Can Poland girls win their first title? What to know about all Section 3 finals
SYRACUSE - The Poland Tornadoes are back in the finals of Section III's girls' basketball playoffs.
They fell short as the No. 2 seed last year, dropping a 58-40 decision to Copenhagen, the top seed and eventual state Class D champion.
The Tornadoes are seeded second again this year but enter Saturday's finals as the higher seed against a more familiar opponent, No. 4 Hamilton, the team that defeated West Canada Valley, this year's No. 1 seed, in the semifinals last weekend.
More:Poland reaches Section 3 basketball final as Logan Cookinham breaks scoring record
More:Section III girls basketball: Cooperstown wins and advances to Class C final, Herkimer falls
More:Section 3 girls basketball scores for the 2022-23 season
Poland carries a 21-2 record and a lengthy winning streak into its game against Hamilton (17-6), the first of five on the schedule at SRC Arena on the Onondaga Community College campus.
The finals move Section III's girls down a hall from Allyn Hall where the semifinals were played on the campus. The 11 a.m. all-Center State Conference Class D final will be followed by Class C at 1 p.m., Class B at 3 p.m., Class A at 5 p.m. and Class AA at 7 p.m., progressing from the smallest schools to the largest with games starting every two hours.
Poland and Hamilton will be meeting for the third time this season and the Poland girls are pursuing the first sectional title for their program.
West Canada Valley and Poland had split decisions during league play and each had knocked the other off the No. 1 spot on the New York State Sportswriters Association's state Class D poll. Poland is currently No. 4 and Hamilton is No. 9, up from No. 12 after beating West Canada Valley which had been No. 4, one spot ahead of Poland, one week ago.
Four of Hamilton's six losses were against Poland and West Canada Valley and the Emerald Knights got some payback for two of them when they took the lead with 1:37 left in their semifinal and closed with a 10-3 run to beat West Canada Valley's Indians 58-55.
"We played good teams all year long," said Hamilton coach Joe LePage whose team has won seven of its last eight games with the lone loss against Poland, "and we played as well as we've played today."
Poland outscored Copenhagen 31-12 in the second half and pulled away from an eight-point lead at halftime that was boosted by a three-point basket from Morgan Weigand with time running out.
"The past three games are probably the best three games we've played all year," Poland coach Jason Potempa said of the Tornadoes' playoff performance.
Beating Copenhagen was also a boost to the team
"It felt good to beat the team that knocked us out last year," said senior Logan Cookinham who broke Shiane Irwin's school record for career points during the game.
Tickets for the sectional finals must be purchased online. The price is $9 per ticket in advance and $10 on game day with family four packs available for $35. The site for orders is https://section3.org/sports/2021/4/29/hometown-ticketing.aspx
Class D: Poland vs. Hamilton
No. 1 seed: West Canada Valley was beaten 58-55 by Hamilton in semifinals
2022 final: No. 1 Copenhagen 58, No. 2 Poland 40
What's next: Winner plays Section X Hammond at SUNY-Potsdam March 10
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Hamilton (17-6) upset West Canada Valley in the semifinals and has won four games since its last loss Feb. 9 - 48-26 to Poland (21-2) at home. Four of the Emerald Knights' six loses came in Center State Conference play against the top two seeds in Class D; their other losses were against Class B Cazenovia, and Class C Unatego from Section IV. In the playoffs, Hamilton beat LaFargeville 55-33 and Watertown-Immaculate Heart 60-45 to get to the semifinals.
Poland was ranked No. 1 in Class D by the New York State Sportswriters Association to start the season and returns to the sectional final wins in each of its last nine games and 17 of its last 18. In the postseason, the Tornadoes have beaten Fabius-Pompey, Belleville-Henderson and Copenhagen by a combined 109 points, avenging last year's finals loss with their 66-39 semifinal win over 2022 state champion Copenhagen.
