By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — The Spencer-Van Etten girls basketball team dropped clashes with Moravia and Odessa-Montour recently, falling to the Blue Devils, 46-16, in a crossover game Thursday after dropping a 35-20 verdict to O-M on Wednesday.
MORAVIA 46, S-VE 16
The Panthers played some solid defense against a bigger Moravia team, especially in the early stages of the game.
Caroline Wasileski scored a basket and added a pair of free throws in the first three minutes, but the Devils were otherwise held in check until a Kendall Hess 3-pointer at 3:15.
Moravia would build an 11-0 lead until Kaylee Kastenhuber put the Panthers on the scoreboard with a bucket with 13 seconds to go in the first period.
“They're a good team,” coach Justin Cole said. “I thought we actually played pretty well defensively. I know they've been scoring 50-60 points on the regular and to hold them to 46, I was really happy with how we played.
“Team defense too. We helped great, we talked, we communicated. I think we held their leading scorers down a little bit, but we’ve got to get some points.”
It’s not just Moravia’s height that gave them an advantage. They have a few players who are built to get physical when necessary, and those same girls can hit shots from the outside as well.
“They're strong,” Cole said. “ It's tough, because they're strong on the inside and the same girls who are strong down low can go outside and shoot threes all day.
“We knew defensively it was going to be tough, but like I said, I'm very proud of how we played on the defensive end. We just really need to get it going on the offensive side. Even at the beginning, we had a lot of good looks, a lot of good layups. We’ve just got to make some and make our free throws too. We got a decent amount of free throws in the second half. We’ve got to put those down too.”
Experience played in Moravia’s favor as well. Half of its roster are holdovers from the 2024 state championship team.
The Devils would score the first 12 points of the second quarter, extending their lead to 23-2, then Emma Neish and Kaidince Root would tally back-to-back baskets for S-VE. A Wasileski free throw made it 24-6 at the half.
The Panthers’ Lauren Gillette scored the first point of the second half on a free throw, but Kylee Cooper responded with a 3-pointer to make it a 27-7 game. Kendall Hess added a free throw and trey near the midway point of the period, pushing the elad to 31-7.
Kastenhuber canned a free throw with 53 seconds left in the quarter and Moravia would carry a 35-8 advantage into the finals stanza.
The Devils scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to make it 41-8, then Gillette came up with a basket and Root followed with a free throw.
Moravia took a 46-11 lead into the final minute and the Panthers closed out the scoring with a Kelsea Swayze 3-pointer and a Kendall Gentile basket.
S-VE had balanced scoring as Gillette, Kastenhuber, Root and Swayze accounted for three points apiece, and Gentile and Neish tacked on two points each.
Gillette grabbed five rebounds, and added three steals and one assist; Kastenhuber snagged seven boards and had one steal; Trinity Dashler chipped in with five boards and two steals; Maddie Ellison added three rebounds; Swayze had two boards; and Nesih tacked on one steal.
Hess scored13 points and Wasileski added 12 as Moravia improved to 13-3 with its fifth straight win.
O-M 42, S-VE 30
S-VE didn’t have a solution for the Grizzlies’ Leah Antes, who pumped out 30 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. She went 14-for-15 at the free throw line and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.
The sophomore, in her third season on varsity, inched closer to the 1,000-point mark, sits at 990 with four games remaining in the regular season.
S-VE grabbed a 6-5 lead in the first quarter, but slipped behind, 14-17, at the break.
The Panthers rallied to tie the game at 24 heading into the final frame, but O-M went on an 18-6 run to pull away. Antes and Olivia Barr connected for one trey apiece, and Antes was 6-for-6 at the charity stripe.
Gillette paced S-VE with 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and an assist; Amani Diboun contributed eight points, three rebounds an assist and a steal; Dashler had four points, six boards, an assist and a steal; Gentile recorded four points, two boards, two assists and one steal; Ellison added two points and one rebound; Kastenhuber had five rebounds and four steals; and Root tacked on three boards.
S-VE (4-11) hosts Candor (10-3) on Tuesday.
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IN PHOTO 1: Trinity Dashler. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
