Gowanda Small Town Times

The Gowanda Varsity Girls Basketball team returned after the holiday break on January 5, This first game in 2023 was also the first league competition of the season after going 3-3 in non-league competition before Christmas. The game, played in Gowanda, saw the team play host to Falconer who arrived with a 5-3 non-league record.

The game featured very physical, scrappy defense on both sides for most of the game. Falconer quickly scored the first four points in the game. Gowanda countered by rallying back to go up 6-4. The game was tied at eight with 1:25 left in the 1st quarter before Falconer went on a 10-point blitz. That brought the score at the end of the period to 8-18. Most of the Falconer scoring came from DanI Krenzer who was a thorn in Gowanda’s side all night. She scored the first four Falconer points and seven of the last ten in the quarter.

After the 1st quarter, things slowed down for the next two quarters as Gowanda kept pace with Falconer. The teams each scored just 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Falconer increased their lead by two on the 3rd edging Gowanda 10-8 in that period. The final quarter saw Gowanda’s strongest effort. Falconer opened the quarter moving into a 14-point, 40-26 lead before Gowanda surged back to narrow the gap to eight at 40-32. The 10-point advantage that Falconer had built in the opening quarter proved impossible to overcome. With 1:11 left in the game, Gowanda was still behind 50-41. The game ended in a 54-41 Falconer as they piled on several last minute free throws. Gowanda JVs won the opener 37-24.

Crissa Scanlan led Gowanda scoring with 12 points. Chloe Luther was right behind with 11 points, including Gowanda’s only 3-pointer. With six points each for Gowanda were Gao:Wisa:S Stevens and Aurora Stevens. As For Falconer, it was all Dani Krenzer. She had a career high 33-point night including four 3-point baskets. Krenzer also accounted for 13 of Falconer’s 18 1st quarter points.