FONDA – Coming off a big Foothills Council win over Gloversville, the Johnstown Lady Bills turned their attention to fellow Class B contender Fonda-Fultonville Wednesday night.
The host Lady Braves quickly put Johnstown into a 13-point hole midway through the opening quarter before the Lady Bills worked their way back into the game and trailed by a single basket heading into the fourth quarter.
However, that is where the rally stalled.
Led by an eight-point fourth-quarter effort by Julianna Taylor and a tenacious defense, the Lady Braves shut out Johnstown over the final eight minutes to lock up the 50-38 non-league victory on Coaches vs. Cancer Night at Fonda-Fultonville High School.
“It is like a wall went up,” Johnstown coach Tim Derwin said. “We were 3 of 25 shooting the basketball from the field in the second half and we didn’t get to the line much either. When we started pressing we got it going. We rallied, got it to two points and I thought we could push it over the top, but we didn’t.”
Johnstown grabbed the early lead in the game on a 3-pointer from Jesse VanNostrand and a Mallory Baldwin basket, which Fonda-Fultonville countered with a pair of low-post baskets from Miranda Nethaway.
Sparked by 3-pointers from MacKenzie Chest and Nicole Baker, the Lady Braves went on a 15-1 run to put the Lady Bills in 13-point hole, 19-6.
The Lady Bills put together a 6-1 run to end the opening period on the short end of the 20-12 score.
Johnstown steadily worked its way back into the game, using an 11-for-13 performance at the free-throw line and a pair of third-quarter 3-pointers from VanNostrand and Kalia Fisher to cut the Fonda-Fultonville lead to two points, 40-38.
After picking up her fourth personal foul in the third quarter, Taylor returned to the floor two minutes into the final stanza and went on a tear; scoring the Lady Braves final eight points of the game, while pulling down two rebounds and disrupting the Lady Bills’ passing game leading to a scoreless fourth quarter for the Lady Bills.
“[Taylor] is definitely our spark plug,” Fonda-Fultonville coach Tom Nethaway said. “She handles the ball for us and controls the pace. When she is in there playing defense, getting steals and getting up the floor, she is the one that creates havoc when she goes strong to the basket. This year we are strong inside and can score but when she goes to the basket and doing things she normally does, she is tough.”
Taylor finished the game with 13 points, as did Miranda Nethaway, who also had 12 rebounds.
“We are doing better,” coach Nethaway said. “We have been going through a lot of growing pains this year. We have some young players who have been doing a great job and the veterans are stepping up to help them, When the starters are in there we do pretty well then when we get deep into our subs then things start to change a bit. We are playing much better now than when we played these guys the first time. We have four games left and if we can go hard these last four games and get some wins; hopefully it will help our seeding going into sectionals. We should finish about 500 if we can win the rest of the way. Maybe we will get a good seed and possibly a home game along the way.
VanNostrand paced the Lady Bills with her 12-point effort that included three 3-pointers. Claire Guzielek finished with eight points, while Fisher had two 3-pointers in her seven-point effort.
“That has been our team,” Derwin said. “The element we had the other night [54-46 win over Gloversville] was just an element that wasn’t here. It is tough to get what we had the other night every night and we talked about that. We got to that level and now we have to match it night after night. I thought we had good looks but they didn’t go.”
The Lady Bills have a pair of Foothills Council road games remaining on their schedule before returning home on Feb. 8 for Senior Night and a non-league game against Mechanicville.
Fonda-Fultonville 50, Johnstown 38
Johnstown12 12 14 0 – 38
Fonda-Fultonville20 11 9 10 – 50
Johnstown
VanNostrand 4-1-12, Baldwin 1-0-2, Williams 0-1-1, Fisher 2-1-7, VanAernam 1-2-4, Guzielek 2-4-8, Cirillo 0-4-4. Totals: 10-13-38.
Fonda-Fultonville
Nethaway 6-1-13, Baker 2-0-5, Chest 2-0-5, Subik 3-0-6, Taylor 6-1-13, Wilder 3-2-8. Totals: 22-4-50.
3-point goals: Johnstown 5 (VanNostrand 3, Fisher 2); Fonda-Fultonville 2 (Chest, Baker).
Foothills Council
Glens Falls 53, South Glens Falls 38
SOUTH GLENS FALLS – Taylor Scarincio scored 17 points to lead Glens Falls to a Foothills Council North Division win over South Glens Falls.
Sophie Tougas had 16 points for the Indians.
Alexa Brown led the South Glens Falls with 17 points.
Glens Falls 53, South Glens Falls 38
Glens Falls11 11 14 17 – 53
South Glens Falls11 11 6 10 – 38
Glens Falls
Borgos 1-0-2, Hogan 3-0-8, Moses 1-0-2, Scarincio 8-1-17, L. Tougas 4-0-8, S. Tougas 6-3-16. Totals 23-4-53.
South Glens Falls
Bourdeau 1-0-2, Brown 7-3-17, Buser 2-0-4, Capozucca 0-1-1, Collier 3-0-6, Coon 2-0-6, DeRidder 0-2-2. Totals 15-6-38.
3-point goals: Glens Falls 3 (Hogan 2, S. Tougas); South Glens Falls 2 (Coon 2).
WAC
Mekeel Christian 41, Bishop Maginn 11
ALBANY – Rebekkah Dean scored 21 points to lead Mekeel Christian Academy to a WAC South Division win over Bishop Maginn.
Jessica Perkins scored nine points to lead Bishop Maginn.
Mekeel Christian 41, Bishop Maginn 11
Mekeel Christian12 8 15 6 – 41
Bishop Maginn1 0 6 4 – 11
Mekeel Christian
Armao 1-0-2, Simmons 1-0-3, Dean 9-2-21, M. Show 0-1-1, Singleton 2-2-7, Rychcik 3-0-7. Totals 16-5-41.
Bishop Maginn
Merges 0-1-1, McCall 0-1-1, Perkins 4-0-9. Totals 4-2-11.
3-point goals: Mekeel Christian 4 (Simmons, Dean, Singleton, Rychcik); Bishop Maginn 1 (Perkins).
Non-league
Saratoga Springs 56, Amsterdam 51
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Maddie Chudy finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Saratoga Springs to a non-league win over Amsterdam.
Kerry Flaherty scored 15 points for the Blue Streaks, while Catherine Cairns had 14 points.
Nina Fedullo finished with 22 points to lead Amsterdam (12-4 overall), which had its eight-game win streak snapped.
Saratoga Springs 56, Amsterdam 51
Amsterdam11 11 12 17 – 51
Saratoga Springs10 10 17 19 – 56
Amsterdam
Lomanto 2-0-6, Santiago 1-0-2, Fedullo 6-9-22, Devine 4-0-9, Pritchard 3-2-8, Duemler 0-1-1, Roach 1-1-3. Totals 17-13-51.
Saratoga Springs
Cairns 4-5-14, Flaherty 5-5-15, Reilly 0-2-2, Chudy 7-4-18, Elliott 0-1-1, Barringer 2-0-4. Totals 18-19-56.
3-point goals: Amsterdam 4 (Lomanto 2, Fedullo, Devine); Saratoga Springs 1 (Cairns).
