A family connection helped lead Salamanca girls basketball back to sectional glory for the first time in over a decade.
Cousins Skyla Dowdy and Leilene McComber combined for 32 points to propel No. 2 Salamanca past No. 4 Wilson 51-32 to claim the Section VI Class B2 title Sunday afternoon at Buffalo State University.
The win gave the Warriors their first sectional title since 2012.
“Salamanca’s got a good traditions of sports, and we’re just happy to get up in the history books with all the other teams,” said Salamanca head coach Joe Hinman. “We had our wins, we had our losses, but the main thing is we stuck together through it all. We got better as the season went on, especially late in the playoffs.”
A sloppy first quarter from both teams yielded plenty of turnovers both ways, but it was Salamanca’s leading scorer on the year McComber who made her presence known early.
McComber’s seven first quarter points outscored the entire Wilson team, as Salamanca led 11-7 after one.
Salamanca began to pull away in the second quarter, and it was largely thanks to Dowdy. The senior came in averaging 6.8 points per game this season, and she surpassed that in the second quarter alone with nine points, rounding out her team’s final seven of the first half en route to a 24-14 halftime lead.
Dowdy may have been the smallest player on the court, but her contributions were big. Her ability to get into the paint and either finish with a floater or find an open shooter was on display consistently. She ended with 16 points, the same total as her cousin McComber who helped close the game out with three fourth quarter buckets.
“The chemistry we share is just really great,” Dowdy said of playing with McComber. “We always dominate together, it’s really fun being on the court with her.”
Salamanca’s size and length was a difference maker throughout the game, as they seemed to collapse on practically every inside look Wilson managed to get while also winning the battle on the glass.
The Warriors used that strong defense to pull away in the second half, as an 11-1 run to start the fourth quarter gave them their largest lead of the game at 46-24.
“That’s been our identity, especially in the playoffs this year,” Hinman said of his team’s defense. “Just sticking to the man defense and taking gaps, making sure we’re rebounding, getting on bodies. … Using our size, we knew we had some mismatches offensively on them.”
Wilson’s inability to score in the paint consistently, combined with turnover problems, ended up being their downfall offensively. Addison Elia had eight points to lead the Lakewomen.
The Warriors advance to the Class B crossover game, where they will face the winner of the Class B1 title game between Newfane and Health Sciences.
“Just looking to carry the momentum into the (Class B) final,” Hinman said. “We’ll prepare the next days for them.”
The Class B crossover game is slated for 5 p.m. Wednesday at Buff State.
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