By Aidan Joly

SARATOGA SPRINGS --

After an even first half, Shenendehowa girls’ basketball picked it up in the second half and it resulted in a 66-51 win against Saratoga on Wednesday night at Saratoga Springs High School.

 Holding a two-point lead at halftime, the Plainsmen turned on the jets in the third quarter, outscoring Saratoga 22-9 in the third stanza to open up a 15-point lead. 18 of those 22 points came from Jillian Huerter and Kaleigh Montanez, who scored 25 and 15 points respectively. Huerter added 10 rebounds and seven assists on the night as well.

“We stepped into the locker room and kind of composed ourselves, we said ‘hey, this is a good game, this is the kind of game we want.’ We all saw the first half and what went well and what didn’t go as well, so we took notes and we executed in the second half,” Huerter said.

Things were more of the same in the fourth quarter as Shen opened up as large as a 24-point lead in the waning minutes of the game. Bri Carey was the star in the fourth as 10 of her 16 points came in the final eight minutes.

“We put in a different press break at halftime, we got kids playing different positions because we have a couple kids out right now, so we were a little undermanned, but they stepped up and played well,” Shenendehowa head coach Joe Murphy said. “The biggest thing it came down to was we made some shots.”

The first half was a little bit leaning towards Saratoga as the Blue Streaks opened up a seven-point lead at one point during the second quarter. However, right after, it was Shenendehowa’s 19-2 run that encompassed the end of the second and beginning of the third that did Saratoga in.

“Our shooting percentage wasn’t great tonight as a team. So, when we had those open shots from the outside perimeter, we didn’t hit them and I think Shenendehowa did a very good job of passing the ball and getting it to the open person and unfortunately for us, they hit a lot of their outside shots,” Saratoga head coach Robin Chudy said.

The Blue Streaks were led by Tash Chudy, who had 29 points. Carly Wise had 16 points as well, with the pair scoring all but six of the team’s points. The Blue Streaks drop to 3-4 on the season.

Shenendehowa improves to 4-0 on the season with the victory.

“It’s definitely a good battle, I think it’s good for both teams to get better,” Huerter said. “This is an early game in the season so we can both get better and learn from it.”

By Rob Jonas

-Tamarac 62 -Mohonasen 38

(Tamarac Girls)

ROTTERDAM – It took some time for the Tamarac girls basketball team to get into a rhythm on offense. Once they did, the Bengals never looked back.

Tamarac went on a 23-7 run in the second quarter and steadily pulled away for a 62-38 victory over Mohonasen Thursday, Nov. 30, in a non-league game.

Every Tamarac starter played a role in the victory. Junior guard Emily Erickson scored seven of her team-high 13 points in the first quarter. Junior forward Renna Poulin and senior guard Kayla Doody combined for 13 points during the Bengals' second quarter burst. Junior guard Liz Machnick and senior forward Tina Ray netted 13 of Tamarac's 16 points in the third quarter.

“We definitely have a good overall team,” said Erickson. “We get everyone involved.”

“I tell them every game you can't just have two scorers. You need all five players to be involved,” said Tamarac coach Curt Bailey. “We like our kids to take the open shots when they have them.”

Mohonasen (0-1) played the physical, aggressive defense that is the hallmark of Suburban Council teams, but its offense lagged behind – a by-product of the team's inexperience. The Mighty Warriors hurried their shots, and as Tamarac's lead grew, they started passing the ball wildly, which led to several turnovers.

“We got into that mentality of trying to make it all up with one shot, and you can't do that,” said Mohonasen coach Doug Holden, who started two sophomores, two juniors and a freshman in the opener. “You have to get defensive stops.”

“We always expect them to be more aggressive because they play bigger schools than we do,” said Erickson. “But, we don't get too nervous because we have that experience. We just play our game.”

Tamarac's defense had a lot to do with Mohonasen's offensive struggles, as well. The Bengals stuck to their assignments and made the Mighty Warriors fight for nearly every shot.

“That's really been our forte,” said Bailey. “I tell them every single game, the only thing you can rely on is your defense. They had some nice shooters, and we did a nice job of closing in on them.”

Mohonasen started the game strong, scoring the first five points and not allowing a Tamarac field goal until shortly after the midway point of the first quarter. Erickson single-handedly changed the momentum with a personal 7-1 run – capped with an open three-pointer – to give the Bengals an 8-6 advantage, but the Mighty Warriors ended the opening stanza on a 5-1 spurt to regain a two-point advantage.

Mohonasen stayed with Tamarac through the first three minutes of the second quarter, tying the score at 16-16 on Ava Fasolino's three-pointer. A short jump shot off the glass from Poulin and Erickson's second three-pointer of the night proved to be the beginning of the end, though. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Bengals were ahead 32-18.

“They work really well together,” Holden said of Tamarac (2-0), which defeated Fonda-Fultonville in its season opener. “Curt (Bailey) is a very good coach. His teams always play well.”

