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Poland, Cooperstown girls win Section 3 basketball titles

jon rathbun, times telegram
·6 min read

SYRACUSE - Two No. 2 seeds took the first two titles Saturday at Section III's girls' basketball finals at SRC Arena.

Class D Poland's Tornadoes won their first basketball sectional crown while Class C Cooperstown won for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is a very big win," said Poland senior Logan Cookinham, the Class D tournament most valuable player. "We've been working for this through our whole high school careers.

"This means everything."

Poland's Sydney Tabor (30), a tournament all-star selection, looks for room to shoot against Hamilton Saturday during Section III's Class D final at SRC Arena.
Poland's Sydney Tabor (30), a tournament all-star selection, looks for room to shoot against Hamilton Saturday during Section III's Class D final at SRC Arena.

More:Section 3 girls basketball scores for the 2022-23 season

Classes B, A and AA were followed later in the day with Cortland, Indian River and Liverpool joining the list of champions who will move on to state tournament competition.

Poland and Cooperstown will hit the road for regional play next weekend with state final four play the weekend after that at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. Cooperstown plays in Binghamton Saturday against Union Springs, the Section IV champion. Poland travels to Potsdam Saturday for a game against Section X Hammond which suffered its first loss Friday in the final game of Section X's tournament of champions against Class B Gouverneur.

Class C

Cooperstown 64, Weedsport 59

The Cooperstown Hawkeyes pose with their banner after beating Weedsport Saturday in Section III's Class C final at SRC Arena.
The Cooperstown Hawkeyes pose with their banner after beating Weedsport Saturday in Section III's Class C final at SRC Arena.

The Class C title game was up for grabs into the final minute when No. 2 Cooperstown (19-5) came through at the end to beat No. 1 Weedsport (19-5) 64-59.

The teams had only once been separated by more than five points and were tied as late as 59-all inside the final 30 seconds. Weedsport had led 59-57 on last minute free throws before Cooperstown Hawkeye Dani Seamon rebounded a miss on Kayla Flask's second shot, took the ball up the left sideline and passed ahead for an open Meghan Niles. Niles missed her shot but teammate Rory Nelen grabbed the rebound, put the ball back and drew a foul. Nelen's free throw gave Cooperstown a 60-59 lead with 29.3 seconds on the clock.

Seamon, the tournament's most valuable player, rebounded another Weedsport miss at the other end and once again played the ball ahead for Niles who hit this jumper at the 11.9 mark.

Weedsport went without a point after Flask's free throw put the Warriors up 59-57. Cooperstown was unable to seal the win at the foul line but did so on the boards instead, grabbing every available rebound in the game's closing seconds.

Cooperstown's Savannah Kirkby passes the ball inside SRC Arena Saturday. Cooperstown defeated Weedsport 64-59 and secured Section III's 2022-23 Class C championship.
Cooperstown's Savannah Kirkby passes the ball inside SRC Arena Saturday. Cooperstown defeated Weedsport 64-59 and secured Section III's 2022-23 Class C championship.

Seamon, the only varsity holdover from Cooperstown's 2020 sectional team, scored 16 points and had 95 points in Cooperstown's four playoff wins.

"She broke out of … I wouldn't call it a shell but I don't remember an individual season this back to Liz (Millea)," coach Mike Niles said of Seamon's senior season so far. Her consistency is important. The kids lean on her."

Millea was the state's co-player of the year in Class C when Cooperstown won the 2015 state championship.Nelen led the team with 17 points Saturday, added six steals, five rebounds and five assists, and was chosen for the tournament all-star team.

"It's great to be able to rely on other players like Rory and Brenna (Seamon) and Savannah (Kirkby)," said Dani Seamon who had a double-double with 10 rebounds. "I didn't feel as much pressure three years ago. You just have to stay true to your game."

Nelen, a junior, scored her most points since a career-high 20 against Waterville in December and has contributed double figures in each playoff game - she averages 8.5 for the season - and Brenna Seamon, a sophomore, had 11 points, four rebounds and three steals off the bench Saturday.

This year's Hawkeyes will play on against Union Springs which beat Moravia 52-32 in Section IV's championship game later Saturday afternoon. The 2020 regional and state playoffs were canceled at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mallory Brown, Gabby Jeffers and Keegan McNabb each scored 13 points to lead Weedsport. McNabb and Morgan Flask, who scored all eight of her points in the first quarter, were picked for the tournament all-star team that included Herkimer Magician Madison Marusic and Westmoreland Bulldog Madalynne Enos.

Class D

Poland 50, Hamilton 45

The Poland Tornadoes, seeded second, played from behind for most of the game and even trailed 31-16 early in the second half before chipping away and overtaking No. 4 Hamilton, a team they had beaten twice during the regular season.

The Tornadoes (22-2) took the lead early in the fourth quarter and wound up winning by a 50-45 score. They outscored Hamilton's Emerald Knights (17-7) 34-14 over the game's final 14 minutes. They scored seven straight points to cut into Hamilton's biggest lead and ended the third quarter with an 8-2 run that cut the deficit to four points before missing a shot as time ran out.

Morgan Weigand started the fourth quarter with a three-point shot that briefly made it a one point game. The teams traded points on their next possessions and Weigand answered a Logan Langel three-pointer with another to cut the margin to one again. Poland forced a quick turnover and finally took a 42-40 lead on a layup and free throw by Logan Cookinham.

"That was the biggest moment of the game," Cookinham said. "Morgan got those two threes, and we got a couple turnovers. Once we started forcing turnovers, (Hamilton) started pressing and made other turnovers.

"Our defense is what crates our offense."

"Those were probably the most critical shots of the game," coach Jason Potempa added. "(Weignd) hit the first and the girls got a boost off of that. She hit the second and they got an even bigger boost."

Weigand followed Cookinham with a steal and layup of her own - she scored all eight of her points in a 77-second span - and Maddison Haver stole an outlet pass and scored to extend the Poland run.

"They were just feeding off the energy," Potempa said, "the energy in this gym, the energy from the crowd and the energy from each other."

Hamilton got back within one point on Emily Neuenschwander's three-point basket with two minutes to go but Poland got another basket from Cookinham and forced the Emerald Knights to start fouling. The Tornadoes hit only two of the six free throws they shot in the last minute, but they prevented Hamilton from scoring.

Poland's Logan Cookinham takes a shot inside SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College Saturday. Poland went on to defeat Hamilton 50-45 and secured the Section III's 2022-23 Class D championship.
Poland's Logan Cookinham takes a shot inside SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College Saturday. Poland went on to defeat Hamilton 50-45 and secured the Section III's 2022-23 Class D championship.

Cookinham, who broke Poland's career scoring record in the Tornadoes' semifinal win over Copenhagen, scored 23 points while tournament all-star Sydney Tabor added 11.

Hamilton got 11 points, including seven-of-nine free throw shooting, from Colleen Kelly in the first quarter; Kelly finished with 13 points and joined teammate Logan Langel on the all-star team. Emily Neuenschwander led the Emerald Knights with 16 points.

West Canada Valley Indian Reese Fellows and Copenhagen Golden Knight Aubree Smykla were the other all-stars.

Poland was also a sectional finalist last year when the Tornadoes finished as runners-up to Copenhagen.

"This has been the goal since I started," said Potempa who has coached the basketball team since 2008. Potempa has also won a sectional title as a coach in girls soccer.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Section 3 girls basketball: Poland, Cooperstown win titles