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Gajdos helps Poland clinch share of title
CORTLAND
From start to finish, both Lakeview’s and Poland’s girls played ferociously in the spirit of their teams’ nickname: Bulldogs, until Poland flexed its underdog muscles to emerge with a 58-53 victory that clinched a share of the All-American Conference White Tier championship Saturday afternoon.
Although its focus didn’t waver against other opponents after losing to Lakeview, 59-50, on Dec. 16, Poland anxiously awaited Jan. 30.
“It feels great to get the win,” said Bella Gajdos, a 5-foot-3 sophomore who had a game-high 28 points for Poland (16-2, 11-1).
“It’s totally exciting to know that we’re ready and not scared of the competition with the tournament around the corner.”
She said that the rematch with Lakeview (18-2, 10-1) was a goal in the back of players’ minds, but it didn’t consume their whole being.
“We had to get each team and knock them down one-by-one before we finally got here,” said Gajdos, who had three 3-pointers and several fearless drives to the basket, especially during her 13-point fourth quarter.
“I always have tunnel vision going to the hoop hard, trying to get a foul called and put them [free throws] in,” said Gajdos, who followed Sarah Bury in sinking the game’s last four fouls shots to stretch Poland’s lead from 54-53 to 58-53.
“Down the stretch, defense won the game,” Poland coach Nick Blanch said in attributing a 22-to-14 turnover discrepancy as the primary difference in the outcome. Also in Poland’s favor was a four-rebound edge: 39-35.
Only a freshman, Bury added 13 points for Poland, whose roster has no seniors.
“It’s always great, no matter who you beat,” Blanch said. “I look at today’s crowd and the number of people who came out for a Saturday afternoon and think it’s like a district kind of crowd. That says something about what both programs have done. People want to come here and see us play. Just the atmosphere alone was worth it.”
For Lakeview (18-2, 10-1), senior Addie Becker had 20 points and sophomore Annie Pavlansky scored 19. Of Lakeview’s 35 rebounds, Pavlansky grabbed 14 and Becker 13.
Blanch explained that Lakeview has a White Tier game against Niles on Monday.
“If they win that, then we’ll share the championship and they’ve won this conference four years in a row by themselves,” he said. “So this is big for us.”
The Poland coach said that his girls “dug a little deeper down the stretch” to pull out the win.
“It could have gone either way; they did some things I’m sure they wanted back and we did some things, early on, that we wanted back. Down the stretch, we clamped down and did the things we needed to do and were able to put it together.”
Blanch chose not to single out Gajdos or Bury, but the players, collectively.
“Every single girl contributed, whether boxing out or getting a rebound down the stretch and getting the foul,” he said. “In the stat line, it’s nothing extravagant, but, by the same token, that’s what closed the game out. Players don’t win championships, teams do.”
Adam Lewis said that Lakeview had a little bit of comfort with seven-point cushions of 34-27 and 36-29 midway through the third quarter before Bury scored five straight points to push Poland ahead momentarily, 37-36.
”We told the girls at halftime that Poland is a team that can make runs and make shots fast,” Lewis said.
One instance involved a turnover caused by Emily Melnek in the third quarter that Gajdos converted into two quick points.
“It made us feel like we were never comfortable after that,” Lewis said. “We couldn’t get control of the game. It felt like we played their style today as opposed to the way we wanted to play.”
In a huddle prior to the fourth period, Lewis urged his girls to box out and crash the boards.
“I get my stats from Lou [DePofi] at halftime and I look at two things: turnovers and rebounds; we lost both of those today,” he said. “You’ll never win a game if you’re turning the ball over more and giving up more boards [than getting]. Now we’ll have to beat Niles to get a share of the title.”