Broadalbin-Perth’s Molly Russom drives to the basket between Scotia-Glenville defenders Riley O’Malley (3) and Noelle Acosta (20) during the Section 2 Class A semifinals on Monday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Patriots secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 61-33 win.
Broadalbin-Perth’s Molly Russom drives to the basket between Scotia-Glenville defenders Riley O’Malley (3) and Noelle Acosta (20) during the Section 2 Class A semifinals on Monday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Patriots secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 61-33 win.
Broadalbin-Perth’s Molly Russom drives to the basket between Scotia-Glenville defenders Riley O’Malley (3) and Noelle Acosta (20) during the Section 2 Class A semifinals on Monday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Patriots secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 61-33 win.
Broadalbin-Perth’s Molly Russom drives to the basket between Scotia-Glenville defenders Riley O’Malley (3) and Noelle Acosta (20) during the Section 2 Class A semifinals on Monday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Patriots secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 61-33 win.
Broadalbin-Perth’s Molly Russom drives to the basket between Scotia-Glenville defenders Riley O’Malley (3) and Noelle Acosta (20) during the Section 2 Class A semifinals on Monday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Patriots secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 61-33 win.
Broadalbin-Perth’s Molly Russom drives to the basket between Scotia-Glenville defenders Riley O’Malley (3) and Noelle Acosta (20) during the Section 2 Class A semifinals on Monday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Patriots secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 61-33 win.
TROY — When your defense allows just three points in the first quarter, and 14 in the half, that’s a pretty good formula to win.
That’s exactly what the second-seeded Broadalbin-Perth girls’ basketball team did to Scotia-Glenville on Monday night, as the Patriots came away with a 61-33 victory over the Tartans in the Section 2 Class A semifinals.
“It was a very good start, and it was a banked 3-pointer [that they scored on],” Broadalbin-Perth head coach Casey Russom said of his team’s defense early on. “Our defense in the first quarter was pretty good.”
While Scotia-Glenville kept itself within striking distance in the first half, the Patriots surged in the third quarter to secure the separation it needed.
“They’re a very scrappy, well-coached team, and they’re not going to go away easily,” Russom said of the Tartans. “You saw that in the first half, where we’d get up 14 or 15 and they’d bring it back to 10, where the game was still in reach.”
A 22-point third quarter allowed Broadalbin-Perth to build its lead to 48-26 entering the fourth.
Despite Scotia-Glenville playing relatively well defensively, between securing steals and rebounds, the Patriots’ defense was even better.
Broadalbin-Perth scored often in transition, typically a result of the Patriots’ zone that places 6-foot twin sisters Macie and Summer Perry up front.
“They have the twins in the middle there, and they’re long, they can get to balls that most other players can’t,” Scotia-Glenville head coach Clayton Savage said of Broadalbin-Perth’s Macie and Summer Perry. “I was telling my girls that if we’re making a pass, if it’s even a little bit lazy, they’re going to get a steal.”
Summer Perry led the Broadalbin-Perth offense on Monday with 22 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Macie Perry added 13 points and Molly Russom scored nine.
Scotia-Glenville, which didn’t have a player reach double-digits, was led by Julie Cooper and Noelle Acosta, who scored eight points apiece.
“I thought we played hard, played tough and they didn’t give up,” Savage said. “If you told me during our five-game losing streak that we’d end up here as a top-four team in Class A, I would’ve been, like, ‘you’re crazy.’ There’s no way I could’ve envisioned that, and here we are.”
“They’re a good team, but we’ve beaten them before, so we were confident that we could do it again,” Summer Perry said. “It’s always hard to beat a team three times, but we worked really hard. With our defense, control of the ball and staying composed, we knew we could do it.”
Scotia-Glenville, the No. 6 seed in Class A, upset No. 3 Schalmont in the quarterfinals, reaching Monday’s semifinal.
“This is our first time playing in this environment here, and it makes a huge difference,” Savage added of his group playing at HVCC for the first time. “Broadalbin has played here before. You have to get used to the depth perception, the arena feel, you have to get used to all of it.”
Boradalbin-Perth advanced to the Class A championship game, which will be on Saturday, March 8 at HVCC at 12:45 p.m. The Patriots (20-1) will face No. 1 Albany Academy, a 53-43 winner over Holy Names Monday.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Summer Perry said of reaching the Class A final. “It was our last chance [as seniors], so I’m very happy we were able to make it happen.”
Scotia-Glenville 3 11 12 7 — 33
Broadalbin-Perth 11 15 22 13 — 61
Scotia-Glenville scoring: O’Malley 3-0-6, Bodden 2-2-6, Cooper 3-0-8, Nichter 1-0-2, Acosta 3-2-8, Page 1-1-3. Broadalbin-Perth scoring: Russom 4-1-9, M. Perry 6-0-13, S. Perry 9-1-22, Hotaling 2-1-5, Swiss 1-0-3, A. Gifford 1-0-2, Schutts 3-0-7. Team scoring: Scotia-Glenville 13-5-33; Broadalbin-Perth 26-3-61.
