Patalano, Saints win sectional title

After 26 lead changes, the game was tied with 2:34 left to play in regulation. Churchville-Chili didn’t allow another point to be scored against them from that point forward as they upset top-seeded Fairport 55-48 in Class AA girl’s basketball semi-final action at SUNY Brockport. The win avenges the Saints' loss to the Red Raiders in last season’s state tournament qualifier.

Monroe County Player of the Year Joanna Patalano scored 29 points, including four of the last seven points in the game and added 12 rebounds. "When it came down to the last couple of minutes, we wanted to get the ball inside," said Patalano during the postgame celebration. "We knew we had to limit their rebounding so we sent two players down on their post players."

Kelly Monahan drove the length of the court to give the Saints the lead they would not relinquish and Katie Voorheis added a clutch free thrown with just :23 left in the game. Monahan finished with nine points while Katie Sullivan added ten. Freshman Colleen Montgomery was one of the keys inside with nine rebounds.

"They executed the game plan to perfection," said head coach Ryan Raftery. "We were playing two sophomores and a freshman regularly in this game and we were able to post Joanna up against their guard to get a mismatch. We wanted to keep them off the offensive boards and the game came down to just that."

The Saints advanced to the Class AA championship game against Greece Athena March 4 - a team they had lost to twice previously this season. Churchville-Chili defeated the Spartans 57-53 to win their second straight sectional title. Patalano and Monahan made a combined 14 of 16 free throws in the victory and scored 18 and seventeen points respectively in the game. With her offensive output for the two games, Patalano surpassed Shanna Cyrus as the all-time leader in Saints history for points scored with 2,003.