Junior guard Jordyn Caldwell and sophomore forward Bre Lott each scored seven points to lead Mohonasen's offense. Caldwell also directed traffic and was one of Mohonasen's most active defenders, but foul trouble limited her playing time.

“She makes people uncomfortable and forces them to make mistakes,” Holden said of Caldwell, who fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. “She's very good off the ball.”

Tamarac is off until Friday, Dec. 8 when it travels to Berlin for the last of its three non-league road games to start the season.

“I'd like for us to get out of the gate (quickly),” said Bailey. “That's why we're starting with three away games. I want to see how they react to hostile environments.”

Mohonasen begins its Suburban Council schedule Tuesday, Dec. 5, against Bethlehem in Rotterdam.

(Mohonasen Girls) 

 (Tamarac's Emily Erickson)

@jonas_sports

By Aidan Joly

Albany --

CBA used two major runs and their size to their advantage in their 72-42 dismantling of La Salle on Monday night in Albany.

After a basket from La Salle’s Gianni Gabriel with just under six minutes left in the second quarter cut it to 18-16, the Brothers went on a 13-0 run for the rest of the quarter to give themselves a 15-point cushion at the break. That run was highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Ayden Harrison, who finished with 17 points.

“I think we took care of the ball, we got the ball moving and we moved ourselves,” CBA head coach Dave Doemel said. “And, we brought in some guys from the bench who exuded a lot of energy and I thought that was a fantastic job of the whole team getting behind them.”

Harrison and David Clement, CBA’s two starting bigs, were the two-headed monster for CBA all night as Clement finished with a game-high 22 points. It was the third quarter when Clement took over, having scored 10 points in that frame. It gave CBA a 50-32 lead after three quarters using their inside-out brand of basketball, a mix of scoring inside and hitting threes. The Brothers hit five three-pointers on the night.

“Those two guys are pretty good and when they get the ball inside it’s not like it’s going into the black hole. They have no problem passing the ball back out,” Doemel said.

Clement added, “We know we have a size advantage on a lot of teams. That’s one thing that’s really good for us and it’s nice that we can get the ball inside and create shots.”

The Brothers put the icing on the cake in the fourth quarter by putting up 22 points in the final eight minutes, capped off by a pair of dunks from Clement and Harrison in the final few minutes.

“You can’t make little mistakes or continue to make mistakes and they force you into them with their length and athleticism and once that happened, the ball just kind of kept rolling. We tried to keep fighting to keep ourselves in it and do those little things, but it was just too much to overcome,” La Salle head coach Greg Davis said.

The Cadets were led by Adam Myers’ 17 points, the only player on the team in double figures.

CBA improves to 6-1 with the win, while La Salle falls to 5-2 following the game between the two natural rivals.

“We don’t get to play them as much as we did in the past, but it’s still a big game for the kids,” Doemel said. “I think with the La Salle family, it’s like playing against your brother. You have a lot of respect for your brother but you don’t want him to kick you around.”

By Aidan Joly

Saratoga --

Despite a strong fourth quarter comeback effort by Saratoga, Niskayuna hung on and stayed undefeated with a 53-46 win on Tuesday night at Saratoga Springs High School.

The Blue Streaks trailed by 15 at the beginning of the final stanza and 13 with less than five minutes to play and things looked bleak. However, the group stayed poised and went on an 11-2 run that put them to within three points with about 90 seconds to play, a run that was highlighted by a three-pointer from Dillon Waite with 3:48 to play. That run lasted about three minutes before Niskayuna scored the final four points of the night to put the game on ice.

“We have four seniors on the floor who have been through this before. We’ve been on both sides of it. We’re just leaning on those seniors to make the right plays, be strong with the ball, make our free throws, make good decisions and close teams out on the road,” Niskayuna head coach Mike Grasso said.

The key portion of the game for the Silver Warriors was the run that they went on late in the second quarter, ending the first half on a 9-1 run to give them a double-digit lead at the break. They also scored the first four points of the second half to put themselves up 16, which was the largest lead of the night.

“I thought Gavin [Olsen] and Kasper Matia gave us two huge sparks off the bench rebounding and running the floor,” Grasso said. “It was really nice to see those young guys step up and really contribute in that second quarter.”

Outside of that run, Saratoga played pretty evenly with Niskayuna, only trailing by two at the end of the first quarter and out-scoring them by eight in the fourth quarter.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as hitting shots and that’ll get you on the right side of things,” Saratoga head coach Matt Usher said. “[Niskayuna] has a couple guys that are very good at knocking down jump shots from the perimeter and they went on some big runs and got some separation. We tried to fight back.”

Niskayuna was led by Owen Evans, who finished the night with 13 points, while Sam Booth and Jack Allen had 10 each. For Saratoga it was a more balanced attack, with Hutton Snyder, Evan Ash and Ethan Straughter scoring nine each with Waite adding eight.

Niskayuna is now 7-0 with the loss, while Saratoga falls to 3-5.

“They fought back really hard in the fourth quarter,” Grasso said. “They battled, they’re a great group, coach Usher does a heck of a job with them and we’re glad to get out of here with a win.”