Harpursville, led by Section IV’s all-time leading scorer, Hannah Kimmel, will aim at winning a third straight Midstate Athletic Conference championship Saturday at 6 p.m. at Oneonta State’s Fieldhouse Gymnasium.

Standing in the way is Bainbridge-Guilford, who owns three previous league championships since the MAC was formed in 2002. The two clubs squared off in early January with the Hornets racing to a double figures lead in the first half. B-G (15-2) came as close as six in the second half before losing, 62-44.

Kimmel scored 34 in the contest including 10 points in the last quarter. “One thing we have to do is slow Kimmel down somehow,” said B-G’s longtime coach, Bob Conway. “We’ve been working hard at boxing out. (Kimmel) gets to the boards very well, we need to contain her there and slow her dribble penetration. But we can’t just defend her. They have other kids who can score.”

While Kimmel is scoring in the neighborhood of 30 points a night, the rest of the team is typically matching Kimmel’s number, and 60 points a game will win a lot of girls’ basketball games. Harpursville made its way through an unbeaten MAC schedule winning all of its games handily, and its only loss came to state-ranked Cazenovia at the Unadilla Valley Holiday Tournament.

Aside from B-G’s loss to Harpursville, it lost to Oxford early in the season, but avenged that loss in the league playoffs last week winning on the road, 49-42.

Junior point guard Randi Conway continued her maturity spearheading the offense. Junior forward Shania Vandermark led all rebounders with 14 in that game, and had a game-clinching steal and layup in the final minute. Of late, senior Corrine Riegel and first-year starter Chelsea Tewksbury have picked up their scoring. Senior Chelsi Rosa had her best game of the season against the Blackhawks netting 18 points.

“I think we’re as ready as we can be,” Conway said, who has typically been masterful in game-planning. “We’re playing better on offense than we were earlier in the season, and on defense I think we are understanding the schemes we are trying to implement.”