SECTION 4 GIRLS' BASKETBALL: DEFENSE, REBOUNDING KEY AS HORSEHEADS WINS 3RD STRAIGHT SECTIONAL CROWN (24 PHOTOS) (March 8, 2026)

BY BRIAN FEES
Southern Tier Sports Report
BINGHAMTON — It was not one of the faster starts offensively for the Horseheads Blue Raiders in their Section IV, Class AA title game.

But, while the offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders early, the Blue Raiders defense wasn’t letting Union-Endicott do anything as Horseheads pulled away for a 51-23 win to capture their third straight sectional championship at Visions Veterans Arena. 

More than midway through the opening quarter the Blue Raiders were sitting at three points offensively, and they scored just six in the opening quarter.

However, the Blue Raiders defense made sure that was more than enough as they held Union-Endicott to two points in the opening eight minutes of the game. 

“I think sometimes the 17-day layoff, even though those girls played their tails off every single day in practice,” Horseheads coach Andy Scott said. “I think sometimes you get a little lull and you have high emotions early. 

“The good thing I told them was we didn’t have a great start, but the good news is you only allowed two points, so it didn’t really matter. We got things clicking, got up to 20 in the first half and then things started to roll in the third quarter. I said in the locker room if we can get this thing out of reach after three, we should be in pretty good shape and they did.”

Horseheads outscored the Tigers 14-6 in the second quarter to lead 20-8 at the break, and then they scored 13 points in the third to lead 33-12 after three quarters.

The Blue Raiders had prepared for the Tigers and defensively they were ready. 

“It’s exactly what you’d expect,” Scott said. “We prepared for a decent amount of time, once we found out our opponent we were prepared for three or four days and started running all their stuff. We knew what was coming and did a great job. 

“There was no mental breakdowns and I think one of the big things, guard pressure was huge, switching screens when they were supposed to was great and I think one of the biggest things of the night was our defensive rebounding by those guys inside. It was insane. They got one and done, I think Gianna (Hughey) only had two points (one point), but she must have had 40 rebounds. It was insane. Her and Sadie Gustin were insane in there tonight.”

For the Horseheads players it just took a little time to get things clicking offensively. 

“Most us us have been here before (to Visions Veterans Arena), But, it’s obviously different then where we play every single day, so we had to get into a groove and we found our way after,” Maddie Ribble said. 

For the players the two weeks of break was a long tie, but they push each other in practice which helped them get ready for this game.

“We go 100% in practice, which pushes us to go harder in the game,” Samantha Bonnell said. “Practicing for two weeks really made us excited for this.”

“Definitely our practices help, our scrimmages help too, but everyone works so hard and goes so fast which is normal speed to us because everyone works so hard,” Ribble said.

With the shots not falling early the Blue Raiders turned to freshman Bonnell, who got a number of drives to the basket, scoring four of the six points in the opening quarter and 10 of the 20 in the first half. Until the final minutes of the game she was outscoring the Tigers entire team as she finished the game with 20 points, scoring at least ofur points in every quarter. 

“When in doubt you go to your leader,” Scott said. “She’s only 14 years old, but she’s our leader and the captain on the court. She did a really good job out there. We ran that basically iso play. It’s obviously meant for a pick and roll type deal, but she kept refusing the screen and she would have a layup. At the end of the day we’ll take layups all day from Sammie.”

Once Horseheads got some baskets inside, it opened things up for the Blue Raiders as they started to find their rhythm from the field.

“Once we made a couple shots we were upbeat and knocked shots down,” Bonnell said. 

What made things easier on offense was the offensive rebounds as Hughey led the charge, finishing the game with 18 rebounds, giving Horseheads more chances on offense. 

“We tell the kids all the time, everyone wants to have high scorers and that goes in the media and stuff, but at the end of the day if you are dropping 15 rebounds and you are impacting the game in other ways it’s awesome and she did that tonight,” Scott said. “Whoever you put in today, we have a pretty deep team, they just did awesome today, I’m proud of them. it’s been a great year with a young squad, but we still have five seniors and they are super kids and practices are sometimes more competitive than some of the games.”

The players know how big those second chances were.

“Especially when it was close at the beginning the offnesive rebounds really turned into another poessession for us and limited them to less possessions,” Ribble said. 

“Her getting rebounds and getting us more shots really helped us,” Bonnell said. “The ore shots we can take the more shots we can make.”

While the shots weren’t going in early, the Blue Raiders knew if they kept taking good shots they’d start making more. 

“In the first half our shots weren’t falling, but we knew in the second half we had to keep shooting,” Ribble said. “We were getting the looks, we just had to keep shooting and the shots would fall, and they did.”

At halftime the players listened to coach Scott and were prepared for the second half.

“Halftime talk int he locker room, coach Scott really got us going a lot, made us want to go harder,” Bonnell said. 

The win was special for Horsreheads.

“Definitely, really excited,” Ribble said. “it’s our third year in a row here. It’s awesome. it’s a great place to play and this was the team, we deserved it.”

“We worked hard every day in practice, we defintiely deserved this win,” Bonnell said. 

Along with the 20 from Bonnelll the Blue Raiders got 14 from Ribble. Maggie Tremaine had nine points and Lauren Kozemko finished with three points.

Mya Piecuch and Gustin had two points each and Hughey had a point. 

Gianna Gennarelli had 12 points to lead U-E. 

Horseheads is right back at the arena to take on Cornall on Sunday at the arena. 

“We are just going to prepare for whoever comes and we are going to get after it,” Scott said. “I love it here, the girls love it here. We have had a good three years here (at the arena).”

The players are happy to be right back at the arena.

“It’s defintiely closer to home for us than the other team, so it’s kind of our home,” Bonnell said. 

“I think definitely playing here next weekend, we’ll be more comfortable and we should be ready right from the start,” Ribble said. “It’s so much more open. It’s definitely a different feel, but once you get it you get it.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:

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