win with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Hamilton and Dermody had seven and five points respectively.
Avery Lucey and Eva Monoski scored nine apiece to lead the Fairport offense.
Fairport will travel to face Greece Arcadia/Olympia on Friday.
Sutherland will pay a visit to Our Lady of Mercy on Thursday.
PITTSFORD SUTHERLAND (67)
Payton Hamilton 2 3-4 7, Taylor Hamilton 1 0-2, 2 Lucy Bush 7 1-2 18, Gabby Lyons 0 0-0 0, Maddie Littlefield 8 2-4 24, Petra Hunt 3 4-5 11, Kenzie Dermody 2 1-3 5 TOTALS 23 11-20 — 67
FAIRPORT (53)
Autumn Fitch 1 0-0 3, Samara Rizzo 3 1-2 8, Charly Sisson 1 1-1 3, Avery Lucey 3 2-2 9, Leah Meabon 3 1-4 7, Clara Shannon 4 0-0 8, Josie Roets 0 0-0 0, Eva Monoski 2 4-5 9, Brinn Castrechini 2 0-0 4, Zanya Bruce 1 0-0 2 TOTALS 20, 9-14 — 53
SUTHERLAND 19 13 20 15 — 67
FAIRPORT 8 11 14 20 — 53
3-point goals: PITTSFORD SUTHERLAND 10 (Bush 3, Littlefield 6, Hunt 1); FAIRPORT 4 (Fitch 1, Rizzo 1, Lucey 1, Monoski 1).
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