Here’s all you need to know about the Section VI, Class B1 semifinal between Dunkirk and Medina on Thursday night at Kenmore West High School.
With four minutes to go in the first half, the score was Dunkirk 23, Medina 0. Yes, 23-0.
There was no recovery in the cards for the Mustangs from that. The Marauders went on to a 51-25 win to advance to Sunday’s B1 final.
If you thought the start of the game was like a pleasant dream for Dunkirk coach Darrell Baldwin, you’d be right.
“I was looking to wake up,” he said. “We have not done anything like that in any game this year. I never thought we’d do that.”
Meanwhile, the game’s beginning was a nightmare for Larry Lash, the Medina coach, as you’d expect.
“We got nervous in the beginning, and I don’t know why,” he said. “We’ve been playing better. We’d won six of our last seven, and I thought we’d be OK.
“We got uptight. The press bothered us. Once they made some threes, the score got away from us. Then we were really uptight.”
The game had one of the oddest running scoresheets in memory. The Mustangs had nothing but blank space on their side of the ledger in the first quarter – no field goals, no free throws attempted. Medina missed four free throws about two minutes in to the second quarter. Finally, Madison Williams made a free throw with 3:14 left in the half, and the Mustangs had a number other than zero on the scoreboard.
It was a stunning display of strength by a team that came in as the 11th seed in Class B-1 – one behind Medina.
“We didn’t play our best games in the early rounds,” Baldwin said. “I was upset with them. We probably should have lost some of those games. But we played very well in other games leading up to the playoffs. If you don’t take care of teams early, they hang around and have a chance to win.”
Once the Mustangs did get on the scoreboard and discovered there was no lid on the basket, they calmed down quite a bit and played much better.
“We went on a little run, so there are some things to build on,” Lash said. “We’ll only lose two seniors, so the parts are there for next year.”
Dunkirk had a balanced scoring attack. Kymi Nance had 13 points, while Olivia Smith had 12 on four three-pointers.
“Something told me Kymi was going to have an awesome night, and she did,” Baldwin said. “She puts in the work during practice, and after practice.
“Olivia’s nickname is Shooter McGavin, like the character from ‘Happy Gilmore’: bang, bang. She fills the net if she’s open.”
Dunkirk heads to Buffalo State to play Fredonia on Sunday at noon for the B-1 title. It’s a chance for the Marauders to win their first Section VI title since 1991. Baldwin was rooting for that matchup to happen, and not just because of the geography (the rivals are only a few miles apart).
“They got us in two games this season,” he said.
As for Lash, he was told it might be a good idea to find a video of the game … and then burn it.
“Amen,” he answered, with one of his few smiles of the night.
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