Hamilton and Poland met twice during the regular season in Division III of the Center State Conference with Poland winning both games, the more recent one by a 48-36 score on the road Feb. 9.
LEADING SCORERS
Logan Cookinham averages 23.7 points for Poland and became the school's career scoring leader during the Tornadoes' semifinal win, almost one year to the day after she scored her 1,000th point in last year's semifinal. Cookinham also averages 11.1 rebounds, 5.1 steals and 4.7 assists; she had 28 points and 10 rebounds in the 2022 sectional final.
Maddison Haver (9.0 ppg) matched her season high with 17 points in the sectional semifinal, Sydney Tabor (8.4) leads Poland with 48 blocked shots, and Morgan Weigand (7.7) has a team-high 38 three-pointers.
Cookinham had the first of back-to-back triple-doubles (32 points, 18 rebounds, 10 assists) in Poland's first win against. She had 12 points and 11 rebounds in the rematch, and Tabor scored 28 points in the two games.
Junior Lindsey Speer (15.0) scored 30 points in the first Poland game but Hamilton's leading scorer has been sidelined since the middle of January. In Speer's absence, the leading scorers for the Emerald Knights are freshman Logan Langel (10.8) and sophomore Reagan Hope (10.1).
Sophomore Chloe LaFance (8.0) is averaging 10.0 points in her last 11 games and junior Colleen Kelly (7.7) is averaging 11.0 in the last eight. Hope scored a season-high 18 points in the fist game without Speer and has averaged 11.5 in her absence, up to 11.9 in the last eight. Langel is up to 15.4 in the last seven games.
Class C: Weedsport vs. Cooperstown
No. 1 seed: Weedsport
2022 final: No. 1 Waterville 39, No. 3 West Canada Valley 31
What's next: Winner plays Section IV champion at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena, Binghamton, March 11
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Cooperstown (18-5) has won 12 games in a row in a season that started with three losses. The Hawkeyes have won three playoff games by 10+ points - Sherburne-Earlville 57-47, Onondaga 55-53 and Westmoreland 58-44. The last game Cooperstown played that was closer than 10 points at the end was a 35-30 win at Mt. Markham Jan. 29. They have scored between 49 and 58 points in their last six games and have allowed only five opponents to reach 50 this season.
Weedsport (19-4) has won seven consecutive games and twice won five in a row earlier this season. The Warriors have beaten LaFayette (64-38), Port Byron (48-33) and Herkimer (51-44) in the playoffs, pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat Herkimer in the semifinals.
Weedsport's four losses were against teams from outside Section III, as were three of Cooperstown's five. The only Section III team to beat either was Class D finalist Hamilton which beat Cooperstown twice.
LEADING SCORERS
Dani Seamon averages 20 points for Cooperstown and has scored 79 in three playoff games while Rory Nelen (8.1 ppg) has scored in double figures in each postseason contest.
Weedsport has senior Morgan Flask (12.1 ppg) and freshmen Kayla Flask (12.5) and Mallory Brown (12.0) sharing the bulk of its scoring. The trio has combined for 39 points against LaFayette, 37 against Port Byron and 31 against Herkimer with Kayla Flask hitting for 19 in each of the first two games.
Class B: Cortland vs. Westhill
No. 1 seed: General Brown was beaten 50-46 by Westhill in semifinals.
2022 final: No. 2 General Brown 47, No. 12 Syracuse-Bishop Grimes 26
What's next: Winner plays Section IV champion at SRC Arena March 11
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Westhill (19-4) broke a halftime tie and held on to beat General Brown, the top seed and defending champion, 50-46 in its semifinal. The Warrior had double digit wins over Adirondack (41-25) and Skaneateles (55-42) earlier in the playoffs and have won five games in a row and have won 17 of their last 18 games after starting the season 3-3.
