Girls basketball

Tall order

Sullivan West staves off feisty O’Neill in league fray

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — League games matter a great deal when it comes to the question of qualifying for sectionals and the seeding within the tournament. Although teams play 20 games in their regular season, having at least a .500 record in their league games guarantees them a berth in the annual dance.

While that prospect is nearly two months away, both Sullivan West and James I. O’Neill approached their league fray on January 3 with added intensity and purpose.

Both teams realize the hierarchy in the division, which is presently presided over by favored Burke. While Sullivan West beat Burke twice two years ago, the Lady Eagles, the reigning Class B champions, remain an ominous challenge. At present, Burke is undefeated.

Given the arduous task of trying to unseat Burke, Sullivan West and O’Neill view other league games with heightened rigor.

For O’Neill, now much improved over last year’s squad that went 4-4 in Division IV and had a short shelf life in the sectionals, having senior transfer Allison McKearn dominating the paint adds firepower to a squad that is quick and proving itself to be a serious contender. McKearn, whose dad is in the military, transferred in from Germany.

Her post presence gives the Lady Raiders a strong weapon to go along with the deft shooting of junior guard Tiana Taylor and sophomore forward Caroline Cannon. O’Neill’s new coach, Kevin Schoeffer, figures once his squad can eliminate its one problematic quarter, which seems to plague them each game, the Lady Raiders will be even more than the handful they have been in competitive, but losing, efforts against Burke, Cornwall and S.S. Seward.

O’Neill provided Sullivan West with a similar challenge but the Lady Bulldogs were able to prevail as they rode a 12-point second half outburst from Jenn Pitz, their only guard. Pitz stepped up her game at just the right time to push her team over the top.

Sullivan West’s strategy of prevent defense was hampered early by two first-quarter fouls garnered by Rachel Houghtaling. With forward Vicky Argueta still away, coach Ron Bernhardt went to Melanie Kleiner as his first option off the bench. While Houghtaling sat out major minutes, Kleiner performed admirably. Still, Sullivan West lost its rebounding edge while Houghtaling sat.

Picking up the slack, teammates Katrina Graby and Sarah Lander scored seven and five points respectively in the opening frame to help Sullivan West get out to a 14-8 lead by the end of the quarter. Graby scored the game’s first bucket that was quickly answered by a three-pointer from Cannon. McKearn gave O’Neill three points in the first quarter. She became more productive as the game progressed.

The lead seesawed in the second quarter. After McKearn tied it, Sullivan West’s Lindsey Murphy put the Lady Dawgs back on top with a timely three. She would score seven of her nine points during the second quarter. That was key in enabling Sullivan West to take a narrow 30-27 lead into halftime, despite the fact that O’Neill outscored Sullivan West 19-16 in the quarter.

After Houghtaling picked up her third foul almost immediately after her return in the second quarter, O’Neill capitalized on her renewed absence. McKearn, enabled in part by the deft play and passing of junior forward Cory Trainor, picked up 11 of her game-high 18 points in the frame as the Raiders were successful in getting the ball to her in the low post.

Sullivan West got seven points from Lander to go along with Murphy’s seven. Graby added two as the teams retired to the locker room to strategize for the second half.

While Pitz had gone scoreless in the first half, her contributions did not go unnoticed. Facilitating the distribution of the ball and playing stick-to defense on Taylor, Pitz was quietly making her impact. But the unselfish guard took matters into her own hands as the second half began.

After Taylor opened the third quarter with a three pointer, Pitz answered with one of her own from the right wing. Both squads vied for the lead, which went back and forth in the early going. Taylor kicked it out to Cannon, who canned a three to give the Lady Raiders a 35-34 lead midway through the quarter. But Sullivan West’s defense, which shifted into a zone, held O’Neill to only two more points for the remainder of the quarter.

As the quarter wound down, Pitz hit her second three pointer to push a four-point edge to seven with 16 seconds remaining in the period. She followed that up with a steal from Cannon. McKearn got two points down low as the quarter ended with Sullivan West up 42-37.

The Lady Bulldogs outscored O’Neill 18-11 in the fourth quarter that began with a three pointer from Murphy. McKearn answered with a quick two, but the tide was shifting in Sullivan West’s favor. Although Houghtaling was playing with four fouls, she still managed 11 rebounds, playing in what amounted to only half a game.

Pitz added six points in the fourth quarter to enter double figures. Lander led the Lady Dawgs with 16, while Graby had 15. Bernhardt deployed the services of Ella McDonald, Lindsey Bauer and Kleiner in the fourth quarter.

Cannon scored seven of O’Neill’s 11 points in the fourth quarter. Three of those came from the free throw line. Overall, O’Neill (3-4, 0-2 OCIAA) was 11 for 19 from the stripe. Sullivan West (6-1, 2-0) fared worse at 14 for 23.

Schoeffer was pleased with his team’s effort but said that the one bad quarter had done his squad in. Shot selection proved to be key in the Lady Raiders’ demise. “We feel a sense of urgency, and instead of looking for good shots down low with McKearn, we’re opting for quick shots,” he noted. O’Neill did hoist up quite a few from long range.

Bernhardt felt good about his team’s gritty win. “Pitz saved us,” he observed, giving props to his veteran senior guard. “It was a nice offensive outburst,” he added. Still looking to tweak his offense, which struggled at times against man sets to reverse the ball, Bernhardt tinkered with using Houghtaling at guard.

Referencing O’Neill’s improvement over the team his squad beat 56-22 and 50-36 a year ago, Bernhardt said, “they’re a handful to match up with. McKearn is hard to stop.”

Overall, he said the game was a good test for his team, which downed Monticello on January 7, traveled to Port Jervis on January 10 and then clash with the Lady Eagles at Burke on January 10.

Schoeffer looks forward to his team’s upcoming schedule as a chance to improve. O’Neill will encounter Middletown, Fallsburg, Liberty and Monticello in its upcoming games.

In addition to McKearn’s 18 points, the Lady Raiders got 15 from Cannon and 11 from Taylor. That three-way scoring threat could prove weighty for all of O’Neill’s upcoming opponents.

Visit riverreporter.com for an album of game photos.

7:12; 3,200: Colin Seidl (SW) 10:15.1; 1,000: Seidl (SW) 2:51.5; 300: Coehlo (T-V) 39.22; 3,200 relay: Tri-Valley 9:45.2; 1,600 relay: Sullivan West 4:17.7; High jump: Strother (L) 5-9.; Pole vault: Brent Kaplan (L) 9-6; Long jump: Coelho (T-V) 17-8; Triple jump: Strother (L) 35-10½; Shot put: Tanzeel Kahn (T-V) 47-6—.

At the Southern Tier Invitational on January 4 held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, Tri-Valley’s Garrett Grey captured the weight throw (61-2½). Teammates Bob Fiedler (55-6—) and Tanzeel Kahn (50-0) finished second and fifth, respectively.