HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' BASKETBALL: ND'S MALONEY LEADS ORANGE TEAM IN SCORING IN BCANY ALL-STAR GAME; ABRAMS, BONNELL AND LITTLEFIELD ALL PLAY IN GAME (24 PHOTOS) (2023-03-21)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA — With the section’s best girls basketball players on display it’s little surprise the offenses were able to put 187 points on the board.

In the end the Orange team picked up a 104-83 win over the Blue Team during the second annual BCANY Section IV Boys’ and Girls’ basketball all-star game at Elmira College.

“It was great to get out and play with all the people you are playing against in your school ball,” Owego’s Madison McEvoy said.

The matchup featured girls who were picked to either the first or second team All-Section IV all-star teams.

“It’s an opportunity to play against people you don’t usually play against in the season and play with people too,” Edison’s Payton Littlefield said.

The Orange team had a pair of players hit for 20 or more points with Shannon Maloney of Notre Dame scoring 24 and Cha Gardner of Newark Valley scoring 20. Four Orange players scored in double figures.

“It was a lot better than playing against them,” Gardner said of teaming up with many of the section’s best players. “I enjoy being able to work with them.”

For Maloney, and Elmira’s Jalea Abrams, it was nice having the game in Elmira where she goes to school rather than traveling to Maine-Endwell, where last year’s game was at.

“A lot better than traveling to Maine-Endwell,” Abrams said.

“Last year was hard traveling there, this year was a lot more fun,” Maloney said.

All 12 players for the Orange team scored in the game as they were able to hit 100 points in the final minutes.

“That’s exactly what we were aiming for,” Abrams said. “We knew we could do it, we were close and we did it.”

Along with the 24 points from Maloney and 20 from Gardner, the Orange team got 11 from Sugar Williams of Binghamton and 10 from Charlie Bennett of Southern Cayuga.

For Gardner it was nice to have chances to be guarded one-on-one, when in the regular season she almost always sees double teams.

“It was a lot better, I got to go 1 v 1 and I got to pass out and knew they’d hit the shot,” she said.

Mariah Luke of Binghamton had nine points, Emma Phelan of Johnson City had eight points and Maggie Warpus of Chenango Forks finished with seven points.

Abrams finished with five points and Adrianna Fontana of Union-Endicott finished with four points, while Hayley Beebe of Newark Valley, Allison Stank of Union-Endicott and Allison DiPietro of U-E finished with three points.

“It was very enjoyable,” Beebe said. “It was good, we are all great players, so it just feels good to play with them.”

Wednesday was a special way for the seniors to end their basketball careers.

“Coming into this game, knowing it was my last game, it was just have fun and do whatever you want,” Maloney said.

And, ending with a win for the Orange team was extra special.

“Especially to end on a win like this, just a nice way to end it,” Gardner said.

“Good way (to end), we got the W,” Beebe said.

Maine-Endwell’s Kaite L’Amoreaux, who is committed to Division I Fairfield, led all scorers on the day with 31 points.

“It was super fun, lot of familiar faces, nice to be around everybody,” she said. “Very high scoring game.”

While everything about all-star games is different, there is one thing that’s the same, L’Amoreaux scoring a lot of points.

“40 points is normal for her,” Chenango Valley’s Madalyn Hayes said.

L’Amoreaux had 17 points in the third quarter with four threes in the quarter.

Kennedy Westbrook of Waverly had 10 points in the game. She enjoyed the game, though she knows it was tough playing against the Orange team that had multiple six footers on the floor.

“It was a lot of fun,” Westbrook said. “I wish we had a big, but it happens.”

Union Springs’ Kailey Kalet had nine points, Sophia Bonnell of Horseheads had eight points for the Blue team and Littlefield had seven points.

“It was great, it was super fun,” Bonnell said.

Hayes and Danielle Waldron of Union Springs each had five points and McEvoy had four points, while Chloe Hanson of Moravia and Payton Yahner of Greene had two points each.
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IN TOP PHOTO: Notre Dame’s Shannon Maloney puts up a shot in the BCANY all-star game.. . . PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES


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