Aquinas girls, World of Inquiry boys basketball advance to state semifinals
The Li'l Irish rallied from a ten-point second-half deficit to advance to the state semifinals for the second straight year.
Starpoint led 28-23 at the half and took a ten-point lead early in the third quarter. But Aquinas rallied, with a 7-0 run pushing the Li'l Irish to a 41-37 lead heading into the fourth.
Starpoint scored six straight points to take a 43-41 lead, but Aquinas then locked down on defense. Starpoint was held scoreless for nearly five minutes, with the Li'l Irish scoring 13 straight points to take a 54-43 lead which proved to be the difference.
Senior Molly O'Toole led the Irish with 22 points, with 19 coming in the second half. She also had six rebounds and four blocks.
AJ Orr tallied 16 points, while Samiyah Wright had 9 points and 12 rebounds.
Aquinas (23-1) advances to the state final four where they will play either Horseheads (IV) or Warwick (IX) on Saturday, March 22nd at 11:45 a.m.
Last year, Aquians lost in the Class A state semifinals 63-46 to Catholic Central, the eventual state champs. Both teams were moved up to Class AA this year.
The Red Raiders briefly held Lancaster in check, but Madison Francis pulled her team to a blowout win with 29 points.
Fairport (14-9) did a good job defensively early and led 5-3, but Lancaster then went on a 10-0 run to take a 13-5 lead into the second.
That run continued into the second quarter, as Lancaster scored the first 15 of the frame to get the Legends far ahead for good. Francis, a Mississippi State commit, scored 16 points in the first half.
A stifling third quarter lifted the World of Inquiry Griffins into the state final four, continuing their historic season.
World of Inquiry led 31-26 at the half, then outscored Akron 19-3 in the third quarter to pull away for a 21-point lead at 50-29. The Griffins mustered up just eight points in the final quarter, but the game was far over by then. World of Inquiry never trailed in the game.
Kanaz Linder led four Griffins in double figures with 16 points. Devin Dillon had 13, Curtis Bell scored 11, Jaedon Adams-Griffin scored 10, while Junayde Dunn-Richardson added 8.
World of Inquiry (22-3), which won its first-ever sectional title earlier this month, will play in the state semifinals on Saturday, March 22nd at 11:45 a.m. They will play either Marcellus (III) or Mechanicville (2) in Binghamton.
Avery Council and Jalen Taggart combined for 50 points, but it was not enough as Rush-Henrietta fell to Jamestown for the second time this season.
Jamestown hit four three-pointers to take a 20-10 lead after the first quarter. They led 38-27 at halftime and 56-44 after the third quarter.
Rush-Henrietta cut the deficit to five points with just over three minutes to go in the game, but Jaydian Johnson hit one of his five three-pointers to put Jamestown back in front by eight.
Johnson had a game-high 29 points for Jamestown.
Council netted 27 points while Taggart had 23 for Rush-Henrietta (20-3).
This was the second time the two teams played this year, with Rush-Henrietta falling 71-51 on February 14th in Jamestown.
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