Cortland (19-4) saw No. 7 Marcellus upset No. 2 Mexico Academy in the quarter and earned a shot at the championship with s 41-35 win over the Mustangs in the semifinals. Cortland led Marcellus 18-17 at halftime, stretched the lead to six points in the third quarter and played the Mustangs even in the fourth. The Purple Tigers have won six consecutive games and 12 of 13 with the only loss against Auburn, the No. 1 seed in Class AA.
LEADING SCORERS
Senior Janiah Robinson averages a double-double (15.8 ppg, 10.4 rpg) for Westhill; she scored 17 points against Skaneateles in the quarterfinals and had a 16-12 game against General Brown. Tess Roesch averages 12.1 points and scored 18 against Adirondack with Robinson out of action. Izzy Young (9.3 ppg) has scored in double figures in all three playoff games while Jules Bleskoski (7.4) has joined her in the last two.
Valerosa Gambitta (14.5 ppg) is the leading scorer for Cortland with Mallory Turner (11.8) and Kendall Mack (11.3) adding double digits. All three have scored in double figures in the last two playoff games, combining for 35 of the team's 41 points against Marcellus and 55 in a 71-48 win over Utica's Notre Dame Jugglers.
Class A: Indian River vs. Central Square
No. 1 seed: Indian River
2022 final:No. 3 Syracuse-Bishop Ludden 68, No. 5 Jamesville-DeWitt 36
What's next: Winner plays Section X champion Malone-Franklin Academy March 8 at Cicero-North Syracuse High School; Wednesday winner plays Section II champion at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy March 11
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Both had byes into the quarterfinals and won at home to open the playoffs then won by double digits in the semifinals at Allyn Hall.
Indian River (20-2) has won 15 of its last 16 games with both of its losses coming against Class B teams. The Warriors have won their last four games - two playoff games and the last two games of the regular season - by an average of 31.8 points.
Central Square (15-7) lost three of four games before beating Class B Cazenovia 41-22 in its regular season finale. The Redhawks' longest win steak was the first five games of the season; they have now won three in a row.
LEADING SCORERS
Ravan Marsell (13.6 ppg), Bella Davis (12.3), Michaela Delles (11.7) and Allision LaMora (11.4) have scored between 210 and 300 points for Indian River this season. Davis had 20 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in the 59-42 semifinal win over Jamesville-DeWitt, Marsell had 24 points and nine steals in the 60-24 quarterfinal win over Watertown, and Delles has 33 points in the two games.
Junior Natalie Bush averaged 15. 4 points for Central Square and scored 20 in the quarterfinals against Oswego. Senior Samanta Haley had a season-high 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her third double-double in the 56-44 semifinal win against Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse.
Class AA: Liverpool vs. Cicero-North Syracuse
No. 1 seed: Auburn was beaten 67-61 by Cicero-North Syracuse in semifinals
2022 final: No. 1 Cicero-North Syracuse 53, No. 2 Baldwinsville 45
What's next: Winner plays Section IV champion at SRC Arena March 11
HOW THEY GOT HERE
With a 10-team playoff field, each finalist won a quarterfinal on its home court then pulled off an upset the semifinals with Cicero-North Syracuse, the defending champion, defeating Auburn, the No. 1 seed, after Liverpool had beaten No. 2 Rome Free 69-52.
Liverpool (19-3) finished one game ahead of Cicero-North Syracuse (16-6) to win the Metro Division of the Salt City Athletic Conference and won both head-to-head meetings during the season.
LEADING SCORERS
Junior Kathleen McRobbie-Taru averages 14.8 points for Cicero-North Syracuse; she has scored 29 combined points in two playoff wins and had six in last year's final. Senior Brianna Weaver (8.4 ppg) led the North Stars with 21 points in their semifinal win and had 17 against Syracuse-Henninger in the quarterfinals.
Senior Nevaeh Wingate leads Liverpool with an average of 19.8 points per game and has scored 28 in each of the Warriors' playoff games.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Section 3 girls to decide basketball championships: What to know
