The No. 1 seeded Brockport Golden Eagles’ record-breaking season continued against the No. 8 seeded Elmira Soaring Eagles in the first round of Empire 8 playoffs. The Golden Eagles finished with a 101-62 win, marking the first triple-digit game under 10-year Brockport head coach Corinne Jones.
Elmira started the scoring off with a mid-range jumper from Amarionah Dixon alongside a left-wing three pointer from Laura Bogota. This lead would be Elmira’s only lead of the game as Brockport fired back with a right-corner three from Anna Lee and a pair of pull-up shots from Stephanie Jean-Baptiste.
“I thought we just came out shooting the ball super well,” Jones said. “We started with Anna Lee’s three and Stephanie was on fire. We talked about how we scored zero threes against Elmira in the last game, so maybe that gave us a little motivation.”
Kaileigh Hunt and Cameron Tooley worked down low together, finding back-to-back layups to keep the pace for the Golden Eagles. Hunt also converted a three-point play to help Brockport to a 25-18 lead. Also dominating the glass, Hunt finished the first quarter with six rebounds, including four offensive rebounds.
Jean-Baptiste followed with a three-point shot and hard drive to end the quarter with nine points.
“It’s definitely a lot of behind-the-scenes work,” Jean-Baptiste said. “Coming in early, leaving late, putting my shots up, working on my game and just letting the offense flow.”
In the second quarter, Jean-Baptiste continued her stellar play, converting a layup in the first 11 seconds of the second quarter assisted by Peyton Maneri. Elmira’s Mallory Welty responded minutes later with a high-arching three before Maneri sparked a 13-0 Brockport run with a layup on the fastbreak.
Later in the second quarter, Emma Ryan finished a layup for Elmira to end Brockport’s run. Hunt responded quickly with a triple just eight seconds later. Elmira answered with a layup from Welty before Brockport’s Shannon Blankenship connected on another three. Jean-Baptiste finished her first half scoring with a three and a free throw as the Golden Eagles ended the half up 54-35.
Twenty of Jean-Baptiste’s game-high 25 points were scored in the first half.
“Stephanie is just a gamer,” Jones said. “I just looked at her eyes, she was guarding the ball in full court and everything. I really do let our players play and Stephanie and I have learned a lot about each other over the years.”
After the half, Blankenship and Jean-Baptiste picked up where the Golden Eagles left off, nailing a three-pointer each just one minute after a three from Bogota. Elmira’s Nevaeh Winston later sparked a 10-0 run following a right-side layup over Hunt before Brockport responded with their own 10-point run capped off by a Hunt layup.
The Golden Eagles finished the quarter up 78-54 and Hunt finished with a 15-point, 10 rebound double-double, her fifth of the season.
“We just wanted to compete, it doesn’t matter who we are playing,” Hunt said. “We are in our home building, our home gym, so we wanted to come out and fight. That’s exactly what we did.”
Brockport’s bench play rounded out the record-setting offensive play, with Mandy Brink leading the quarter with eight points. Harmony Philo also added five points in the quarter with a layup and a deep three. With 15 seconds remaining, Brink tallied the 100th and 101st points of the game at the line after being fouled on a three-point attempt.
Brink finished with 15 points and nine rebounds coming off the bench. In four of her last five games, she has reached double-digit points.
“When people say improvement, I’m always surprised,” Jean-Baptiste said. “Mandy was our starting point guard last year so all this is stuff we know she can do, and we believe in her.”
Brockport will move onto the Empire 8 semifinals with the win, where they will face off against Nazareth at home on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m.
