Devils Extend West Title Streak To 9

By DAVE SHEA

AND STEVE HEATON

HAMMOND - Entering Monday's regular season finale one game behind Harrisville in the NAC West Girls Basketball race; the Lady Red Devils of Hammond and their coaches were focused on things they could control.

Honoring seniors Malynda Jenne and Sam Martin and preparing for the defense of their Section 10 Class D Championship. They ended up sitting pretty on three fronts.

The Devils (10-2 NAC, 14-4) concluded league play with a dominant 45-point second half to gain a 68-44 win over Heuvelton (3-9 NAC West). Later they learned that they had clinched at least a share of a ninth straight NAC West title when Hermon-DeKalb (8-3) registered an impressive 56-32 upset of Harrisville (9-2 NAC, 13-3).

Jenne completed an outstanding senior season by scoring 18 points with six rebounds in an outstanding team performance on the boards and passed out five assists. Martin tallied the final point of the Hammond home season drawing a rousing ovation with a free throw in the final 30 seconds.

Malynda Jenne is the daughter of David and Tina Jenne and owns the distinction of contributing to a NYS Final Four appearance in every varsity season and is the last remaining player from the program's back-to-back state championships. A dedicated role player who blossomed into a multi-talented all-star caliber player as a senior; Jenne ranks at the top of her class academically, is the Senior Class President and played the lead character in this year's Senior Play. She plans to attend Clarkson University to pursue a double major in Business Management/Entrepreneurship and Marketing and hopes to continue her basketball career.

Sam Martin is the daughter and Michael and Tisa Martin and was part of last year's NYS Final Four appearance. She served as soccer captain in the fall, has been a class officer for two years and plans to attend SUNY Canton to pursue a Nursing Degree. "As their Coach I would like to thank Malynda and Sam for their dedication over the years along with their parents for understanding the sacrifice it took for their daughters to become the players you see here tonight," said Hammond Coach Sean Dack.

Coach Dack was very pleased for the way his team shifted gears in the second half pulling away from a 25-19 lead by controlling the boards, forcing the Bulldogs to the perimeter on offense and creating scoring opportunities off sharp cuts in the halfcourt offense and alert passes on the fastbreak.

A wealth of transition sequences created a well-balanced winning offense where Chelsea Milsap (3 steals) tallied 13 points and Courtney Whalen (5 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Alyssa Crosby (5 assists) allk followed with 12 points. Tricia Boland tallied eight points with six rebounds and Brianne Langtry added four points and four rebounds.

"It was just a matter of playing harder in the second half and doing all the little things right. This is the time of the year that you have to do the little things right or you go home," said Coach Dack. Because of the second half-half stepup, the Devils went home league co-champions on Monday.

"Hammond just dominated the boards in the second half and we let them get out and run," said Heuvelton Coach Rob Powers whose game plan was severely compromised by early foul trouble to center Kara Leonard.

Sam Weaver tallied 17 points in fine jump-shooting night to lead Heuvelton with Kate Nicholson scoring eight points and Cheyenne Martin scoring seven points with four assists. Leonard grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots.

In the junior varsity game Coach Danielle Limoges' Heuvelton JV's capped a 15-3 season and a 12-2 league record with a 46-32 win. Logan Tallman (3 assists, 4 steals) sparked the offense hitting four three-pointers in a 16-point outing and Aliza Armstrong (9 rebounds, 3 steals) and Alexis Weidner (3 steals) each tallied nine points.

Maddie St. Pierre (4 points) controlled 11 rebounds and three steals and Abby Williams added five points. Courtney Bova and Taylor Bowman tallied 14 and eight points for Hammond.

Hermon-DeKalb 53, Harrisville 37: The Demons pulled a wrinkle in the NAC West standings snapping Harrisville's seven game win streak improving to 8-3, 11-6 with a home contest against Morristown on Thursday to close the regular season."We stayed in our 2-3 zone and our press was pretty effective tonight. We kept them off balance," said H-D Coach Steve Morrill.

Rochelle Whitton exploded for 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds, collected eight steals and tallied three assists for the Demons who used 14-4 second quarter and 12-5 fourth quarter advantages to anchor the win. Brianna Sayer tallied 11 points, ripped down eight rebounds, collected eight steals, and generated three assists while Kelly Williams scored 13 points, tallied five steals and three rebounds. Kaylee O'Donnell added four poinjts, five steals, two rebounds and three assists.

Patty Coloney scored 15 points for Harrisville (9-2, 12-2) and Kathleen Coloney added 10.

Lisbon 44, Morristown 32: The Knights (4-8, 7-10) snapped a six game losing streak dating back to Janaury 8 taking control early on Senior Night where Coach Dickie Marcellus honored three seniors Caitlin Hammond, Taylor Fargo, and Mackenzie Walker.

"We plugged the middle extremely well. Defensively, we did a great job against Liz Whalen but Claire Plummer had a nice game for them. This win is much needed. Hopefully, we can get another win on Wednesday at Chateaugay to improve our playoff seeding," said LCS Coach Dickie Marcellus.

Jaclyn Moore's interior presence generated 10 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks for LCS in a near triple-double performance. Alison Akins added eight points, grabbed six rebounds, collected five steals and six assists. Caitlin Hammond provided seven points and tallied eight board while Aleashia Parmeter tallied five points, four steals. Mackenzie Walker posted five boards and Taylor Fargoe hit a three in a five point effort. Claire Plummer scored 18 points for MCS (4-7, 7-9) which finishes its season at Hermon-DeKalb on Thursday. Amanda Bertrand added four points

In the junior varsity contest, Morristown upended Lisbon 37-24. Liz Plummber scored 11 points in a balanced MCS effort where Macy Wilson scored eight, Jessica Nugent added seven and Erica Fishel chipped in five.Jessica Cooke scored six points, grabbed 10 rebounds and collected two assists for LCS. Jackie Sovie added six points while Alison Crowley (four rebounds), Emily Dishaw (five rebounds, four points), Allison Mitchell (four rebounds, three steals), Gabby Walker (two points three assists), and Beth Crowley (four points) all contributed.