Section Nine

Basketball Tournament

Endgame

Tri-Valley and Eldred girls vanquished in finals; all county teams play hard but come up short

By RICHARD A. ROSS

rross@sportsinsightsny.com

NEWBURGH, NY — With the March 1 defeat of the Class C Fallsburg and Class A Monticello boys, along with the Class B Sullivan West girls and the Class D Livingston Manor girls as reported in last week’s River Reporter, eyes turned toward the number three seeded Eldred boys. The third-seeded Yellow Jackets hosted number two Chapel Field on March 2, a school that has no gym of its own. It was the last game for Eldred seniors Blair Flanigan, Billy McKerrell, Scott Hallock and Bryan Henry. In a tooth and nail battle, the lead changed as the game wound down to the final minute. Then the Lions came up big with three pointers from seniors Danny Menendez and Jesse Capalbo to ice the win 49-42, which propelled them to their fourth trip to the Class D finals where they lost to John A. Coleman Catholic. Eldred finished its season at 8-8. Patrick Reiser led Eldred with nine points.

That same night, the Class D Livingston Manor boys were crushed 78-45 by Coleman in the other semifinal.

In the Section Nine Class D Girls Finals, Eldred fell to John A. Coleman 58- 21. Despite being overmatched by the defending state champion John A. Coleman Lady Statesmen, Eldred can be proud of its stellar 14-3 season that included a sweep of its Division VI rivals. Junior Sage Owens had 16 of her team’s 21 points in this game and she, along with a host of others, will be back next season to make another run at it. Coach Frank Kean noted that Coleman demonstrates what it takes to get to the next level. It was the last game for Eldred seniors Amanda Busch, Caitlin Martin, Lauren Hazen, Kelsey Ferguson and Jill Harris.

In a momentous week that had seen the Tri-Valley girls extend their win streak to 12 with a season-sweeping 49-39 win over Tuxedo, which gave the Lady Bears the Division V crown, and then tally their suffocating defensive 46-28 vanquishing of Rhinebeck in the semifinals, the top-seeded Class C Lady Bears traveled to Mount St. Mary college on March 6 to take on defending Section Nine champion Tuxedo.

But Tuxedo, a team that was playing in its fourth straight Section Nine title game, got a huge game from junior Katie-Leigh Sovak who poured in 21 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to garner a 45-31 win over Tri-Valley. The Lady Bears ended their season at 17-4. It was the last game for seniors Amanda Martin, Skylar Musa, Kathryn Schneyer, Allyson Bowers, Kaitlyn Torres, Heather Knox and Kelly McNamara, as well as for retiring coach Andy Taggart. Junior Jakki Pugh led her team with 11 points in the final.

Congratulations to all eight Sullivan County teams in this year’s sectionals for their fine seasons.

Visit www.sportsinsightsny.com for more on the sectionals and albums of photos.