Basketball

Rock rolls

Livingston Manor and Eldred are winners in opening round of Eldred girls basketball tourney

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY — And so the season began. With little fanfare, and armed with precious little practice and scrimmage experience, the Lady Wildcats from Livingston Manor took to the court on December 1 to take on a familiar rival in the Lady Blue Devils from Roscoe in the Eldred tournament. Livingston Manor prevailed by the score of 47-29.

Later in the evening, tournament host Eldred defeated Fallsburg 40-35.

Manor and Eldred will play for the tournament championship on December 5 after Roscoe and Fallsburg duke it out in the consolation round.

As expected, both games had numerous turnovers and lacked the efficient precision these teams will evince later in the season. Coaches watched closely, calling out instructions as they made mental notes about things to be worked on?taking better care of the ball, rotating the ball around the perimeter looking for the best opening and showing patience on offense.

Manor’s California transfer student Chaz Reed was the tallest girl on the floor. She controlled the opening tip over Roscoe’s Sky Dutcher and scored the game’s first two points. Manor held an 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended its lead to 25-17 by the half. Roscoe closed to within four in the third quarter and trailed 29-25. Manor pulled away in the fourth quarter enroute to its 47-29 victory.

Sophomore Marissa Diescher led the Lady Wildcats with 20 points. She scored 10 of those points in the fourth quarter. In the first half, she nailed a pair of threes and, over the course of the game, she made six of 10 free throws.

Seniors Danielle Baker and Reed had eight and six points respectively for Manor (1-0). Amanda Ladenhauf led Roscoe (0-1) with 15 points but she was only three of 12 from the charity stripe. Coach Becky Ahart will certainly stress free-throw shooting as the Lady Blue Devils were only nine of 24 from the line. Manor did better as it scored nine of 16 from the charity stripe.

In the second game, Fallsburg got on the board first with a three pointer from Shana Swerdling, but it was Eldred that had an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The score stayed close as each team committed multiple turnovers but showed some tough defense. Eldred held a narrow 23-20 lead at the half but pulled away to a 34-25 lead at the end of the third quarter. This was a product of good trapping defense and Fallsburg’s tendency to rush its shots, instead of setting up its offense.

The Lady Comets made a nice run in the fourth quarter as they outscored Eldred 10-6. But it was too little to forestall the Eldred 40-35 win.

Eldred got eight points apiece from seniors Rachel Smith and Sam Allesandra and sophomore Meaghan Hazen. Eldred was eight for 17 from the line, while Fallsburg was only five for 15, one of the things noted by first-year coach Daniel Redmond, who said his team played well for its first outing. Fallsburg was led by freshman Sheryl Pinder, who scored 10 points. Swerdling had seven and Keshawn Kennedy had six.

Eldred coach Frank Kean affirmed his team’s defensive effort but recognized that there is still much work to do.

Visit riverreportersports.com for detailed stories on each games and an album of photos.