By Keith Harrington
Fans entering the Granville Central School gym Friday night were expecting a low-scoring, defensive battle between the home-standing Golden Horde and rival Whitehall. That’s exactly what they got.
When the dust had settled the Golden Horde had grinded out a 29-23 win in Adirondack League play.
Points were about as easy to come by as a winning Powerball ticket. Both Dan Brown of Granville and Boyd Hunt of Whitehall hang their team’s hat on aggressive defense.
“They’re very good defensively. We’re very good defensively,” Hunt said. “A great first half. When we stand around on the outside and expect things to come to us bad things happen. When we start going to the hoop good things happen.”
“Boyd and I are friends and we talk during the week. I know his game plan and if you shut down their scorers, they don’t score a lot,” Brown said. “They play a great defense. Hats off to them. We played their game for probably three quarters.”
Kaylee Campbell opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the Golden Horde. Haley Pratt sparked a 7-0 spurt for the Railroaders who led 7-6 after a quarter.
Granville opened the second on a 5-0 run fueled by a bucket and a trey from Melissa Beaver. Courtney Ennis and Jaylin Boynton also added baskets. Lily Lavin connected for a 3-pointer for the Railroaders as the teams went to halftime tied 15-15.
Neither team could put the ball in the hoop in the third quarter, as defense again prevailed. Only four points apiece were scored in the stanza as the teams were tied 19-19 heading to the fourth.
The Golden Horde held Whitehall without a field goal in the final frame. The Railroaders managed just four points from the foul line in the quarter. Granville snapped the stalemate with back-to-back baskets from Campbell, and an inside bucket from Ella Olsen. Paige Taylor hit a trio of key foul shots down the stretch to close out the win.
Brown praised the play of senior leaders Beaver and Lauren Bascom.
“Melissa played a great game. I asked her if she really played because she only had one foul,” Brown joked. “And Lauren Bascom is one of the toughest players in this league. She tries every night. There isn’t a moment where she’s not pushing herself to help her team.”
Hunt put the responsibility for this loss on his own shoulders.
“I blame myself on this one. We probably gave up six or eight points when we stepped up the press. We were doing a good job in the half court and we should have stayed in the half court,” Hunt admitted. “We handled the hostile environment well tonight. We just didn’t hit some shots. Like I told them. I accept this one. This one’s my fault.”
Beaver led Granville with 10 points. Campbell added eight. Olsen contributed 14 rebounds and five blocks. Campbell had five steals and four assists. Beaver chipped in six steals.
“We’ve got Lake George next Wednesday,” Brown said after his team’s second consecutive win. “We need a couple of good practices. We’re taking it one game at a time.
Pratt finished with nine points for the Railroaders. Presley Gosselin added six.
Granville is 2-3 in the league and has thrust themselves into the middle of the league tournament playoff hunt. The Golden Horde are 4-5 overall.
Whitehall falls to 2-2, 3-7.
