Starpoint's Megan Milleville discusses leading the team to consecutive Section VI Class AA titles.
There's something about section finals that brings out the best in Starpoint 6-foot-3 center Megan Milleville.
Last season, she made the game-winning shot at the buzzer for the program to win its first championship since 1995. As an encore a year later, Milleville was a two-way tour de force against North Tonawanda.
The Spartans were up against the odds having to face the Division I duo of Annabelle and Lilly Day, with coaches from the University at Buffalo and Canisius in attendance, but that didn't fret Starpoint. Behind Milleville's 14 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks and steals, No. 2 seed Starpoint (18-6) repeated as Section VI Class AA champions, beating No. 1 North Tonawanda (20-3) 50-43 at Buffalo State Sports Arena on Sunday. Starpoint will face Section V's Webster Schroeder (17-7) in the Far West Regional at Buffalo State on Friday at 7:45 p.m.
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"I'm just so glad, I'm just amazed by my teammates," Milleville said. "I'm so proud of them and love them all so much. Everything feels worth it. From all of the travel games and practices over the years. It really feels worth it and I'm just proud of my teammates."
Starpoint had a rough start to begin the game, trailing 15-4 after the first quarter and got into a groove to trail 25-23 at halftime. In the third quarter, Starpoint tied the game a few times but couldn't get over the hump to take the lead, as the Lumberjacks led 38-35 in the fourth quarter. North Tonawanda led 43-41 with 4:32 remaining, but consecutive steal and layups by Starpoint tied the game and gave the Spartans their first lead of the game.
North Tonawanda's offense stagnated after giving up a late rally. The nail in the Lumberjacks' season was when Milleville grabbed a rebound and converted an and-one layup with 1:23 left to make it a 48-43 game. Starpoint outscored North Tonawanda 15-5 in the final quarter and relaxed an offense that scored at least 70 points 14 times this season.
"This is huge for our program," Starpoint coach Megan Reed said. "It's showing people that we are a basketball program. It took a long time to do that.
In North Tonawanda's first-ever appearance in the final, the Days struggled. Annabelle, who played through a foot injury, finished with 11 points on 3 of 15 shooting, and Lilly had 10 points on 3 of 10 shooting. Both made two free throws. Lumberjacks center Jakayla Brown had 13 points, 13 rebounds, seven blocks and two steals.
"Annabelle and Lilly are competitive and smart basketball players," Reed said. "I got to tip my hat to them. They're strong three-point shooters. They're a really young team and will be back here again next year, I'm almost positive of it.
Salamanca wins B1
With Salamanca football coach Chad Barotszek in attendance, Warriors girls basketball coach Joe Hinman wanted his team to win like the football team.
Bartoszek had led the football team to state semifinals and a final over the last two seasons and this season the girls team advanced to its first final in years. For them to have an iota of success like Barotzek's teams, the first step was to win the Section VI Class B1 championship.
The winning ways rubbed off as Salamanca defeated Wilson 51-32 to win its first section championship since 2012. Salamanca will face Newfane, the Class B2 champion, in the crossover game on Wednesday.
"This is huge because Salamanca has a huge sports history," Hinman said. "We're just happy to get into the history books along with all of the other teams. These girls earned it. We're happy and excited."
Newfane ends drought
The last time Newfane's girls basketball team won a section championship, coach Kevin Klumpp as a junior at the school.
Almost 30 years later, he coached the team back to the location of their last final win, and it ended in a 59-35 for the team. Senior Annua Chunco scored a game-high 26 points.
"We put a lot of work in," Klumpp said. "It means a lot, especially with this group. I've been here for a while, 15 years on varsity I think it's been, and I've been trying to get here. For whatever reason we haven't been able to and I've had some pretty decent teams. To do it, here 29 years later, I think it's full circle."
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