GIRL’S BASKETBALL: WEEK IN REVIEW

Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports Editor

All our local Columbia County teams competed in a number games over the past week. We’ll take a look at who played whom and what the outcomes of the games mean for each team.

Germantown
After their thoroughly dominating victory over Heatly on Wednesday, the Clippers just kept rolling with a 17-point win Friday over Waterford. Taylor Race scored 19 points in both wins to lead the way, while Caitlin Briggs added 11 points and 15 rebounds in the win over the Fordians.

The pair of wins keeps Germantown undefeated not just in the Central Hudson Valley League but overall. The Clippers are now 15-0 overall and 11-0 in the league with just five games left on their schedule before sectionals.

The Clippers are in a great position potentially to finish out the season undefeated and to garner the top seed in the Section II Class D sectionals.

New Lebanon
The Tigers split their two league games last week with a blowout loss at the hands of Loudonville Christian before pulling out a 38-30 win over Hawthorne Valley. New Lebanon used a big second half to pull out the win over the Wildcats.

Geneva Furlano led the way with 19 points in the win. New Lebanon needs to start putting together wins to gain momentum heading toward sectionals, and this win was a good start. With six games remaining on their league schedule, the Tigers will have a shot to get going as they face off with three Central Hudson Valley League teams all of which they have already defeated this year.

Ichabod Crane
The Riders came away with two big wins this past week and have now won five of their last six games. The first win, a 72-64 victory over Mount Anthony of Vermont, gave the Riders a bit of revenge over a team that beat them earlier this season. The Riders went to overtime to put this game away and were led by Becca Smith and Rachel Dellehunt, the team’s top post player and guard.

The second win came on Sunday during the Coaches vs. Cancer event at St. Rose where the Riders topped former Patroon Conference rival Catskill 49-38. Ichabod Crane got contributions from a lot of players and were led by Courtney Barry and Elena Ooms, who each scored 9 points.

ICC is getting hot at the right time and will continue to be tested down the stretch. The Riders close out their season with a game against Scotia, a team they defeated once this year already, and one against Central Hudson Valley League contender Emma Willard. The big games for the Riders will come against Suburban Council power Mohonasen, and matchups with Class AA teams Catholic Central and Albany.

Hudson
The Bluehawks split their pair of games last week with a win over Coxsackie-Athens and a loss to Patroon Conference power Maple Hill on Sunday at Saint Rose. Hudson now sits at 5-6 in the league. So while a Patroon Conference title is now all but out of reach, the Bluehawks are still fighting for sectional seedings and a chance at a first-round home game.

In their win over the Indians, Hudson was led by Meghan Keeler and Shavonda Cousins, who each scored 13 points, while in the loss Hudson was led by Samantha Davis who scored 14. The key for Hudson to beat the top teams is to get all three of the big trio going on the same night.

Taconic Hills
The Titans went 1-2 last week, but it wasn’t all bad news. After losing to Greenville by 26 points on Tuesday, Taconic Hills fell to the Spartans again on Saturday, but this time the Titans fell by only 14.

Taconic Hills’ win came on Wednesday when they trounced Cairo-Durham 44-16. The Titans allowed just two Mustang players into the scoring column as Rachel Preusser hit for double digits.

The next three games for the Titans are a brutal slate as they face off against three of the top four teams in the Patroon Conference: Maple Hill, Catskill, and Rensselaer.

Chatham
The Panthers continued to struggle last week as they fell to 0-14 overall and 0-11 in the Patroon Conference with three league losses. Chatham’s losses to Rensselaer and Catskill were tough defeats, but the Panthers put in a good showing in their 12-point loss to Cairo-Durham on Sunday.