Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake starting to jell

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bob Weiner

If you look at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s girls’ basketball season as a whole, the 4-17 Spartans don’t appear to have much of a chance of upsetting top-seeded Mohonasen (19-2) in tonight’s Section II Class A semifinal at Colonie High School.

But if you look at BH-BL’s last six games, there is room for optimism.

“Obviously, Mohonasen had a great season, and they are the top team from the Suburban Council. We certainly had our struggles during the season,” said BH-BL coach Don Juron. “But we’re an extremely young team that has been in a lot of close games. A lot of them didn’t go our way. We finished off the season well, though, by going 3-3. I think it’s a situation where our younger players are learning how to play, and what it takes to finish games.

“In so many games this year, we had leads and let them slip away. In the fourth quarter, we missed some foul shots where we could have locked up some wins. But we’re playing better of late, and I hope that continues.”

With only one senior and four juniors on the roster, Juron spent most of the season prepping for the future.

“The Suburban Council was a very strong league this year,” said Juron. “What you try to do is compete to the best of your ability. This season, my focus was to develop a lot of my young players. I was trying to get them ready as soon as possible, and develop the overall program. We’re trying to rebuild. Burnt Hills had some really strong teams the last couple of seasons, but now, we’re trying to start over. I think we’re heading in the right direction. What I told the kids at the end of the regular season was that everyone starts 0-0 in the sectionals, and the team that goes 3-0 wins the title. That’s what we’re thinking about.”

Juron knows his team is in for a tough game against the Mighty Warriors.

“First of all, they are well-coached. Paul [Brosious] does a great job over there, and he has a solid defense. But on the offensive end, what they do so well is share the ball. They’ve got a good combination of perimeter shooters, and their inside player, Dayna Lashin, is coming on strong. Obviously, they’ve got two strong players in [Nicole] Adach and [Michelle] Aviza. You’ve got to give those two players a lot of respect, but their point guard, Lea McClain, finds the open person very well.”

In the other half of the Class A bracket, third-seeded Holy Names (21-0) tries to remain unbeaten when it takes on Averill Park. The Holy Names-Averill Park game is scheduled for 6 p.m., to be followed by the Mohoansen-BH-BL game.