Attachments

Bright star rising. Eldred’s HalieKolvenbach

Paint bound. Eldred’s JisselaLaBuda and Fallsburg’s Shauna Bellacicco.

Battle zone. Fallsburg’s Amanda Zeno races to paint against Eldred’sLenaeKelty.

ELDRED, NY — Sometimes it takes more than a 1000-point shooter to win a game.

On Tuesday, January 15 the home team Lady Yellowjackets of Eldred (4-3) hosted the Fallsburg Lady Comets (6-6) in a girls’ varsity game of hoops that whatever it lacked in finesse, made up for in heart as both squads fought it out to the bitter end to the best of their abilities.

Your weekly sports scribbler came into this game a bit clueless as to the respective team’s records, but under the vague impression from the ‘word on the street’ that the Jackets were in for a rough ride.

But as things turned out, Eldred carried the day in fine style even though the sparse home team crowd in the ‘Hive’ was shaken as Fallsburg took a slight lead at the close of the opening frame, and as the game drew to its conclusion, came within a few points on occasion, bringing out the finest in the Lady Jackets.

At the end of the first period, the Comets started to light up the night sky as they squeaked by the home team by a bucket (14-12), but in the following three frames lost their fiery tails as Eldred outscored them 10-5, 12-10 and 12-8 to outlast the visitors on the way to a 48-37 victory.

Fallsburg is coached by Daniel Redmond and captained by junior Amanda Zeno, and senior Zariah Williams.

In a recent game against Onteora, Zeno attained her 1000th point, a notable milestone in any high school student athlete’s basketball career, as she posted 26 points in the match against the Lady Eagles.

“It was an honor because a lot of people don’t make it that far in their basketball careers,” she said.

And of the game against Eldred?

“We should have played better defense…they were killing us in the paint.” said the 16-year old point guard.

Daniel Redmond, helmsman of the Lady Comets, calls it likes he sees ‘em.

“They out-worked us, out-played us… they were just more feisty than us,” he said, adding, “We did not have a great rebounding day at all… we got killed.”

On the home team side of the court, Jissela LaBuda was back in action for the first time since being sidelined with an injury during a game against the Lady Spartans of S.S. Seward.

Haile Kolvenbach teamed up with Morgan Kopf to post points in the third frame, thus paving the way to victory.

“Everybody played with a lot of intensity… I loved the way they played together and they got a lot of steals,” said Kim Hallock, coach of the Lady Yellowjackets.

After the game, Hallock pointed to Lenae Kelty, who was limping a bit from a twisted ankle and said, “That’s our number one stealer.”

During the game, Kelty posted 6 points and stealthily snatched several steals.

The Lady Yellowjackets top scorers: LaBuda (17 points), Kopf (12) and Kolvenbach (11).

Fallsburg’s point-getters: Amanda Zeno (12 points including a ‘three’), Chloe Barber (10), and Zariah Williams posted a ‘three’.

Stats from the FTL: Eldred 2/6 (33%), Fallsburg (63%).