Signs of spring are everywhere, but in Sherman there’s going to be so much snow on Friday school will be closed.

Girls basketball coach Mel Swanson said the closing is more about basketball than a blizzard. The planned snow day will give students and their families time to make the six-hour, 362-mile drive to Troy, where the Wildcats will compete Saturday for a state title for the first time since 2001.

“There’s going to be some bad weather in Sherman on Friday,” Swanson mused.

The 29th annual New York State Girls Basketball Championships tip off Friday at Hudson Valley Community College. Section VI has won 10 state titles in its history, the last one coming courtesy of East Aurora in 2007. This year’s representatives, Sherman in Class D and Olean in Class B, look to join the sorority.

The question is does Sherman have the talent to weather the competition? The team expected its biggest challenge of the season to come from Clymer. Instead Sherman finds itself in the state final four. The Wildcats will face South Kortright, which won the state title in 2006. The Rams beat Sacketts Harbor, 46-42, last Saturday to reach this year’s states.

Swanson got a chance to scout that game and said he feels good about the matchup. He said the Rams’ strength appears to be rebounding and aggressiveness, but their guards don’t look to score much, they aren’t a pressing team and they play a packed-in zone.

“If we can get out on the break, hit a couple threes, I think we could break it open,” he said.

Sherman starts five seniors, four of whom have played together since they were freshmen — Michelle Persons, Beth Gribble, Rachel Ottaway and Julie Frye. The foursome has put together four 20- win seasons and is a combined 84-11.

They’ve reached the Section VI finals in all four seasons, winning three. Ottaway and Gribble are 1,000-point scorers.

On Friday, Olean will be facing Oneonta, the No. 1-ranked team in the state. The Yellowjackets claimed their third Section IV title in five years. Last year they won sectionals in Class A.

Three players average in double figures: Madie Harlem (17.9 ppg.), Sienna Wisse (12.3) and Meredith Ridgway (11.3 ppg). It will be Oneonta’s first state semifinal appearance since 1998.

Olean has players who can score as well: junior Rachel Bantelman (19 ppg.), senior Alicia Stebbins (15) and senior Rachel Kasperski (13 ppg).

Coach Don Scholla saw Oneonta win its regional against Cazenovia, 36-33, last Saturday. In that game Harlem scored 30 of her team’s 36 points.

“We’re going to play another one of those teams where the point guard has the ball the majority of the time,” said Scholla. “They set a lot of screens to get her open. She’s pretty smooth. She’s one of those real heady, not overly quick or overly physical players. She just has those instincts for the game you don’t really teach.”

While Olean doesn’t have any 6-footers, Oneonta has two. But Scholla said they mostly set screens for Harlem, and they don’t look to shoot much, but they will roll to the basket.

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