SALAMANCA — Lezly McComber collected 18 points and Keianna John notched 11 to key the Salamanca girls basketball team to its first league victory of the year.
Salamanca defeated Gowanda, 49-42, in CCAA East I play Thursday night.
John drilled three of the Warriors’ six 3-pointers while Karina Crouse hit two en route to eight points. All five treys came in the first half, helping Salamanca to a 28-22 edge that it was able to maintain through the second half.
“It feels good to get back in the win column, especially against a league opponent,” said Salamanca coach Joe Hinman, whose team jumped back above .500 (5-4) while ending a mini two-game slide. “Gowanda always plays a physical brand of basketball and I thought we stayed poised throughout the game.
“Our shooters shot it great early on. Keianna and Karina hit some big 3s in the first half to give us momentum and Lezly played the ‘finisher’ role for us in the second half. They went on a few runs but our girls played resilient basketball until the final buzzer.”
Gao:Wisa:S Stevens had 15 points, including four treys, while Chloe Luther posted 11 for Gowanda.
CCAA EAST II
Ellicottville 56, North Collins 29
ELLICOTTVILLE — Allison Rowland scored 12 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line to lead Ellicottville (7-4, 3-0).
Courtney Marsh had grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds and Ryah Quinn had 12 rebounds with five steals. Rowland made five assists. Natalee Leiper and Ande Northrup had four steals each.
For North Collins (1-7, 0-3), Hailey Jasinski scored 12 points.
Pine Valley 56, Cattaraugus-Little Valley 20
SOUTH DAYTON — Pine Valley’s Danielle West dropped in 15 points en route to victory.
Also for Pine Valley (4-7, 2-1), Paige Hohl had 12 points.
For Cattaraugus-Little Valley (1-9, 0-3), Emma West scored a team-best six points.
CCAA WEST I
Randolph 57, Olean 43
OLEAN — For the second-straight game, Olean hung with one of its league’s powerhouses.
But for the second-straight game, it came up a little short.
After a slow first half in which they managed just 14 points and went into the break down 12 (26-14), the Huskies went shot for shot with Randolph in the third quarter — with both scoring 21 points — facing a manageable 47-35 deficit entering the fourth. But the Cardinals did enough to keep it there.
Payton Morrison went for 20 points and Skylar Herrington totaled 17 to key Randolph to win. It was the sixth-straight win following an 0-3 start for the Cardinals, who’d tested themselves in early non-league games against Nichols, Panama, St. Mary’s-Lancaster.
Leah Williams had another head-turning game for the Huskies, piling up 27 points, including six of Olean’s nine 3-pointers, and 15 rebounds. Amy Campbell posted 10 points and Olivia Kratts grabbed seven rebounds for Olean (4-5, 1-2).
The Huskies had played 8-2 Southwestern to within 49-38 on Monday night. In a game Wednesday that featured 38 fouls and three foul-outs, Kyra Pence added 12 points for the Cardinals.
“Just another tough game,” OHS coach Chelsea Bowker said. “Southwestern and Randolph are at the top of our league and we’re hanging with them. Randolph has a lot of shooters, they play hard and we stuck right with them.”
