by TYLER HATHAWAY
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y– The Canisteo-Greenwood school district was created in 2004 when the towns of Canisteo and Greenwood decided to merge their school districts into one.
The Chargers have been chasing success in both boys and girls’ basketball in search of a sectional title ever since. They’ve had teams get close, including this season, with both the boys and girls teams reaching their respective sectional finals. But never had a basketball team representing the two towns gotten it done.
The guys team fought hard Friday night, but fell in the Class B2 championship game. And after the first quarter of Saturday’s Class C1 title game, it seemed that the hunt for a sectional title in hoops would have to wait at least another year.
Second-seeded Bloomfield came out of the gates on a heater, storming out to a 20-4 lead in the first seven minutes. But with a chance to make history, No. 4 seed Canisteo-Greenwood didn’t fold with its back against the wall.
The Chargers (No. 2 NYSSWA Class C) rallied from a 16-point first-quarter deficit to defeat Bloomfield (No. 19 NYSSWA Class C) 66-61 in overtime in the Section V Class C1 title at Finger Lakes Community College. The win gives them their first sectional title as a merged program.
“It means everything,” said Canisteo-Greenwood head coach Collin Button. “We battled. These girls have played so much basketball in the off-season, and all year long to prepare for this. And to come out and start as flat as we did, and to battle back for not only this team and our families, but the community, because we’ve never had this in Canisteo-Greenwood. We’ve never won it since we merged, and it just means the world. Everybody in the community has been supporting us. I’m just so proud of them.”
“We worked very hard for this all season in practice,” said senior Payton Bentley. “We all had the same goal, and we all really wanted it, so we came and got it.”
Canisteo-Greenwood (22-2) was able to cut into the deficit in the second quarter, scoring 16 points in the frame to make it 31-20. At halftime, Button and his team made some adjustments.
“We wanted to mix up defenses and try and find something that worked. We weren’t finding that mix early on, but they didn’t keep their heads down. They kept battling and chipping away. Our goal at one point was to try and cut the lead in half.”
In the third quarter, Bentley helped spark a 17-2 run that gave the Chargers their first lead of the game. The tournament MVP knocked down three three-pointers while scoring 13 total points in the frame to help Canisteo-Greenwood seize a 37-33 lead.
“Her stepping out and hitting three-pointers has been something she’s been doing all year in practice but it hasn’t come to fruition until these past two games,” said Button. “Once she got rolling, she really feeds off of that energy and everyone else does as well. She has big game experience in the past, and it really came through in the third quarter especially.”
“We started driving it inside more and causing them to commit fouls,” Bentley said of what the difference was in the third quarter. “Once they started to drop in, we kicked it outside and just kept doing what worked.”
The other thing that helped the third quarter success was the Chargers’ press defense. A full-court man press employed by Canisteo-Greenwood was crucial in generating turnovers to get its offense more chances to cut into the deficit.
“It was everything for us,” Button said of the press. “It fuels our offense, even when we weren’t necessarily getting layups out of it, we were getting stops. We talk all the time about stop, score, stop, score, stop. Over and over again.”
In the fourth quarter, Bloomfield had restored its lead and led 46-40 with five minutes to go. Three-pointers by Kara Mahany and Mackenna Mullen helped the Chargers strike back with a 12-3 run to take the lead with less than a minute remaining.
The Bombers wouldn’t go away easy however, and a Sadie Kachmoryk three-pointer with less than 30 seconds left knotted the game at 52. The Chargers had a look to win it in regulation, but the shot missed and the game went to overtime. Button met with his team before the extra period.
“I brought up the experience we had earlier in the season that we had against Canandaigua at home when we beat them in overtime. I said to them that we had to get the first bucket, and that if you do your chances of winning grow exponentially.”
His team delivered on that request. Eighth grader Kara Mahany had two three-pointers to open the frame. Then it was ninth grader Gracen Mahany’s turn, as she hit two more three-pointers that helped Canisteo-Greenwood build a 64-59 lead with less than a minute left.
“They step up and hit shots,” Button said of the pair. “That’s just what they do. They play all the time, stuff like this isn’t new to them. When they get open, it’s like a machine.”
The Bombers responded with a bucket with 40 seconds left to make it a three-point game. Looking to seal it, Bentley rebounded a miss and drew a foul on a put-back attempt to get two free throws with 15 seconds left. She sunk both, securing a long-awaited sectional championship for the Chargers.
“I kind of blacked out (while shooting them),” said Bentley. “I knew that if I got in my head too much that I would miss them, so I just kind of tuned everything out.
“It’s just hard for me to even comprehend,” said Button. “It means everything. That’s what we’ve worked hard for. I coached basketball with the boys’ varsity and the girls’ varsity all these years, since 2002, and have never gotten there. Boys side, or girls side. And for us to rally and get that one, against a really strong Bloomfield team, it’s just gonna spark interest in the sport. Hopefully kids get interested and start joining basketball, and building the program, and hopefully we can get ourselves back here time and time again.”
Gracen Mahany had 16 points, Kara Mahany finished with 14 points. The two were named to the All-Tournament team alongside Bentley. Bailey Mullen totaled a dozen points. MacKenna Mullen knocked down a three-pointer.
Calla McCombs had a game-high 23 points for Bloomfield (18-5). Sadie Kachmaryk added 20 points. Addison Falsone scored 10 points. Sydney Falsone produced seven points. Marlee Poole had one point.
The Chargers advance to face the Keshequa, the Class C2 winner, in the Far West Regional Qualifier.
“We have had seniors step up, of course,” Button explained. “We also have underclass players that do their jobs. Everybody did their role, and it’s just something that we can always depend on. We can depend upon moving forward that we’re never gonna give up. They’re gonna keep working hard.”
“I’m very blessed to be a senior on this team and have this group of girls,” said Bentley. “They have a bright future ahead of them, they’re very young, and they’re all very talented, and they’re just gonna keep going up. I’m very proud of everybody, and I’m excited for the future.”
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