Girls Basketball: Slow start can't stop Amherst in sectional win over Avon

AVON — After only scoring two points in the first quarter of the Division I sectional final Thursday, it would have been easy for Amherst to start thinking about turning in uniforms, playing spring sports and getting back in the weight room. Instead, the Comets turned their focus to defense, defense and more defense and lived to play another day. The fifth-seeded Comets held Avon to eight field goals in the game and six points in a 17-minute span from the second quarter until midway through the fourth quarter as they pulled away to defeat the fourth-seeded Eagles 39-28. It was the second year in a row Amherst (13-11) knocked off the Eagles in a sectional final and the fourth time in five years the teams met in the postseason. Each team has won twice. "Going into tonight on their home court, with their home crowd and they beat us twice in the regular season, I imagine that they had to be feeling pretty good," Amherst coach Jay Valadez said. "It's just not sustainable. We had to weather the initial storm and once we did we knew we could grind it out and pound the ball inside. What do we have that they don't have? A 6-1 girl going to Cleveland State so we kept pounding it inside." Amaya Staton, who committed to Cleveland State earlier this week, led the Comets with 15 points and 16 rebounds despite spending most of the night in foul trouble. "We just looked at the end goal. We know we wanted to get back to EC," Staton said of Elyria Catholic, the site of the Division I district tournament. "We just put our heads in the game, everybody did their part and we got the dub." Avon (16-7) held Amherst scoreless for the first four minutes and held a 7-2 lead after the first quarter. Within minutes the game shifted in the Comets' favor. Staton and Anna Cairns scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 7-6, then Staton scored and got fouled with 6:35 to play in the second quarter to give the Comets their first lead, 8-7. A Brooke Laub 3-pointer, her second of the night, made it 10-10 with 5:12 to play before the half. Avon only made one more field goal until Abby Liber scored with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. By then Amherst had built a 24-16 lead. Liber and Alyssa McLellon led the Eagles with eight points each. "We were not able to get the momentum. We struggled to control the tempo of the game," Avon coach Meghan Larrick said. "They played a great basketball game, which is a testament to Coach Valadez and his girls. It wasn't our night and they did a good job of taking advantage of everything we struggled with." Both teams shot under 30 percent from the field, but Amherst maintained its lead at the free throw line, going 12-for-20 in the second half. "Our defense was awesome tonight. It's the main reason we won," said senior guard Faith Lewis, who scored 11 points. "This is amazing. They beat us twice during conference, so it feels so good to give it back to them." Despite Staton and senior guard Lexy Alston playing with four fouls in the second half, Amherst played only six girls in the game. Lewis credited the girls on the bench with giving the team an emotional boost. "We had great support from the bench, even the girls that don't get in the game," Lewis said. "That just hyped us up. People don't realize how important that support can be." The Comets will play top-seed Olmsted Falls in a district semifinal Tuesday at Elyria Catholic. The Bulldogs defeated Midview 57-37 on Thursday in another sectional final. "We gotta pick it up and practice how we want to play," Staton said. "Olmsted Falls is a good team, we just have to come in with the mindset we're gonna get it done." Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.