Gowanda Small Town Times

Saturday, January 7 was all about girls sports. The Varsity girls basketball team was in the second day of the Pioneer Tournament and Gowanda was also represented at the Chautauqua Lake Girls wrestling Invitational.

Having lost to Pioneer on the first day of the tournament, the Gowanda Lady Panthers Varsity basketball team found themselves in the Consolation Round on Saturday facing Franklinville. It was a situation that saw the Gowanda girls throw off their recent problems on offense in a big way.

The 1st quarter started off slow and was close for a while with the score tied both at two and at four. From there, Gowanda ran up six straight points. A final basket by Franklinville left it 10-6 at the end of the period. In the second quarter, the Lady Panthers went on a tear outscoring Franklinville 15-5. That run was led by Cece Rivera with eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers.

The 3rd quarter was the most active of the game with Gowanda edging Franklinville 15-12. After a silent 1st half, Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens took control in the 2nd half with 10 points including two 3-point baskets. The first those was followed by a 3-pointer from Aurora Stevens, who contributed the other five points in the quarter.

With the score 40-23 heading into the final quarter, another eight points from Gao:Wisa:S Stevens helped Gowanda to add 10 to their total. Franklinville totaled seven points in the period capped with a final 3-pointer.

Leading the scoring for Gowanda were Gao:Wisa:S Stevens (18 points) and Cece Rivera (12 points). Both had a pair of 3-point baskets in the game. Hitting single baskets from 3-point range were Aurora Stevens (9 points) and Lily Scanlan (3 points). Rounding out the Gowanda scoring was Crissa Scanlan with 8 points.

The final score of 50-30 marked the Lady Panthers highest point total in a game so far this season. The previous high mark had been 43 points registered against Allegany-Limestone back in December on the second day of the Otto-Eldred Tournament.

Gowanda was also represented by at the Chautauqua Lake Girls Invitational Wrestling Meet on Saturday two girls. Of 18 schools represented, Gowanda tied with Dunkirk for 8th Place just ahead of Springville and just behind Lake Shore. With a more complete team of lady wrestlers, host Chautauqua Lake ran away with 1st Place.

In the 120 weight class, Gowanda’s Emma Schindler cruised through the preliminary rounds winning three time by pin. Those matches were against Alex Siliano (Chautauqua Lake), Ava Holloway (Lockport) and Madison Szymanowski (Chautauqua Lake). In the 1st Round of the finals, Schindler pinned Riley Hjemdahl-Monsen (Springville). She finally was awarded 2nd Place in class after losing to Gracie Hostetler (Warsaw).

Gowanda’s Kiernan Quinn took 3rd Place in the 145 class.