Leading off today: Trailing virtually the whole game,
Pittsford Mendon kept a perfect season alive be defeating Lake Shore 68-66 in overtime in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association girls Class A basketball quarterfinals Saturday.
Ellie Mooney scored team-high 22 points for the Vikings.
"I love our resiliency. Lake Shore had that game won four times and we would just not let them off the hook. We got a lot of good players," Mendon coach Todd Julien said. "I love our fight. You may beat us but not without a fight, and we are just going to lock down defensively and do what we have to do."
Mendon was down 53-50 with 12 seconds left in regulation when freshman Danielle Strauf hit the tying 3-pointer.
"She knocks those down every practice and I knew it was going in," Mooney said.
Baldwin ousted: Junior point guard Janelle Brown scored a team-high 14 points and senior Nyla Longford came through with 12 points and 20 rebounds as Longwood downed Baldwin 48-43 in the Class AA quarterfinals.
Baldwin was the two-time defending NYSPHSAA champion and captured the Federation Class AA crow last winter.
Longford came through with a blocked shot and a steal on consecutive Baldwin possessions to help preserve a 45-41 lead.
"Nyia is the rock of our program," coach James Castiglione said. "She will go down as one of the most special team athletes that we've ever had at Longwood."
Baldwin's Kaia Harrison had 22 points in the loss. Harrison's three-point play with 2:21 remaining put the Bruins ahead for the last time at 41-40 before Tatiana Stevens and Kanesha Strider hit a free throw apiece for the Lions, who lost to Baldwin 56-47 in last December.
Midlakes stays alive: Midlakes played a gritty second half to force overtime and then pulled out a 57-51 win over East Aurora to advance to the Class B semifinals for the second consecutive year.
East Aurora led 30-19 at the half.
"You've got to give East Aurora a ton of credit," Midlakes coach Nate Rich said. "They had a great game plan against us. They slowed us down in the first half, and they executed their offense really well."
After Midlakes pulled ahead, East Aurora went on a late 8-0 run that gave the Blue Devils a 46-41 lead. The Screaming Eagles rattled off five straight points, the final two a pair of Alaina Forbes (21 points) free throws, to tie.
Cambridge back in semis: Cambridge rattled off the first 12 points of its Class C quarterfinal and then held steady to defeat Moriah 60-47 at Beekmantown High School.
Lilly Phillips scored the Indians' first 10 points of the third quarter and finished with a game-high 22. Her twin sister Sophie had 18.
"I knew I needed to shoot the ball a little bit more," Lilly Phillips said. "(Noel Williams) was a great player and I knew she was guarding me. I had been playing in the post for a while, so I knew I needed to get her in foul trouble because I'm a lot taller than her. I knew we had to get it going."
Cambridge reached the Class C semifinals last winter.
Repeat performance: Franklinville eliminated Elba from the Class D tournament for the second year in a row by turning a four-point margin at the half into a 49-32 win.
Dani Haskell outscored the Lancers by herself, going 16-for-20 on free throws on her way to 33 points.
