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Top Mohawk Valley teams meet as race for playoff seedings in girls basketball heats up

jon rathbun, times telegram
·5 min read

HERKIMER - With January winding down, midterm exams complete and winter weather finally settling in, the races for league titles and sectional seeds are tightening up for the area's basketball girls.

Section III playoff seeding is scheduled for the day after Valentine's and word got out last week that basketball sectionals will again have an open format for 2023. While no teams will be scrambling to qualify, there will be fewer byes for preliminary round play at the end of the second full week of February.

Such was the backdrop as the girls from eight Center State Conference and Tri-Valley League schools hit the floor at Herkimer College on Sunday for the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge. Included on the schedule were league leaders from Cooperstown, Little Falls and Utica-Notre Dame along with some of their toughest challengers.

New Hartford Spartan Danielle Lucas attempts a layup against Utica-Notre Dame Sunday during the second half of a game at the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge. New Hartford and Notre Dame squared off in the third of foiur games at Herkimer College.
New Hartford Spartan Danielle Lucas attempts a layup against Utica-Notre Dame Sunday during the second half of a game at the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge. New Hartford and Notre Dame squared off in the third of foiur games at Herkimer College.

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

Little Falls, Cooperstown and West Canada Valley entered the weekend atop the three divisions of the Center State Conference and unbeaten in league play. Notre Dame's record is also unblemished within the Pioneer Division for the Tri-Valley League's smaller schools.

West Canada Valley, the Center State Conference division leader that did not play Sunday, was the first to clinch its league title with Monday's 64-26 win over Oriskany. The Indians, unbeaten (16-0) and ranked first in the state in Class D, have one league game remaining against Poland.

Herkimer had held third place behind Little Falls in Division I of the Center State Conference before beating second-place Dolgeville 53-45 at home Thursday. That game gave Little Falls a two game lead, but Herkimer's Magicians (9-6, 4-2 CSC-I) cut it back to one with a 48-36 win over the Mounties (7-7, 5-1 CSC-I) in Sunday's opener.

Little Falls got into early foul trouble and trailed by 15 points at halftime. The Mounties git as close as nine points once in the second half. Madison Marusic scored 20 points in the win for Herkimer while Alexis Kress and Adrianna Izzo, Little Falls' leading scorers, combined for 11 points and one field goal; Ava Grcic led Little Falls with nine points in the loss.

Big week ahead in Section 3 girls basketball

Herkimer Magician Bailey Bray gets caught between Little Falls Mounties Alyssa Eckler and Andylynn Podlas (from left) during the opening game of the Utica Biard of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge at Herkimer College Sunday.
Herkimer Magician Bailey Bray gets caught between Little Falls Mounties Alyssa Eckler and Andylynn Podlas (from left) during the opening game of the Utica Biard of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge at Herkimer College Sunday.

The Mounties and Magicians meet again Tuesday in Little Falls, the beginning of a big week for the Mounties and the home stretch of the race for the league title. Little Falls plays at Dolgeville Thursday - Dolgeville (10-5, 5-2 CSC-I) beat Adirondack in overtime Monday and moved within half a game of the Mounties - and travels to Waterville Saturday for a non-league game against the reigning Class C sectional champion.

Dolgeville has two league games remaining, as will Herkimer and Little Falls after Tuesday.

Cooperstown (11-5, 8-0 CSC-II) has a two-game cushion over Mt. Markham (9-6, 6-2 CSC-II) after beating the Mustangs 35-30 Sunday and Waterville 35-16 Monday in the first two of four games in five days. The margin in the standings in even narrower between the Hawkeyes and Westmoreland's Bulldogs (11-4, 8-1 CSC-II), 52-37 winners over Clinton (5-8, 2-6 CSC-II) in Sunday's final game.

Cooperstown finishes its current flurry of games with a Thursday game at Westmoreland. Those two teams meet again next week in Cooperstown after Mt. Markham visits Westmoreland Monday. Mt. Markham beat Westmorelnd at home in early January and the Mustangs have lost only to Cooperstown in league play.

Cooperstown led 15-12 at halftime Sunday and opened a nine-point lead with the first basket of the fourth quarter. Mt. Markham got back within three points on two free throws by Jenna Kocienda in the final minute of play but those were the team's final points.

Cooprstown's Dani Seamon puts up a shot against Mt. Markham Sunday during the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge at Herkimer College.
Cooprstown's Dani Seamon puts up a shot against Mt. Markham Sunday during the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge at Herkimer College.

Dani Seamon scored the first five points of the game and 12 of Cooperstown's 15 before halftime on her way to a game-high 24. Caroline Entwistle scored 20 points for Mt. Markham

Westmoreland trailed for most of the first half against Clinton but led 26-21 at halftime. The lead was eight points entering the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run pushing the margin to 17.

Sophomore Madalynne Enos scored 19 points for the Bulldogs while senior Ella McGregor and seventh-grader Julianna Otis each scored 10. Abby Hemstrought led Clinton with 16 points.

Westmoreland Bulldogs Julianna Otis (11) and Jacqueline Downs (2) swarm Clinton Warrior Eva Gaetano during the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge Sunday in Herkimer.
Westmoreland Bulldogs Julianna Otis (11) and Jacqueline Downs (2) swarm Clinton Warrior Eva Gaetano during the Utica Board of Officials for Women's Basketball Cancer Challenge Sunday in Herkimer.

Notre Dame (9-6, 5-0 TVL Pioneer) beat New Hartford (7-5, 0-2 TVL Colonial) 72-50 in the teams' Tri-Valley League crossover. Notre Dame's Jugglers add the win over a Class A team to their unblemished mark within their division and 5-0 mark against fellow Class B teams.

The Jugglers' five remaining regular season games are all against Bs starting Tuesday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. The average margin of victory has been 36 points in the previous five.

Ella Trinkaus continued her impressive freshman season with her first varsity triple-double - 23 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots with six steals thrown in. Older sister Maggie Trinkaus added 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and Sydney Sehring hit four three-point shots

Notre Dame Juggler Ella Trinkaus spots up for a shot at Herkimer College Sunday, during a game against New Hartford. Trinkaus, a freshman, had her first varsity triple-double in Notre Dame's 72-50 victory.
Notre Dame Juggler Ella Trinkaus spots up for a shot at Herkimer College Sunday, during a game against New Hartford. Trinkaus, a freshman, had her first varsity triple-double in Notre Dame's 72-50 victory.

The Jugglers jumped out to 16-3 lead in the game's first 3 1/2 minutes and led by 20 less than two minutes into the second quarter.

New Hartford sophomore Danielle Lucas scored 14 points.

Notre Dame has home games remaining against Holland Patent and Camden before a Feb. 10 trip to Oneida. Oneida's Indians (8-6, 5-1 TVL Pioneer) are second in the league standings and lost 54-47 to then Jugglers in an earlier meeting in Utica.

Rome Free Academy (13-3, 3-0 TVL Colonial) leads the standings in the Tri-Valley League's Colonial Division for its larger schools.

Stockbridge Valley (5-8, 4-0 CCL) leads the five-team Central Counties League standings but still has to play second place Madison (4-10, 3-1 CCL) twice.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Section 3 girls basketball: Race for playoff seedings heats up