Hall rides 17-0 start to nonconference win at Bureau Valley

MANLIUS - It was not quite what TJ Orlandi and his Hall girls basketball team expected.

The Red Devils played Bureau Valley in a competitive five-point game just eight days ago in the Warkins Classic on Dec. 27 at Prophetstown.

On Saturday, the Red Devils stormed out on Bureau Valley, scoring the first 17 points of the game on the way to a 48-21 runaway victory at the Storm Cellar.

“We just played them a week ago. They hit 13 3s that game, kind of crazy,” Orlandi said. “We talked about getting out on their shooters and doing a better job on that and kind of extending our defense a little bit. We were just active.”

Hall senior center Ella Sterling, who led the Red Devils with 16 points, said it was just a great way to get things started.

“We came out how we’ve been talking, really getting on from the get-go, getting the lead, getting rebounds and the box-outs. Been kind of struggling with that the past couple of games,” she said. “It was really good knowing we play Princeton on Monday and have a tough schedule coming up for us. It was really good that we got that win today and came out with a lot of energy.”

Sterling got things going for Hall (10-4) with a bucket on a pick and roll with point guard Charlie Pellegrini. Kennedy Wozniak followed with a 3-pointer and Sterling and Caroline Morris scored in the post to make it 9-0.

Pellegrini connected on a 3-pointer and two free throws before Ava Delphi beat the buzzer with a trey to cap the 17-0 first quarter surge.

“A 17-0 first quarter is pretty much as good as you can ask for. I was just super happy. We’re shooting the ball and just moving it and getting everyone involved,” Orlandi said.

Bella Birkey broke the Bureau Valley ice with a runner 40 seconds into the second quarter, but the Red Devils took their hands off the pause button and went back to work.

Wozniak scored twice, including on a wide-open back door cut and sank 1 of 2 free throws and Delphi followed with her second 3-pointer in a three-minute stretch to shoot Hall to a 25-2 lead.

Emma Mussche sank a 3-pointer for BV, but the Storm could not slow Hall down with Sterling scoring three times and Morris putting back her own miss to send the Red Devils to a 33-6 halftime lead.

Sterling led the Red Devils (10-4) with 16 points, while Wozniak had a season-high 11 points, Pellegrini seven and Ava Delphi six

“That was one of our better Saturday games since I’ve been here. Saturday games are scary sometimes,” Orlandi said. “I just liked the energy we came out with. I thought we moved the ball, hitting the weak side, swinging the ball. Kind of how you want to run things against different defenses. They changed it up a lot, so it was really good.”

The Storm (7-11) struggled offensively without leading scorer Libby Endress, their sophomore point guard averaging 13 points per game, who was home ill. Birkey (7) was the only BV player with more than three points.

“(It hurts) scoring-wise and then it changes all your rotations around, too,” BV coach Jon Henegar said. “Girls playing in different spots, regardless who’s in the game and who’s here and who’s not here, just got to play harder than what we did for most of that game. That was our biggest problem. They outplayed us. They outhustled us.”

Henegar said the 17-0 lead the the Storm spotted Hall was tough to overcome.

“That’s a tough hill to climb out of, especially against a zone,” he said. “Hall plays a pretty good 2-3 zone and if you’re not making shots, it becomes an even tougher hill to climb.

“We shot the ball well last time, we played better defensively and we rebounded better. All those things we didn’t do well today.”

Hall also won the JV game, 27-21