By: Dylan O'Loughlin
HILTON, NY --- The No. 1 Hilton Cadets tipped off the road to back-to-back sectional championships this Tuesday night as they hosted the No. 17 Gates Chili Spartans. After breaking 2,000 career points just last week, Mallory Heise dropped a game-high 28 points to pace Hilton to a 63-29 victory.
“Just keep attacking and don’t heat- check myself,” Heise said. “When I attack, I get my teammates open too. So, it’s not only a good thing for me, but a good thing for them. When I go, we go.”
After the St. Bonaventure commit poured in 16 of the Cadets 27 first-half points to open a 13-point lead at halftime, the scoring became contagious in the second half. Hilton went on to outscore Gates Chili 25-9 in the third quarter to put the game away.
The Cadets came out of halftime hot from beyond the arc. After knocking down just four threes the whole first half, Hilton connected four times from three-point land to start the quarter to jump to a 43-21 lead.
After not netting a bucket in the first half, Hilton guard Paige Siciliano ignited the barrage as the senior knocked down back-to-back triples. From there, five other Cadets left their mark on the scoreboard in the eight minutes. Siciliano and Heise led the way in the quarter with six points apiece.
“I think at halftime it was really a reset and it kind of cleared my mind. I took a few deep breaths, and I was like ‘I got it,’ just flush the first half, you can’t bring it back,” Siciliano said. “Then I got the ball in my hands, and I was like ‘Ah, this feels good,’ and I just let go of the next two and they were good. It was really nice to hype up the team and get us going.”
Along with widespread scoring that found nine Cadets in the points column, the defense’s pressure complimented the offense. Leading the defensive charge was sophomore guard Madison Murphy with three steals on the night. The full-court pressure was non-stop from start to finish causing multiple turnovers and jump balls on the Spartans.
“Coach always preaches, impact the game no matter what,” Murphy said. “If you’re not shooting well that day, if you’re not driving, make sure to get deflections, rebounds, stuff like that. So, that’s what I really tried to work on, and we made sure, especially coming out from halftime that we wanted pressure, we want to deny to get those deflections and steals.”
In the first half, the Cadets held Gates Chili to just 14 points, seven in each quarter. In the second half, the pressure continued as Hilton held the Spartans to just 15 points and four in the fourth quarter.
On the season, Hilton holds opponents to just 39 points a game while scoring 65.
“It was good for us. I know our first half was a little sloppy, but I liked our fire in the third quarter,” Hilton head coach Dave Heise said. “That was one thing we talked about, be active at both ends. Mal’s (Mallory) always going to do her thing, but we have got to make sure that everybody else is looking to get their own baskets or at least a deflection or steal. My message to them after the game was that’s who we need to be for four quarters from here on out. We can’t be that for a quarter or two, we want to be that team for four quarters.”
To go along with 28 points, Heise recorded six rebounds and four assists. Siciliano netted nine points all from beyond the arc while Madison Murphy followed with eight points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ella Simonelli added five points while Elena Graziano picked up four points. Tea Cosman and Amiyah Miles both connected on a triple each while Madeline Patton scored a floater. Ava Heise and Paige Dean rounded out the scoring with a point apiece.
For the Spartans, senior Melice Gaye led the way with 12 points. Cassaundra Carpenter scored five of her seven points in the first quarter while Hayden Byer and Heaven Sanford hit a three apiece. Evelyn Amesbury and Mia Torres tallied two points each to complete the scoring.
With the win, Hilton advances to the quarterfinals where the Cadets will play host to No. 8 Webster Thomas. The two teams faced off in the last game of the regular season where Hilton earned a 73-53 victory and Mallory Heise dropped 36. It’s the next step in the journey for Hilton’s first ever state title.
“We’ve been really good at home for three years now,” Coach Heise said. “So, hopefully we’ll come out with that fire, and you know, ‘Guard the Yard’ and take it to them early and not wait around.”
Tip off for the Class AA quarterfinals matchup is scheduled for Friday, February 28 at 6 p.m.
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