Gowanda Small Town Times

On February, 13, the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team closed out their regular season schedule at Randolph. Coming in, Randolph was ranked #1 in both Section 6 Class C and the CCAA East 1. So, it was a daunting challenge. Randolph cruised by Gowanda in a game that saw them land 17 3-pointers. Down 17-7 after the first quarter, Gowanda was pounded 32-10 in the second bring the halftime score to 49-17. It was much of the same in the second half leading to a final score of 91-37. Leading Gowanda was Quentin Centner with four 3-pointers and a total of 23 points. Tyler Smith was a distant second with 5 points.

On February 15, the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team ended their regular season hosting Frewsburg in a make-up game. A terrible 1st quarter put Gowanda in an early 26-9 hole that they couldn’t work their way out of. Over the next two quarters, Frewsburg outpaced Gowanda, but only by a 31-26 margin. It was still enough to allow Frewsburg to cruise to a 75-45 victory. The game was marred my many extremely questionable calls many of which went against Gowanda in the first half. One official called Gowanda twice for technical fouls for simply questioning some calls. He also stopped the game at one point to argue with Gowanda fans who were reacting with reserved disapproval to some calls. Gowanda’s total of 45 points was their second highest of the season. Leading Gowanda were Crissa Scanlan and Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens with 14 points each. Stevens had two 3-pointers in that effort. Scanlan’s production was limited by being severely mugged every time she touched the ball under the basket forcing her to spend a lot of time shooting foul shots, when fouls were actually called. Aurora Stevens also scored in double digits for Gowanda with 11 points.

February 15 was also the girls bowling Sectionals at Airport Lanes. Gowanda was one of 22 teams in Division 2 to compete. Maryvale took 1st place with 5124 pins. In 14th Place was Gowanda with 4089. Top three bowlers for the Gowanda girls were Aubrey Smuda (119, 149, 183, 158, 167, 171/947), Demetra Spire (127, 136, 168, 129, 124, 195/879) and Sierra (Twoguns 113, 110, 136, 109, 178, 124/770).

On Thursday, February 16, it was the boys bowling Sectionals, again, at Airport Lanes. Taking 1st Place in Division 2 was West Seneca East with 5964 pins. Gowanda finished 16th with 4594. The Gowanda boys were led by Drew Shull (178, 179, 200, 142, 168, 183/1050) and Nicholas Smuda (156, 193, 185, 135, 175, 160/1004).

The 4th Annual Women`s Intersectional Invitational Championships were held on Saturday, February 18. Gowanda was one of 9 schools attending the event. Two Gowanda girls made Top 3 in their weight class. They were Ke’ya Stevens (at 132) taking 2nd Place and Kiernan Quinn (at 145) taking 3rd Place.

On February 15 and 16, the Section VI Boys Swimming Championships / State Qualifiers were held at Alumni Arena in Buffalo, NY. Niagara Wheatfield took 1st Place with a score of 233.6. In 4th Place with a score of 172.0 was Eden. Down at 35th Place was Akron with 64.7. Neither of the two Gowanda boys swimming for Eden were represented in the team scoring.

The Gowanda cheerleaders were scheduled to compete at Iroquois on February 15 and at the Sectionals on February 18. It has now been reported that the Gowanda squad placed 5th at Iroquois and 8th at Starpoint for Section VI D2 Small Varsity.

Boys Basketball 8-12

Monday, February 13

Boys Basketball at Randolph
Gowanda 37, Randolph 91

Girls Basketball 6-12, 2-8

Wednesday, February 15

Girls Basketball vs. Frewsburg
Gowanda 45, Frewsburg 75

Wrestling 1-4

Saturday, February 18

4th Annual Women`s Intersectional Invitational Championship (9 schools)
Ke’ya Stevens 2nd place at 132 pounds
Kiernan Quinn 3rd place at 145 pounds

Bowling boys 12-4, girls 7-7

Wednesday, February 15

Girls Bowling Sectionals(7-7)Airport Lanes
Division 2
1st Maryvale 5124
14th Gowanda 4089
22nd Research Lab 2720

