Balanced Kearney pulls away late to advance in AAA

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Claire Spears scored on back-to-back possessions to close the third quarter as No. 5 Bishop Kearney pulled away from a single-digit game to defeat No. 4 Greece Athena-Odyssey, 80-51 in Section V Class AAA action on Saturday.

Spears took a lead pass from teammate Tamia McCadney and finished a layup. She then grabbed a defensive rebound and went the length of the floor to beat the third-quarter horn for a 59-43 lead.

Just minutes earlier, Kearney led by eight after taking a 29-11 lead into halftime.

“Claire is our decision maker,” BK head coach Kevan Sheppard said of the junior who was one of three players to score 17 points in the game. “We’re going to go as far as she takes us. She really stepped up when we needed her to today.”

McCadney’s basket gave Kearney a double -digit lead it did not surrender at 44-34.

Denari Langston followed with a runner in the lane. Then Langston fed Jane Witkoski in the lane for two more.

McCadney hit a corner 3 before Isabella Brookins converted a rebound and putback to make it a 53-38 game.

Kearney’s emphasis coming into the game focused upon Athena/Odyssey ninth-grader Bianca White who averaged nearly 21 points per game during the regular season.

“We were having some serious defensive lapses, and it wasn’t just mistakes,” Sheppard said. “Bianca White is that good. She plays with a lot of speed and control. She reminds me a lot of a young (former Kearney player) Kaia Goode.

“I was telling the team, it’s going to take five people to stop her. If you just have two or three people guarding her, you might be going home.”

White finished with 22 in the game.

“We prepared all week to stop her as a whole team. We probably didn’t slow her down as much as we would have liked, but we were able to stop what they like to do and slow the rest of the team.”

McCadney and Langston also scored 17 for Kearney who will play top-seed Fairport in the semifinals.

Witkoski had 12 points. Maya Cong and Bre Graham added four apiece.

Cara Elrod scored 11 for Athena/Odyssey. Laila DeLeon added 10.