Monday, December 11, 2023
Busy End to the Sports Week
[photo] Gowanda’s Lauren Kelly (#45) goes up to score early in the December 8 home game against Forestville. Also seen are Layla Gamble (#22) and Christina Wilder (#30).
Friday, December 8, was a very busy day in Varsity sports for Gowanda. All of the Gowanda-based teams were active on the day.
It was the home opener for the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team hosting Forestville, who arrived with only six players for the game. A minute and forty-five seconds into the game Corrina John scored a 3-pointer to open the scoring for Gowanda. A very busy Gowanda 1st Quarter saw the team up 14-5 as the period ended. A Gowanda slump, coupled with a Forestville spurt in Quarter 2, found the score tightened to 19-15 by halftime. Gowanda came out fast after the intermission for their best quarter of play in the game. Outpacing Forestville 17-7 in the period, Gowanda’s lead was back up to 36-22 heading to the final quarter. Stumbling again in the final quarter, Gowanda allowed Forestville to mount a comeback. That Forestville rally fell short as Gowanda pulled out a 44-39 win. The officials called 23 fouls on Gowanda during the game. Fortunately, Forestville only scored on 19 of 46 attempts from the foul line. Leading the Gowanda offense were Lauren Kelly (20 points) and Corrina John (13 points). Also contributing were Christina Wilder (3 points), Layla Gamble (2 points), Autumn Pupo (2 points), Lily Scanlan (2 points), Jules Hageman (1 point) and Marrisa Beaver (1 point).
The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team was at Eden on the 8th for a non-league game. Their results were not as favorable as the girl’s. Eden opened the game scoring from 3-point point range and never looked back. By the end of the 1st Quarter, Gowanda was behind 19-9. Gowanda was hampered throughout the game by uncharacteristically poor ball handling leading to numerous turnovers. An overall off night for the offense found Gowanda down 33-16 by halftime on the way to a 66-41 final score. Making the situation worse. Eden landed a total of six 3-pointers in the game. The Gowanda offense relied on a heavy dose of Quentin Centner, who scored 24 points, including three 3-pointers. Just outside of double digits was Logan Ruff with 9 points. With two points each for Gowanda were Blake Herman, Troy Jimerson and Carson Huch.
The Gowanda boys and girls bowling teams opened their season on Friday the 8th hosting Cattaraugus-Little Valley at Gowanda’s K&L Lanes. both teams recorded big wins to start the season. The boys won their match 2767-1978 with game scores of 974-693, 911-600 and 882-685. With 500-range series for the Gowanda boys were Gavin Whitcher (264-200-121/585), Nicholas Smuda (159-181-188/528), Drezden Spire (207-170-143/520) and Morgan Ruff (138-162-166/466) Also bowling were Zachary Hojnacki (117-125-156/398) and Jarek Howard (89-73-108/270).
The Gowanda girls team had game scores of 755-679, 861-600 and 691-584 for a 2307-1863 win. The girls also had two 500-series bowlers. They were Aubrey Spire (204-170-200/574) and Bailey Shields (180-136-192/508). Also bowling complete series for the Gowanda girls were Makayla Kuras (142-158-102/402) and Emma Golden (124-133-97/354). Sierra Twoguns bowled two games for a total of 241 pins. Bowling single games were Lila Offenbach (128) and Tayleigh Williams (100).
Finally, December 8 & 9 saw the Gowanda wrestling team represented at the Southern Tier Wrestling Officials (STWOA) Tournament along with 25 other schools. Big winner at the tourney was St. Francis with 191 points. In 23rd Place was Gowanda with a score of 30.5. A few highlight Gowanda performances have been reported. In Consolation Round 2 Nathan Warrior (138) had a Technical Fall (15-0) win over Chase Campbell (Northwestern). Also in Consolation Round 2, Jayden Fish (138) earned an 11-6 decision over Dallas Green (Randolph). In Consolation Round 5 Domanik Clark (Randolph) had a 6-4 Sudden Victory win over Gowanda’s Nathan Warrior in the 1st Period of overtime. One Gowanda wrestler, Maddox Hudson (160), made it to the Quarterfinals where he lost by pin (1:22) to Caden Inkley (Randolph). Hudson had made it to the Quarterfinals by pinning Colton Hamilton (Chautauqua Lake-Westfield-Panama) in 2:31.