P.O. Box 5
Afton, NY 13730
607.639.8200

Monday, March 8, 2004

Record-breaker Kemmerer lifts girls to 53-47 defeat of Downsville

High School Girls Basketball: Section Four Class D Championship

By Dean Russin

Sports Editor

BINGHAMTON - Afton senior Renee Kemmerer got her mitts on a Section Four championship Saturday.

And for once, mitts had nothing to do with it.

Part of Afton's last five Section Four Class D softball championship teams, Kemmerer finished with a game-high 23 points and a team-best 11 rebounds Saturday to lead the Crimson Knights to a 53-47 girls basketball victory over Downsville at Broome County Arena.

"I've talked to softball coach (Cindy Bostelman), but right now, it's all basketball," said Kemmerer, who became Afton's all-time leading scorer in her fifth varsity season of girls basketball. Kemmerer broke the school record of 1,651 points set in 1979 by Cathy Decker, who is Afton's athletic director.

"Just to play and to win means so much more to me than breaking the record," said Kemmerer, who entered the Section Four Class D final needing 17 points to tie Decker. Kemmerer broke the record two minutes into the third period on an end-to-end lay-up that pulled Afton to within one point of the Eagles, at 29-28.

"I'm excited that I broke a record, but that's not what I was going for in my high school career," she continued. "For my last year, I wanted to win Section Four and we did it. Our four seniors were so excited. This is the way we want to end it."

Fourth-seeded Afton, which won its first sectional title in girls basketball since 1988 and fourth overall, advanced to a state quarterfinal at 4 p.m. Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High. The Knights (16-9) play Sackets Harbor (20-3), which beat New York Mills, 55-53, Friday in the Section Three Class D final at Jefferson Community College.

The winner of Saturday's game advances to the Class D state semifinals March 20 at Hudson Valley CC.

Much like it did against second-seeded Downsville (18-5), Afton will need a lot more than Kemmerer to keep its season alive.

Senior Ashley Manderville and sophomore Chelsea Beames contributed 11 points apiece and combined for five of the Knights' seven three-point field goals.

After missing all five of her three-point attempts in the third quarter, Beames opened the fourth with a three from the top of the key to give Afton a 35-31 lead. Alexa Henderson countered for Downsville with a floater in the lane, but Manderville looped in a three from the right wing for a 38-33 lead with 6:16 to play.

"That's when they're tough," said Downsville coach Kyle Emerich, whose program made its first appearance in a sectional final since winning three consecutive crowns from 1977-79. "I've been watching them all year. Kemmerer always has big games, but it's when the other ones don't have big games is when they lose. They stepped up today, so you've got to give them credit."

The Eagles were slipping fast, but Henderson hit another floater in the paint to draw Downsville within 44-39 with 2:30 left. An Afton turnover followed by a missed three-pointer by Henderson set up Beames for arguably the biggest shot of the final.

Alone on the right wing, Beames took a pass, locked her eyes on the basket and hit a three-pointer with 1:15 to play for a 47-39 Afton lead.

"At the end, my last three was big," said Beames, who scored eight points in Afton's 21-16 fourth quarter. "I tried to ignore the fact that you can't see behind the basket, so I just concentrated on the basket."

Afton closed with a 6-for-9 effort from the foul line as time ran out on Downsville.

"We were really excited to go to the Arena," said Kemmerer, who also helped Afton to a sectional title in field hockey in 2000. "We played Downsville once and we beat them, but they're a great team."

Foul trouble made Downsville seem a little less spectacular.

"We got in foul trouble and had to go to the zone, which we didn't want to do, but with four fouls on two of my starters, we had to go to a zone," Emerich said. "They hit the threes, hats off to them. They don't hit those threes and it's a different game."

Courtney Hoyt and Henderson highlighted a 22-point second quarter for Downsville, which scored its first points on an inside basket by Linnea Mattson (game-high 17 rebounds) with 48.2 seconds left in the opening period.

Hoyt, who got her third foul with 4:28 left in the first half, scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter.

Henderson scored eight of her 20 points in the second quarter, closing the half with a 28-footer at the buzzer that gave the Eagles a 27-24 advantage at intermission.

"That was crazy," said Henderson, who added she made a halfcourt shot at a smaller gym last season. "I don't know how it went in. I didn't think it was going to be even close to it. I just chucked it up."

Afton coach John Simonds said he was happy to see Henderson make the long shot to end the half.

"Milford made one, Worcester made one, they made one," Simonds said. "I said it was a great omen, we're going to win this game because in all the other sectional games, the same thing happened."

Hoyt, who missed her last eight shots, sat more than seven minutes in the second half after getting her fourth foul with 3:23 left in the third period.

"Alexa stepped up when (Hoyt) got in foul trouble," Emerich said. "Someone always seems to do that. We just had a little spurt there in the fourth quarter where we were just one pass-shoot, one pass-shoot and we weren't executing.

"They out-executed us."

AFTON 53, DOWNSVILLE 47

SECTION FOUR CLASS D CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday at Broome County Arena

4-AFTON (16-9): Chelsea Beames 4-10 0-1 11, Brittney Sines 0-1 0-0 0, Stephanie Birch 0-0 0-0 0, Renee Kemmerer 8-22 6-11 23, Ashley Manderville 3-7 3-5 11, Heather Sines 1-5 0-0 2, Amanda VanBuren 0-1 0-0 0, Crystal Simonds 1-5 3-4 6, Joelynn Sines 0-4 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-55 12-21 53.

2-DOWNSVILLE (18-5): Alana Henderson 0-2 0-0 0, Charity Emerich 0-5 0-0 0, Linnea Mattson 4-13 0-0 8, Alexa Henderson 7-16 4-5 20, Nickie Odell 4-9 1-3 9, Courtney Hoyt 4-16 2-2 10. TOTALS: 19-54 7-10 47.

Afton 12 12 8 21 - 53

Downsville 5 22 4 16 - 47

Three-point field goals: Afton 7-for-20 (Beames 3-8, Kemmerer 1-3, Manderville 2-4, H. Sines 0-2, Simonds 1-3); Downsville 2-for-14 (Ala. Henderson 0-1, Emerich 0-3, Ale. Henderson 2-4, Hoyt 0-6).

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AFTON GIRLS IN SECTIONAL FINALS

Results from Afton's seven appearances in Section Four Championship girls basketball games.

Year Class Opponent Result

1977 C Harpursville L, 45-37

1978 C Davenport W, 70-51

1979 C Newfield W, 47-45

1980 C Newfield L, 56-28

1987 D Gilboa L, 61-60

1988 D Morris W, 60-58

2004 D Downsville W, 53-47

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Dean Russin can be reached at drussin@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 215.