Whitesboro Digs In, Earns Win Over Oneida

February 1, 2019

Whitesboro 53, Oneida 46

The ladies took center stage at Whitesboro HS on Friday night, as two of the Tri-Valley League's top teams took the court for an interesting matchup. A cold start both ways turned entertaining as the game went on, and Whitesboro got contributions from a handful of players in the 2nd half to earn a quality victory and run their record in 2019 to 6-1 - 6-0 against Section 3 competition.

Whitesboro took advantage of their size & strength advantage early, and Grace Stuhlman got them off on the right foot.

Whitesboro was locked in on the defensive end early, and mixing that with cold Oneida shooting when they did get looks, and it was a struggle for the visiting Indians for much of the 1st half. Thankfully for them, scoring wasn't much easier for Whitesboro in what was a sluggish start on offense. The hosts jumped to a 9-2 lead midway through the 1st quarter off the strength of Grace Stuhlman (Whitesboro 2021) in the post and Kiley Snow (Whitesboro 2020) at the wing, and they extended their lead to 8 late in the 1st quarter while Oneida endured a scoreless stretch of nearly 6 minutes. Another Stuhlman bucket early in the 2nd quarter gave Whitesboro a 14-7 edge, but they'd then endure their own scoring drought of over 5 minutes. It took a while for Oneida to take advantage, as they once again went without scoring for an extended period, this time a 4 minute stretch, but they went on a flurry in the back end of the 1st half. It started with a Kaylin Curro (Oneida 2022) three with 3:16 left in the half. She then buried another trey, and Ella Rainbow (Oneida 2021) and Lauren Skibitski (Oneida 2019) added triples to make it a 12-1 run and give them a 19-15 edge before Alana Batson (Whitesboro 2021) stopped the bleeding with a three for the Warriors before the half.

The action heated up coming out of the locker room, and the 3rd quarter saw 5 lead changes as neither team was able to seize control. Back-to-back threes from Curro & Rainbow gave Oneida their largest lead early in the 3rd at 25-20, but Whitesboro went on a 7-0 run and took a lead in the middle of the quarter on a pair of Stuhlman free throws. Oneida grabbed the lead one more time in the quarter, after Sydney Lusher (Oneida 2021) knocked down a three and Skibitski tacked on a pair of free throws to go up 32-30. But in the final minute of the 3rd, Hannah Scott (Whitesboro 2019) scored to tie it up, and then Snow was fouled just before the quarter buzzer went off - Oneida's 5th team foul. Snow made both free throws, giving Whitesboro a 34-32 lead. She added a putback to start the 4th, and after Skibitski hit a three for Oneida, Whitesboro got 5 straight points from Batson to give them a 41-35 lead. Oneida responded with another Lusher trey, just beating the shot clock, to quickly calm what looked like it may be a momentum shifter. But Whitesboro kept producing, getting baskets from Scott & Batson to extend their lead to 7 in what was a high-octane start to the 4th. Oneida would make it a one-possession game one more time, when Rainbow knocked down a left wing three to cut their deficit to 47-44 with 1:57 left, but Scott hit a free throw and Kelsey Wands (Whitesboro 2019) scored off a nice feed from Batson to give Whitesboro breathing room late. Snow, Scott, and Wands all split trips to the free throw line in the final 40 seconds and aside from a Lusher floater with :28.1 left, Whitesboro was able to get stops in the final two minutes to secure the win.

Sydney Lusher finished with 10 points and 8 assists, & she made a couple big shots in the 4th quarter to help keep Oneida in the game.

Alana Batson had a strong game for Whitesboro, and she had 7 of her game high 16 points in the 4th quarter. Kiley Snow added 11 points, Grace Stuhlman chipped in with 9, and Hannah Scott & Kelsey Wands finished with 8 apiece. For Oneida, Lauren Skibitski led the way with 14 points. Sydney Lusher added 10 points, and Ella Rainbow & Kaylin Curro added 9 each as both teams showed balance. 30 of Oneida's 46 points came off the strength of 10 made threes.


#JeffsNotes

- Really solid game from Whitesboro 2021 Alana Batson - perhaps the best I've seen her play overall, as she showed improvement in different aspects that I've been hoping for. She finished with 16 points - a game high - but as usual, it wasn't just the point total to me. The 5'7" lefty guard has the reputation as a knockdown perimeter shooter, and she did knock down the three if given any daylight. On top of that, she showed improvement making plays and creating off the dribble, particularly using ball screens. She attacked various ways in a side P&R set against Oneida when they went man. One time, she used the screen from the left wing - going to her right - got around the hedge, stepped in front of the defender going to the rim to cut off their angle, and finished. Another time, in the 4th quarter when Whitesboro was looking to try & deliver a knockout blow, she used the screen from the right wing - going to her left - got into the right elbow area and hit a pull-up 17 footer. Later in the quarter, she used the screen and hit a rolling Kelsey Wands off the bounce on the money for a layup. She's turning into more than 'just a shooter', if tonight is any indication, which is certainly a good sign.

Alana Batson was a major part of Whitesboro's win on Friday.

- The strength of the three is more important to Oneida's success than nearly any team in all of upstate NY, let alone just Section 3... and they have four kids in their starting five that can knock it down & are threats to hit a bunch. Lauren Skibitski (2019), Sydney Lusher (2021), and Ella Rainbow (2021) are all known commodities at this point, and Kaylin Curro (2022) has emerged as a capable shooter to help take pressure off of those three. They got hot quickly and turned a 7 point deficit into a 4 point lead in under 3 minutes late in the 1st half. Unfortunately for them on this night, they had trouble scoring anywhere but outside the three point line. Credit Whitesboro for that, as their combination of length, physicality, and discipline make that difficult for plenty of teams on their schedule. But Oneida's ability to shoot the ball is certainly dangerous, and it makes them a major player in a couple weeks as they should probably hold down a high seed in the upcoming Section 3 Class B playoffs.