Tigers rout Blue Jackets to advance

ATTICA - "We're not done yet!"It was the rallying battle cry as each member of the Seneca East girls basketball team cut down a portion of the net Thursday night.Between an early lead and high-intensity defense, SE routed New Riegel in Division VII sectional final action on Thursday, 70-16."Today our focus was getting our intensity up," SE senior guard Izzy Stockmaster said. "The last couple of games, our defense has been on a low, and I thought our intensity was up tonight."Getting the ball down to the post and getting inside is something that the Tigers (16-7) struggled with in their last two games, and not really looking to where to shoot."We had to be more aggressive on both ends of the court," SE coach George Parks said. "We did well with that. We were flat a couple games ago, but the girls responded well and I am pleased with their effort."The game meant a bit more to Parks and the current class of seniors though. Four years ago, the current team found themselves in the same position that the Blue Jackets (1-22) are in now as far as record goes."We did have a rough season," NR coach Lauren Hutton said. "But I have seen improvement in these girls. Seneca East is a great team, and they are very senior-heavy. They have been playing together for years, but our guards are young and that makes it hard when they put the pressure on us. My girls didn't give up and they kept on fighting. The goal was to get better and I think we have done that."SE has eight seniors while NR has none. SE raced out to put the first six points on the board within the first minute of the game.NR responded with a Molly Pahl basket, cutting it to 6-2.Madi Smith answered with a basket that was converted to three points when she went to the free throw line, making it 9-2.Lexi Lafontaine then knocked down a bucket before SE called a timeout with 5:48 on the board.After that, the Tigers cruised on a 22-point run between seven steals from Stockmaster and nine turnovers from NR.In the second quarter, it wasn't much better for the NR, though it would be its highest scoring quarter of nine points. SE continued its run from the first quarter and put another eight points on before Lilly Schalk made it to the free throw line. She split her pair, but the score was 40-7.It was stop and go the rest of the quarter. Jordyn Enders and Alexa Snay knocked down baskets before Pahl threw in one of her three baskets for the quarter."We played more reserved in the first quarter because we kept getting fouls," Hutton said. "But in the second and third quarters we were able to do a bit better."But the damage was done. It was 51-13 at the half with a second running clock."With the running clock, it's a bit difficult to get into a rhythm," Parks said. "A couple of foul shots takes two minutes off the clock, and then to play everybody just takes time too. But once we found our rhythm, we played well."NR scored a total of three points in the second half, while SE scored 19.The defensive intensity from SE resulted in 21 turnovers from NR, and in five girls from SE having steals."Tonight was about us," Parks said. "It doesn't matter the color of the jersey. We have to take care of our business and we had to get better."Leading the Tigers was Snay with 17 points, followed by Lillian Burkholder with 12. Stockmaster only had six points, but had eight steals. NR's leader was Pahl with eight points.SE will now take on the winner of Hopewell-Loudon and Lucas."Tomorrow we will get a lot of shots up," Parks said. "We will watch film of this one, and Saturday we will go watch and once we know, then we will prepare for the next one." Seneca East 70, New Riegel 16NEW RIEGEL (1-22): Molly Pahl 4-0-8, Lexi Lafountaine 2-1-3, Madi Pusateri 1-0-2, Lily Schalk 1-0-2, Ava Hershman 0-1-1 TOTALS: 7-2-16SENECA EAST (16-7): Cami Lantz 1-0-2, Jordyn Enders 2-0-5, Valerie Bordner 1-0-3, Alexa Snay 7-3-17, Allie Smith 2-0-5, Aubrey Ritzler 1-0-5, Madi Smith 2-1-5, Karli Foos 3-0-6, Izzy Stockmaster 1-3-6, Lillian Burkholder 5-2-12 TOTALS: 27-11-70New Riegel 4 9 1 2 –16Seneca East 32 19 9 10 –70Three-point goals: New Riegel 0; Seneca East 5 (Enders, Bordner, A. Smith, Ritzler, Burkholder)