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SECTION IV GIRLS BASKETBALL: CANDOR A HANDFUL IN CLASS C LOSS TO NO. 2 D/H (2020-02-26)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
HANCOCK — Candor had to win its last two games of the regular season to qualify for the Section IV Class C playoffs. The Indians did just that, but would receive a low seed and have to go on the road against a formidable opponent.

On Wednesday, 15th-seeded Candor made the nearly 1 1/2-hour trek to face No. 2 Deposit / Hancock and nearly pulled off a major first-round upset. However, the Eagles, who came in sporting a 17-game win-streak, and a No. 8 state ranking, staved off the visitors to collect a 60-47 victory.

The key to staying in the game would be to slow down junior Laycee Drake, Deposit / Hancock's all-time leading scorer, boys or girls. It worked well until the Eagles' aggressive style of play eventually wore Candor down, allowing Drake an opportunity to take control.

"We came into the tournament just hoping to give them a good show," Candor coach Carl Kanoff said. "We knew they were Laycee Drake-oriented. I put Brooke Wilcox on her and I can't say enough about Brooke.

"All year long when we've had a good offensive player against us, it's like, hey Brooke, you've got her, so we knew as soon as we drew Deposit / Hancock and we had Laycee Drake, we knew right at film, you've got No. 2. It wasn't until the end in transition. Her half-court game, we really shut it down and Brooke was a big part of that."

Drake scored just three first-half points before swinging the momentum in the Eagles' favor late to finish with a game-high 21 points.

Candor's Jennah Kareem would keep things close early with a pair of layups and Wilcox drained a 3-pointer to give the Indians a 7-6 edge as the first quarter dipped below the two-minute mark.

The lead would last just 14 seconds as Haleigh Weyrauch answered with a trey, igniting a 10-point burst which she closed out with the second of her four treys on the night.

The Indians' Braelyn Hornick, who found herself getting double-teamed several times, scored her first basket with seven seconds left in the period to make it 16-9 heading into the second quarter. She would end up sharing scoring honors with Drake.

Hornick and Kareem tried cutting into the lead, but two more treys from Weyrauch helped give D/H its biggest lead of the first half, 24-14. However, Hornick recored three consecutive buckets to cut the margin to 24-21.

With 2:06 left in the half, she knocked down a three, then Kilie Streeter nailed a pair of free throws, cutting the lead to 29-25 at intermission.

The Eagles increased their advantage to 32-25 early in the third quarter, but field goals by Kareem and Streeter, followed by pair of free throws and a basket from Hornick, offset four points from Drake to trim the lead to 36-33 midway through the period.

Hornick found Kareem open for a layup with 2:44 on the clock and the senior forward tacked on a follow-up free throw for. With 1:42 left in the quarter, Kareem hit a fall-away while being fouled and again added the foul shot, giving Candor a 39-38 edge.

Sierra Francisco tied the game with a free throw at 1:26, then Drake nailed two foul shots and added a steal and layup in a 12-second span, making it 43-39.

Streeter and Wilcox sank one free apiece before the period ended and the Indians would trail, 43-41, heading into the final frame.

Hornick knotted the score at 43 early in the fourth, but D/H would wear the Indians down and create some key turnovers to score 17 of the final 21 points to pull away. Drake and Ariel Kellam accounted for eight and seven points, respectively.

"Turnovers have been our problem all year," Kanoff said. "Our guards are relatively young. Our strength is certainly in our forwards, but that's something going forward that we work on.

"The beginning of the game we held their press pretty well and they took it off. At the end, there were some passes that didn't bounce our way and went the other way for layups, and that's just how it goes.

"As far as other facets go, we did everything we needed to do to be there. The only better outcome we could have had would be to win the game. Other than that, we've got to be perfectly happy with how it went."

In addition to her 21 points, Hornick pulled down 15 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. She also blocked a shot. Kareem scored 15 points and grabbed 10 boards for her sixth double-double of the season.

Wilcox contributed six points, seven boards and a block; Kadrianna Foster had four steals, three blocks and two steals; Streeter notched five points; Shelby Swartz dished out two assists; and Pearl Ricardo snagged a pair of steals.

"Jennah and Braelyn on the boards, one of the best 1-2 punches, probably, in the IAC. Coaches have been telling me that all year," Kanoff said. "We're certainly going to miss Jennah next year. They both played like what we're used to.

"Our guard play, with Pearl and Nani and Meckenzie (Marsh), they stepped up against a better team, and then Kilie. Kilie had some of the usual effort she puts on the floor every single night. Olivia (Parillo) and Shelby came off the bench to grab some rebounds and give us some quality minutes.

"I can't be prouder as a coach. As a 15 against a two, we're not supposed to win and we were ahead in the third quarter, and we were even most of the game until we ran out of steam."

Kellam scored 17 points and Weyrauch added a dozen more as D/H improved to 20-1 on the season.

Candor finished 8-12.

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IN PHOTO 1: Candor's Jennah Kareem. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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