Red Raiders defeat Webster to stay perfect in league play

DANESE KENON Fairport's Sabrina Boykin cuts off the path of Webster's Colleen Kelly during Fairport's 73-56 win Sunday.

By Jeff DiVeronica
Democrat and Chronicle

(Monday, February 4, 2002) -- Anyone who thought the Fairport girls basketball team was Caitlin Howe and a bunch of role players couldn't have been more wrong.

The rest of the Red Raiders got game, and they've been showing it all season.

Since they lost their star guard Dec. 11 to a season-ending knee injury, they haven't lost to a Section V team. That streak continued Sunday at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

Hot-shooting Fairport foiled Webster's latest attempt to even the score in their Monroe County Division I rivalry, winning 73-56. The game was part of the Kearney Classic.

Four Fairport starters scored in double figures for the first time and the one who didn't, super-quick Sabrina Boykin, was a huge factor defensively.

"It was our best overall effort all year," said coach Karen Thull, whose team has been No. 1 in the Democrat and Chronicle's large-schools poll all season. "Our dynamics changed when we lost Caitlin, our goals didn't."

The Red Raiders improved to 13-3 -- the losses were at a Nike tournament in Phoenix -- and 8-0 in league play. The win clinched at least a share of the title with Webster (6-2, 10-6).

Junior center Lindsay Ellis was named game MVP with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Junior forward Liz Hahn (nine rebounds) scored 11 of her 16 points after halftime, when Fairport turned back a Webster rally that sliced an 11-point deficit to five early in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Katie Steubing added 13 points and junior Josa Hanzlik scored a career-high 17 points -- or about a dozen more than Webster coach Scott Morrison counted on.

"She killed us," he said. "She made us come out of some stuff we wanted to do." One was keeping a close watch on Ellis, whose low-post game has blossomed because Fairport has needed her more.

It was Boykin's job to keep watch on guard Colleen Kelly. Webster's top scorer finished with 23 points, but scored 11 of those in the first quarter.

"She's a great defender," Kelly said of the junior point guard. "It's hard to rub her off screens. She's just so quick."

Kelly shook free a few times early, but then Fairport defenders helped out on screens, giving Boykin the extra second she needed to work through them.

Steubing, Boykin and Hanzlik all hit 3-pointers as Fairport opened up a 33-18 cushion in the second quarter against a zone.

But the Warriors scrapped back in it. Pressure defense when Steubing and Hanzlik went out with three fouls forced eight Fairport turnovers in the third quarter. Freshman guard Jaslynn Lee's 3-pointer cut the lead to 45-40 early in the fourth quarter, but Ellis sank two free throws and Hanzlik answered with a 3-pointer and pull-up jump shot.

"Everybody has to contribute a lot more (without Howe)," Ellis said. "We can't have an off night. With her, we could."