McCauley Drains Eight Three’s in an FLCC Regular Season Finale Win
CANANDAIGUA – The Lady Lakers – in their final game before this week's conference playoffs take shape – defeated the SUNY Adirondack Lady Timberwolves at home on Sunday by a score of 79-51. With the win – Finger Lakes finished its regular season schedule with a record of 16-11.
For the Lady Lakers – Sunday's contest was highlighted by the offensive outburst of Finger Lakes shooting guard Kelli McCauley. The sophomore – who scored a season and game-high 28 points – came to the game prepped for a shooting show. She jumpstarted a 10-17 day from the floor by going 5-8 from three-point land in the first half.
McCauley – who went into halftime with 19 points etched next to her name in the box score – helped Finger Lakes build a 42-23 lead at intermission. Playing a key role in setting up McCauley for her hot shooting display in the first half was Lady Lakers point guard Julia Pagano. The sophomore – in 18 first half minutes – doled out 7 assists.
The second half would involve continued success for McCauley on the offensive end of the court. In the remaining half – the Irondequoit High School graduate would go on to add 3 more three's. In total – McCauley was 8-13 from beyond the arc. Her 8 three's tied a personal career-high.
Finger Lakes – as a team – shot the ball at a high percentage. It finished the day shooting 46 percent from the field. The Lady Lakers – who were 14-30 from three-point territory – jumped out to an early 18-6 lead in the first half. Twelve of their first eighteen points came via the three-pointer.
After establishing a double-digit halftime lead – Finger Lakes would go on to outscore the Lady Timberwolves in the final half by a difference of 37-28.
SUNY Adirondack – despite the outcome of the game – played with great tenacity all afternoon long. Only carrying a roster of six – the Lady Timberwolves received a 20-point effort out of Shelby Graham. The freshman forward – whose point total was a team-high – was 9-17 from the field. In addition to her scoring – Graham pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. On the afternoon – she played in all 40 minutes of the game.
Finger Lakes – on top of McCauley's performance – registered an additional pair of double-digit scorers. Following her with 16-point and 12-point showings respectively were Casi Strait and Casey Dean. Dean – who saw the court for 32 minutes – added a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with her point-total.
Pagano – after turning in a 7-assist first half – finished the day with a game-high 9 assists. In addition – she scored 9 points while registering a game-high 5 steals.
Finger Lakes – who tallied 27 assists as a team – in addition to Pagano's 9 dimes – received 4 assists each from McCauley, Strait, and Kelly Broderick.
The Lady Timberwolves – in addition to Graham's offensive performance – received 10 points and 8 rebounds out of Genna Wilson. Wilson – like Graham – played all 40 minutes of the contest.
Finger Lakes will now turn its attention towards this week's conference playoffs. The Lady Lakers – who completed the regular season with a 10-2 record in the MSAC – will return to action tomorrow as they are set to host Cayuga CC at home in the first round of the conference playoffs. Finger Lakes will enter play seeded second while Cayuga will come into action wearing a seven seed. Game time tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.
The winner of Tuesday's game will then advance onto the MSAC semi-finals – which are scheduled to take place this Friday. On that day – either Finger Lakes or Cayuga will play the winner of the #3 Jefferson CC/#6 Corning CC game. The site of this year's MSAC semi-finals will be Onondaga CC.