Warriors bring championship back to New York

Rochester warriors team members pictured: Front row (l-r): Cassie Gay, Felicia Allen, Barb Bianchi, Jessie Ingersoll; back row: Becky Hebert, Coach Marty Graen, Kelly Legg, Jess Graen (holding the trophy), Chelsey Cole, Coach Kevin Legg, Emily Savino. Not pictured: Yvonne Monu, Renee Metzger and Taylor Hartley.

Warriors bring championship back to New York

The Rochester Warriors 13 and under AAU basketball team traveled to Scranton, Pennsylvania to compete in the Northeastern PA Classic. The Warriors excellent team defense made this championship possible. Head Coach Kevin Legg said, "We win with defense, it is this team's style of play."

The tournament began on a rocky start with the Warriors dropping the first game to the Morris County Jump from New Jersey. The defense was the shining star holding the Jump to 26 total points thanks to the play of Barbra Bianchi and Renee Metzger. The Jump shot just 20 percent from the field, while the Warrior's Jessica Graen blocked 14 shots. High scorer for the Warriors was Felicia Allen.

In the second game, the Warriors played the host team, the Northeastern PA Intimidators. In this game, the offense matched the performance of the defense and the Warriors won 37 to 18. Rochester had 11 blocked shots and held the Intimidators to just two field goals in the second half. The offense was powered by Kelly Legg, Chelsey Cole and Graen with 12, 9 and 8 points respectively.

On Sunday, the Warriors faced a tough Lady Express team. Once again, the defense was the foundation of the game plan for the Warriors, holding the Express to just eight first half points on the way to a 42-22 victory. It was truly a team victory with six of the nine Warriors scoring. Leading scorers were Legg with 12, Allen, and Graen, both scoring 10.

The championship was determined by the final game of the tournament versus a physical Tornadoes team. The game was close at the half with Rochester holding on to a 15 to 12 lead, thanks to two key buckets from Becky Herbert and a free throw by Jessie Ingersoll. In the second half, the defense, led by Cassie Gay, held the Tornados to just 3 field goals, while the offense was sparked by two three-point shots by Legg and a critical bucket by Emily Savino that sealed the 33-23 victory. Legg led the scoring for Rochester with 12 points, followed by Graen with 9.

Legg said, "It was a total team effort and team win. We got better every game we played, I am very proud of the girls on this team." For the tournament, the Warriors defense blocked 37 shots, forced more than 50 turnovers, while outscoring their opponents 130-87.