Gowanda Small Town Times

Wednesday, February 1, marked the last home bowling competition of the current Winter Sports season. That means it was also Senior Night for the boys and girls bowling teams. Seniors Cameron Clark and Drew Shull were honored before the match for their contributions to the team over the years.

The boys got an easy 4-0 win going up against a West Valley team with just four bowlers. High score for Gowanda came from Nichloas Smuda with games of 216, 194 and 194 for a 604 series. In the 500s were Drew Shull (163-196-212/571) and Gavin Whitcher (146-187-225/558). Also bowling all three games were Kory Degenfelder (165-110-169/444) and Drezden Spire (141-130-113/384). Splitting the final set were Zachary Hojnacki (2 games / 253) and Aiden Gray (1 game / 114).

For the girls, a 719-701 win in Game 3, left them with a 1-3 loss. Aubrey Smuda let the Gowanda girls with games of 163, 137 and 204 for a 504 set. Grouped in the 300s were Cameron Clark (153-106-133/392), Demetra Spire (124-115-126/365) and Sierra Twoguns (122-134-101/357). Also bowling for the Gowanda girls were Emma Golden (260 series) and Natalia Elliott (251 series).

As to Senior Night, the Gowanda bowling coach related the following:

“Cami Clark, daughter of Missi & Dan Clark, has bowled on the team for 5 years. Her enthusiasm and leadership skills will be missed next year! You will do great things at college, & any business will be lucky to have you work for them, Cami!”

“Drew Shull, son of Jacquie & Ben Shields and Joe & Kim Shull, has bowled at K & L since he was 5 years old and has been on the team for the past 3 years. Drew has been in the top 10 of his division all 3 years! His ability and leadership skills will also be missed next year. Good luck Drew, you will excel at your job with the Bricklayers & Masons after graduation!”

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team was at Falconer. Earlier in the season, the Gowanda meeting of the two teams ended in a 41-54 Gowanda loss in the first league game of the season. Since then Falconer has only lost one CCAA East divisional game. That was at Cassadaga Valley, a team that Gowanda beat at home.

The game was scoreless for almost three minutes before Crissa Scanlan opened the scoring for Gowanda. A subsequent foul shot had them up 3-0. It would take Falconer until there was just 2:20 left in the 1st quarter to get their first points. They were still able to build a 6-3 lead by the end of the period.

In the 2nd period, it was Cianna Hidalgo’s pair of baskets that helped Gowanda tie things at 7. Falconer rallied from there. A final basket with 11 seconds left in the half boosted the Falconer lead to 14-9.

The 3rd period opened with Aurora Steven scoring twice for Gowanda closing the Gowanda deficit to 13-14. Again Falconer rallied. This time taking their advantage to 22-13. A Gowanda surge late in the quarter brought them to four points off the lead at 20-24.

The final quarter was closely contested and Gowanda was within three points with 4:18 left in the game. Scanlan, under the Falconer basket, went up to block a shot. On video, it seems clear that she cleanly caught the top of the ball, but was still called for a foul. When the Gowanda coach questioned the call, the official relied “I called it. Let’s not talk about it”. Falconer was then given three technical foul shots, all of which were made. Thirty-four seconds later, at 3:44, there was a scramble for a loose ball between Hidalgo and Falconer star, Dani Krenzer. While it looked like Hidalgo got to the ball first and both girls were equally involved in terms of contact. Hildago was charged with a critical foul. At that point she had fouled out of the game forcing Gowanda to play four against five for the final 3-½ minutes. During that time, Falconer outpaced Gowanda 9-4 padding their victory margin to 40-29.

Leading the Gowanda effort was Aurora Stevens with 10 points, including Gowanda’s only 3-pointer of the game. Also contributing to the Gowanda total were Crissa Scanlan (7 points), Chloe Luther (6 points) and Cece Rivera (6 points).

In what is becoming an annual event, the village of Gowanda was again a stop for the Torch Run preceding the Empire State Winter Games. On Monday, January 30, just after 9 AM members of the Gowanda cross country team arrived at the Gowanda branch of Community Bank with the torch. The Gowanda segment of the torch run included visits to the local schools before heading to the final local destination. Coordinating the run in Gowanda was Community Bank District Manager, Ralph Swanson, who is based out of the Gowanda branch. At the bank, there was a photo op with the runners alone and with bank employees and officials.

Led in the run from the school to the bank by Gowanda Cross Country coach Dave Bolen were cross country team members Kory Degenfelder, Jeffrey Whipple; back: Ethan Bachek, Nicholas Smuda, Drew Shull and Kaily Farner.

Monday evening it was the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team taking on Cassadaga Valley. This was also “Cheer For Lindsey” night at the game. “Cheer For Lindsey” raises money for a scholarship fund in memory of former cheerleader, Lindsey Rebmann, who died in a vehicle accident in 2004.

The game itself was even closer than the 48-41 final score might suggest. Cassadaga Valley hit a 3-pointer in the early moments of the contest to start things out. Gowanda answered with Blake Herman scoring on a free throw and 3-point basket to pull in front. A Quentin Centner basket put Gowanda up 6-3. Cassadaga Valley then went on a run to close out the 1st quarter up 12-8.

