P.O. Box 5
Afton, NY 13730
607.639.8200

Thursday, February 28, 2002
From The Daily Star
Afton sizes up to Blue Devils

By Jeff Vella

Staff Writer

ONEONTA — Size vs. quickness.

The age-old debate was played out in Wednesday night's Section Four Class D girls basketball semifinal at Oneonta State's Alumni Field House.

Score one for the little girls.

Third-seeded Afton used its superior athleticism and endurance to outlast a considerably taller Margaretville team, 57-44.

The Indians (15-6) trailed most of the way before a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter broke open a 39-39 game. Sparking the run was quick-as-a-hiccup point guard Renee Kemmerer, who at 5-foot-3 is the poster girl for Afton's small ball approach. Kemmerer made two of her six steals in the fourth and scored six of her eight points.

"Basketball is a game of guards, I think," Afton coach John Simonds said. "Renee is our catalyst. When she goes, we go. All year, that's the way it's been. Especially defensively. She's a good scorer, but when she clicks defensively, the whole team does. That's what made the difference in the fourth quarter."

Kemmerer said the Indians' desire helped put them over the top in the fourth, when they outscored the Blue Devils, 23-9.

"We wanted to win so bad," she said. "We just wanted it. We knew we had to push ourselves. (In the fourth) we just needed to talk to each other on defense and let each other know when picks are coming."

Second-seeded Margaretville (18-3), which has three starters 5-foot-9 or taller, struggled to set up its offense in the fourth against the full-court press of Afton.

"We extended our man-to-man full court and we wanted to make them move the ball up," said Simonds. "They were killing us inside. It was obvious. We tried to get them out of their offense and I think it worked pretty good."

Margaretville point guard Erica Connelly managed to break through the wall of Afton defenders on most occasions, but by the time the Blue Devils started a play, 10 or 15 seconds already ticked off the shot clock.

"It may have gotten us up out of our rhythm," Margaretville coach John Bernhardt said. "They really didn't make many steals, but a press doesn't have to. It takes a little longer to get set up and sometimes the wrong person takes the shot."

The decisive 10-0 run started with fewer than six minutes to go when Kris Kelly (13 points) canned a baseline floater and was fouled. She made the free throw, and guard Brandy Jennings hit a layup off a cut on the ensuing possession to make it 44-39. Kemmerer followed with a basket off a scrum underneath and Crystal Simonds — Afton's tallest starter at 5-8 — scored off a drive and added a free throw to make it 49-39.

"I think their athleticism took over," said Bernhardt. "They were quicker than us — all game, really. I think it came to play in the fourth quarter. They were very assertive and aggressive when they took the lead. Once they got their foot in the door, they didn't let us re-open it."

Afton stayed close in the third quarter, thanks in large part to forward Brigitte Hansen, who scored six of her team-high 17 points in the period. Margaretville led at the half, 23-19, but could never stretch the lead beyond four points.

In the first half, Margaretville's Heather Russell scored 10 of her team-high 17 points to lead the way.

Her partners on the front line, 5-11 Justine Allen and 5-9 Jenna Bernhardt, finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

For Afton, Kelly had 13 points and Jennings 12.

Afton will play top-seeded South Kortright (22-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday in the finals at the Broome County Arena with a state playoff berth on the line. It will be the teams' first meeting this season.

AFTON 57, MARGARETVILLE 44

SECTION FOUR CLASS D SEMIFINAL

at Oneonta State

AFTON: Brigitte Hansen 7 3-6 17, Renee Kemmerer 3 2-3 8, Brandy Jennings 5 2-6 12, Kris Kelly 5 1-1 13, Crystal Simonds 3 1-2 7. TOTALS: 23 9-18 57.

MARGARETVILLE: Savannah Hinkley 0 0-0 0, Heather Russell 7 3-4 17, Shauna Mead 0 0-0 0, Patti Nolan 0 0-0 0, Erica Connelly 2 0-0 4, Jenna Bernhardt 4 2-2 10, Justine Allen 6 1-3 13. TOTALS: 19 6-9 44.

Afton 11 8 15 23 — 57

Margaretville 10 13 12 9 — 44

Three-point field goals: A 2 (Kelly 2); M 0.