Thursday, February 16

Boys Bowling Sectionals (12-4)
Division 2 (22 teams)
1st West Seneca East 5964
16th Gowanda 4594
22nd Leonardo da Vinci 2754

Cheerleading

Wednesday, February 15

at Iroquois
Gowanda 5th in Section VI D2 Small Varsity

Saturday, February 18

at Starpoint
Gowanda 8th in Section VI D2 Small Varsity

Swimming 7-4

Feb 15-16

Section VI Boys Championships / State Qualifier
at Alumni Arena Buffalo, NY
1st Niagara Wheatfield 233.6
4th Eden/Gowanda 172.0
35th Akron 64.7

On February 11, 2023 five members of the Gowanda wrestling team were at the NY Section VI D2 Championships at Lake Shore High School in Angola, NY. Gowanda was one of 33 schools represented at the competition. The Gowanda boys involved are Owen Pfaffenbach (at 110), Greg Reid & Jayden Fish ( at 118) and Michael Horth & Nathan Warrior (at 145).

Two of the Gowanda boys made it into the finals. Greg Reid took 6th Place at 118. He lost an 8-2 decision in the 5th Place Match to Adan Harris (Newfane). Michael Horth took 5th Place at 145 pinning Christian Klonowski (Akron) in 2:59 in the 5th Place Match.

On February 10 the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team was at Portville.

It was another tough game for the Gowanda girls. They were down 10-2 early in the 1st quarter and their offense never really got going. Despite a minor rally late in the period, they were still down 13-8 going into the 2nd quarter. Gowanda was totally ineffective in the 2nd quarter falling to 28-8. Then, at the end of that period, Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens put five points on the Gowanda ledger. The last three of those came on a shot from the right side of mid-court at the buzzer.

Down 28-13 heading into the second half, things didn’t get better. Gowanda struggled to come up with 6 points while Portville added another 15 to their tally. With the game well out of reach to start the final quarter Portville was content to coast to the final buzzer. It would be Portville’s only quarter to fall short of double digits with just 8 points. Although Chloe Luther hit a 3-pointer in that period, Gowanda still only totaled six points as a team for the quarter. That left the final score at 51-25.

Crissa Scanlan had 10 points to lead Gowanda. Close behind, Gao:Wisa:S Stevens had 9. Also with one or more points for Gowanda were Chloe Luther, Lily Scanlan and Christina Wilder.

The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team was at Portville on February 8. In the 1st quarter, Portville jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. Gowanda narrowed that to 8-7 before Portville hit on back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a rally that pushed their lead back out to 18-7. That margin held to the end of the period where the score stood at 21-11.

Gowanda fought their way back in the 2nd quarter. Outscoring Portville 11-2 Gowanda closed to within a point at 23-22. A pair of Quentin Centner 3-point baskets helped Gowanda pull ahead 30-29 by halftime.

A defense dominated 3rd quarter followed. Portville built a 4-point lead in the first half of the period and Gowanda countered that in the bottom half. After three quarters, the game was tied at 38.

In the crucial final period Portville opened up with a pair of 3-pointers as they went on a 12-point tear. With the score 50-38 at that point, Portville coasted to a win. Gowanda had only managed to reach 49 points when Blake Herman landed a 3-pointer from way outside at the buzzer. That left the final score at 57-52.

Leading the Gowanda offense was Quentin Centner with 18 points. Also in double digits for Gowanda were Blake Herman with 13 points and Tyler Smith with 10. Victor Rivera, Cole Herman, Tyler Smith and Andrew Barlow also scored for Gowanda.

February 8 also saw the Gowanda girls bowling team travel to Fredonia’s Lucky Lanes for a Rolloff involving 20 schools. Dunkirk finished in 1st Place with games of 1,219, 1,062 and 1,098 for a 3,379 series. Gowanda (1,031-1,079-1,004/3,114) was 4th and Randolph (918-956-1,007/2,881) was 18th. Cassadaga Valley (810-857-855-2,522) and Maple Grove (819-765-837-2,421) were there with less than 5 bowlers.