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Tournament Bells Ring for Haldane, Put Valley Girl's Cagers
Lady Blue Devils clinch League IV North Title
by Ray Gallagher
 | | Two seniors who stepped it up on Haldane's senior night were Liz Skrelja and Michelle Markey |
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It is once again that time of year when the Haldane School District shines brightest; that time of year when the 14-time defending Section 1 champion Lady Blue Devils have the basketball spotlight thrust directly upon them. First-year Haldane Coach Rich Desiderio will get a taste of what that means to the tiny villages of Cold Spring, Nelsonville and the Town of Philipstown in the coming days, but Monday night was all about the seniors and the clinching of the League IV North title.
On Senior Night at Haldane, the seniors stepped up and the state-ranked (No.7) Lady Blue Devils improved to 15-2 overall, a perfect 7-0 in league play. The packed house was probably expecting another sterling performance from junior Brittany Shields, the top scorer in Section 1 these days with 22.1 PPG, but the All-NYS sharpshooter battled foul trouble and finished with just six points. Without their scoring leader, the four seniors on the club played like seniors are supposed to, gutting out a win that enabled Haldane to clinch the league title by besting secondplace Pawling, 52-44.
 | | Another key contributor to Haldane's win over Pawling was Brittany Fleming |
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Senior Kylie McConville keyed the win, drilling a season high 18 points to lead all scorers. Senior Brittany Fleming drained a big trey down the stretch and finished with six points, and senior Liz Skrelja scored five of her seven points during a 15-6 first-quarter run by the Blue Devils. Senior Michelle Markey played a vital role on defense for Haldane, which only played well enough to win.
The victory all but wrapped up the No.1 seed in the upcoming Class C tournament as well.
It was the sixth win in a row for the Blue Devils, who face North Salem this Thursday before a big weekend test against Class AA powerhouse Ursuline in New Rochelle (3pm). No doubt, they'll need a better effort there because the coach, though pleased with the outcome, was none to happy with the overall effort.
"McConville stepped up huge and Fleming hit a big three for us," Desiderio said. "Michelle Markey and Emily Marsh (7 points) played great defense. But it was another game that my kids slept-walked through most of the game. Sometimes we think that because we are Haldane, we just have show up and we're going to win. We were not hungry or motivated and our defense was horrible for most of the game. We are going to sleep walk at the wrong time and we are going to pay for it if this keeps up."
Meanwhile, the Putnam Valley Tigers (11-7, 7-1) have fallen on hard times due to the illness of senior forward Kim Kastuk (mono). The Tigers have lost two of the last three without Kastuk on the low blocks, including a 65-49 setback to Briarcliff (16-2, 7-1), which means the Tigers will likely share the League III-A title with the Bears, provided both win out the rest of the way.
With Kastuk in the lineup, the Tigers would be a formidable foe against any Class B club and a good bet to reach the Class B Final 4 at the Westchester County Center, but without her toughness the Tigers would be hard-pressed to reach the second round.
"We need Kimmy back healthy," P.V. boss Kelly Thompson insisted. "We don't have a lot of depth on this team to begin with, so going in to sectionals without her is not something we'd look forward to. We might sneak by a round without her, but we certainly don't want to have to go that route."
In the loss to Briarcliff, Christine Kemp dropped 16 points and Nicole Scott added 13 for the Tigers, who played good stretches of the game without center Jylan Mayo (foul trouble)…
In other off-court action at Putnam Valley, the search for the replacement of veteran Athletic Director Pete Kuczma remains in its infancy stage. This spring will be Kuczma's last season at Putnam Valley, and the district will surely miss the three years of professionalism and guidance he provided. What the district can't afford to do, though, is wait any longer to get serious about finding a replacement.
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