Girls Basketball

Soaring above the rest

Undefeated Burke’s Lady Eagles claim Sullivan West as its latest victim in Division IV fray

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GOSHEN, NY — When it comes to evaluating talent in any arena of life, there are those who are assessed as very good and others who are simply extraordinary. The Lady Eagles of John S. Burke Catholic, now 10-0 (4-0) following their dominant 40-27 win over Sullivan West on January 11, fall into that latter peerless category. Always a force to contend with, Burke’s really got it going this season. With nine seniors onboard, something coach Bob Turner has never had before, Burke is a juggernaut.

Four of those seniors, including Marist-bound Emily Stallings and teammates Katie Grahn, Shannon Gough and Lexi Auanzato, are starters with tons of off-season experience under their belts.

Junior Megan Rufer has plenty as well.

Burke’s daunting schedule, which regularly pits it against bigger schools, helps the Lady Eagles sharpen their talons. That makes games like this one against Sullivan West routine fare. Thus far this season, Burke has already dispatched heavyweights Kingston, Albertus Magnus, Middletown and Cornwall. On January 19, they’ll host undefeated Class C Haldane with Pace-bound all-star Brittany Shields.

They look forward to such challenges.

By contrast, Burke is the toughest team on Sullivan West’s schedule.

Sullivan West coach Ron Bernhardt sees Burke thusly: “I think they’re the best team in the tri-county [Orange, Sullivan and Ulster]. I don’t think there are many Class B teams in the state that could come in here and beat them?maybe top-ranked South Jefferson, but who knows?”

But Bernhardt felt his team never gave up. “We went toe to toe with them and I’m proud of the fact that we played better in the second half,” he said, while fully cognizant of the disparity between the two teams that manifested itself in every facet of the game.

Burke’s preparation, athleticism and execution were far too much for Sullivan West. Turner’s plan was to have his girls pick up Lady Bulldog guard Jenn Pitz early and pressure her. Turner schemed to force big Dawgs Rachel Houghtaling and Katrina Graby away from the basket. That proved a flawless way to prevent Sullivan West from getting into its potentially effective half-court sets.

In addition, stepping out on long-range shooters Sarah Lander and Lindsey Murphy neutralized that threat as well. Aside from some early success in the opening minutes of the third quarter that evinced a 7-2 Lady Bulldog run, Sullivan West never got on track in this one. Burke’s pressure forced 19 turnovers and Sullivan West’s offense was summarily blunted as the Bulldogs got only five points from Lander and Pitz, seven from Murphy, two from Houghtaling and one from Graby.

Offensively, Burke’s ability to slice crisp passes to a cutting Emily Stallings on the baseline proved devastating.

Stallings led all scorers with 19 points. In the second quarter, she scored 13 of Burke’s 14 points when she wasn’t blocking shots or pulling down boards. Sullivan West tried switching from man-to-man to zone defense to try and confuse Burke following misses, but Burke’s ability to quickly reverse the ball opened up seams that allowed Rufer and Stallings to score freely, especially in the first half.

Burke controlled the opening tip but each team turned it over once before Rufer got her first bucket down low. Murphy answered with two points and Sullivan West stayed close at 6-4 after another Murphy bucket at 3:40. Then Burke’s pressure forced Sullivan West’s well to run dry for the remaining 4:20 of the first quarter as Burke piled on six more to take a 12-4 lead after one. Rufer netted six of her eventual nine points in the opening period.

Stallings proved unstoppable in the second frame as Burke outscored Sullivan West 14-6. A late three by Murphy represented half of the Lady Bulldogs’ meager output. Burke led 26-10 at the break as Rufer hit one of two free throws after she was fouled at the buzzer.

Sullivan West inbounded the ball to start the second half but Gough got a steal that she could not convert.

Five points from Pitz, including a trey and a bucket by Lander, fueled the early Sullivan West edge in the first 6:15 of the third quarter, but Burke scored the final five points to retain a 33-19 lead after three quarters.

Turner freely subbed in his bench players, including Mary Rose Meany, Kaitlin Fitzgibbons, Tara Fogarty, Kimmie Mahon and Larissa Laba as the fourth quarter progressed. Even prior to that, Sullivan West was getting penetration to the basket, something it failed to do for nearly the entire first half, but still had trouble finishing its shots even when they found a way to the rim.

Houghtaling fouled out with 3:50 to go and before long, the disconsolate post player, turned sometimes guard, was joined by other Sullivan West starters who gave way to Melanie Kleiner, Kristen Drobysh, Lindsey Bauer, Vicky Argueta and Ella McDonald. The latter netted five points during her fourth-quarter stint.

Bernhardt acknowledged his team’s bruised psyche but put the loss in perspective. “We’ve lost two games: one to Cornwall, ranked second among the state’s Class A teams, and other to Burke, the fourth-ranked Class B team.” Sullivan West is now 8-2 (3-1 OCIAA).

Turner summed up his team’s win: “They depend so much on Pitz to bring the ball up and run their half-court offense. She does a good job and Ron runs a lot of good sets. If they get it into their big girls, they can score or get you in foul trouble, so we picked up Pitz early, applied a lot of pressure and tried to disrupt them from doing just that.

“Forcing Houghtaling and Graby out from the basket puts them in a place they’re not necessarily all that comfortable in,” he said, as he evinced part of the strategy his girls had deployed to shut down Sullivan West, a team that beat them twice two years ago.

Burke hosted Class AA Newburgh Free Academy on January 15, traveled to Fallsburg for a league game on January 17 and will tip it up against Haldane on January 19.

Sullivan West hosted Tri-Valley on January 15 before taking a 10-day hiatus during Regents week. They resume play on the road against tough Class C Tuxedo on January 25.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.