In the 2nd quarter, Centner hit twice from long rang while contributing ten points to a Gowanda 13-point quarter. Cassadaga Valley struggled through the midsection of the game with several in-and-out shots refusing to go through the hoop. They only managed six points in the period leaving the halftime score at 21-18 with Gowanda on top.

The 3rd quarter production for both teams nearly equaled the previous quarter taking the score to 34-25. Just before the end of the quarter, Gowanda had reached their biggest lead of the game at 34-23.

Cassadaga Valley battled back in the final quarter. Aided by a pair of 3-pointers, they reduced the Gowanda lead to 40-39 just past the middle of the period. The game remained tight down the stretch until John Ondus landed a 3-pointer of his own with 46 seconds left on the clock to cushion Gowanda’s advantage to 45-41. Gowanda added another three points from the foul line, two with 16 seconds left and one with 4.5 left. That closed things out at 48-41.

Leading the scoring for Gowanda was Quentin Centner with 21 points. Scoring in double digits for the team were John Ondus (13) and Blake Herman (11). Also scoring for Gowanda were Tyler Smith and Andrew Barlow.

The Gowanda boys and girls bowling team hosted Allegany-Limestone for a match that had previously been postponed twice. The Gowanda boys upped their record to 10-4 with a 4-0 win. The girls slipped to 6-6 with a 0-4 loss to a still unbeaten Allegany-Limestone girls team. Gowanda missed winning the first game of the match by just five pins, 779-784.

Top bowlers for the Gowanda boys were Nicholas Smuda (148-169-202/519), Gavin Whitcher (161-192-153/506) and Drew Shull (196-118-177/491). Bowling in the 300s were Drezden Spire (114-161-117/392), Zachary Hojnacki (120-147-124/391) and Kory Degenfelder (119-122-125/366).

Topping the Gowanda girls were Aubrey Smuda (171-149-114/434) and Demetra Spire (137-132-163/432). With 300-range series were Cameron Clark (153-131-113/397), Sierra Twoguns (118-139-78/335) and Emma Golden (112-136-81/329). Natalia Elliott had a 238 series.

Boys Basketball 7-8

Friday, January 27

Portville at Gowanda
Gowanda 66, Portville 49

Girls Basketball 5-8, 1-4

Wednesday, January 25

Cattaraugus-L.V. at Gowanda
- non-league; canceled -

Thursday, January 26

Gowanda at Frewsburg
Gowanda 44, Frewsburg 68

Bowling boys 9-4; girls 6-5

Wednesday, January 25

Allegany/Limestone at Gowanda
- Snow Cancelation by A-LS -

Thursday, January 26

Gowanda at Allegany/Limestone
boys
Gowanda 4, Alegany-Limestone 0
820-735/884-696/823-686
girls
Gowanda 0, Allegany-Limestone 4
603-871/631-917/686-784

Friday, January 27

Gowanda at Genesee Valley
boys
Gowanda 0, Genesee Valley 4
940-1103/1012-1040/996-1012
girls
Gowanda 4, Genesee Valley 0
620-533/715-506/689-529

Cheerleading

Saturday, January 28

Competition at Sweethome
- J.V. only -
Gowanda took 2nd place in the D2 large JV division

On Friday, January 27, the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team hosted Portville. Gowanda started out slow allowing Portville to move into an early 8-3 lead. Gowanda regrouped and worked back into the lead. A Quentin Centner 3-pointer with six seconds left in the 1st quarter gave them a 16-12 advantage at that point.

Gowanda began to string baskets together regularly in the 2nd quarter. Centner ran up ten points in the period helping Gowanda to outpace Portville 18-12 towards a 34-24 halftime score.

The teams both fought hard in the 3rd quarter. It was Gowanda’s weakest scoring quarter allowing Portville to edge Gowanda by a point in the period. That brought the score to 45-36 with Gowanda in control.

Gowanda’s 4th quarter was their best effort of the game. They outscored Portville 12-4 in the closing minutes to nail down a 66-49 win. It was their first victory league competition.

Quentin Centner had three 3-pointers and led Gowanda with 19 points. John Ondus added another 17 points. Also in double digits were Tyler Smith (12 points) and Blake Herman (10 points). Andrew Barlow, Cole Herman. Alex Pachucinski and Victor Rivera also scored for Gowanda.

Also on Friday, the Gowanda boys and girls bowling teams were at Genesee Valley. Regarding the event, the Gowanda coach commented “The bowling teams were on Friday night!”. Even with Gavin Whitcher rolling his season high game & series and Drezden Spire having his season high game, Gowanda fell short 0-4 to a high-powered Genesee Valley team.

The following Gowanda boys all had very strong series: Drew Shull (200-235-189/624), Gavin Whitcher (181-236-168/585) and Nicholas Smuda (170-185-188/543). Also bowling all three games for Gowanda were Drezden Spire (134-125-208/467) and Kory Degenfelder (127-118-130/375). Also participating for the Gowanda boys were Zachary Hojnacki (241/2 games) and Aiden Gray (113 game).

The Gowanda girls won their match 4-0. Aubrey Smuda (112-192-168/472) led the Gowanda girls while bowling her season high game and series. With series in the 300s were Cameron Clark (117-152-120/389) and Sierra Twoguns (96-102-126/324). Gowanda girls the 200s were Natalia Elliott (100-94-97/291), Emma Golden (106-79-101/286) and Makayla Kuras (89-96-77/262). Those scores represent season high series for both Elliott and Golden.