Doing what winning ball clubs are supposed to do, the Ilion Golden Bombers defeated Adirondack 56-46 on Wednesday.
Ilion (11-5) had a very big game from junior forward Sarah Alexander. Alexander finished the game with a game-high 29 points. 16 of that came in the second half, helping the Bombers increased a once two point lead at halftime (29-27) to ten points by the end of the game (56-46).
What also allowed Alexander to get going was the fact that Sarah Edward was on the bench for most of the game with foul trouble. The Wildcats drew 12 fouls in the first half and had Marissa Maldonado, Abby Coffin and Edwards all sitting on the bench more than they wanted to with three fouls each. Alexander stepped up her game though, both offensively and defensively, and set the tone, letting the Wildcats know that they were going to be in for a fight.
Drawing so many fouls also allowed Adirondack to stay in the game during the first half. The Wildcats had ten more foul shots attempted (14 to 10) than the Bombers did, and made 12 of them. Their shooting from the line allowed the Wildcats to weather through a 6-0 run and 5-0 run by Ilion in the first and second quarter.
What their foul shooting also did was allow the Wildcats to tie the game with just over a minute left in the half, after falling down by as many as seven points in the second quarter (19-12) after Marissa Maldonado hit her second three-point field goal in five offensive possessions.
A 5-0 run by the Wildcats, thanks to a three-point play by Rachel Hitt and two made foul shots by Reina Platt, tied the game at 27.
Ilion had the last points in the half when S. Alexander hit an 18-foot jump shot from the just inside the three-point line with 12.4 seconds left. The Wildcats final offensive possession of the half ended when Amanda Alexander stole a pass, ending their late run.
The second half saw the Bombers do a better job of not fouling Adirondack and allowing them to hang around. Led by S. Alexander’s 16 points and Sarah Edwards six rebounds and four blocks in the second half, Ilion outmuscled Adirondack to an eventual ten point win.
For Ilion, they had six girls score in the game. They were Marissa Maldonado, Amanda Alexander, Sarah Alexander, Sarah Edwards, Christina Wright and Abby Coffin. Maldonado scored 10 points (all in the first half), A. Alexander scored four points, S. Alexander scored 29 points, and dished out three assists, Edwards scored six points (all in the first half), grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots, Wright scored three points and had three assists and Coffin scored four points.
