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Haldane Takes 1st Annual PCN&R Hoops Cup
Blue Devils defeat Putnam Valley with strong 4th quarter
by Ray Gallagher
 | | Members of the Haldane High girls basketball team pose with the PCN&R Cup after the Blue Devils defeated Putnam Valley Monday in the first annual PCN&R Cup game. |
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Former 14-time defending Section 1 champion Haldane High (yes, it pains me to type it as much as you hate to read it) began its quest to reclaim the Class C crown under first-year Coach Kenny Haskins with a solid 61-45 season-opening victory over visiting Putnam Valley last Monday night.
Behind a game-high 21 points from All-NYS forward Brittany Shields, the 2007 Class C runnerup Blue Devils (1-0) grabbed the rights to retain the first ever Putnam County News & Recorder Cup for at least one year. The PCN&R Cup game was established in an effort to build a healthy, lasting rivalry between two of Section 1's quality girl's basketball programs and to establish smallschool dominance in Putnam County. Truth be told, though, these two Putnam County schools were the cream of the crop in the region last year, regardless of classification.
Ravaged by player turnover and a season-ending injury to its key returning starter (Nicole Scott), 2007 Class B sectional finalists Putnam Valley (0-1) struggled to stop Shields in the paint and on the break.
The Pace-bound Shields now sits just 322 points shy of the program's all-time scoring record held by the great Jen Moran, and she knew entering the game that some of her rookie teammates might need some time to shake the butterflies.
"We definitely knew that this was going to be a closer game than it looks," said Shields. "It was our first game with a lot of young players who had some early jitters. Plus, they're a pretty good team. I know they're head coach is a good coach. She's smart and I knew that even if they didn't have talented players that she would demand they play hard, and that's what they did. She gets the most out of them. Number 22 (Amanda DeChent) hit some big shots to keep them in it… some big threes. In the end, I think we wore them down inside."
"We're used to winning, but this year's motto is different," Shields added. "After losing last year, we feel like we're an underdog in every game. We're not as good as we used to be and that's just the facts. Kids aren't playing AAU like they used to, so we have to play like underdogs to do whatever it takes to win. If we play like that, we should be alright."
Despite the lopsided score, it didn't come easy against the Valley. The Tigers hung around and had a chance to cut the Blue Devil lead to six points with 3:30 left, but they turned the ball over. In transition, Liz Milner (7 points in all) drained a clutch 3-bomb and Sheildsy followed with an uncontested layup off yet another turnover. The differential went from eight to 13 in the blink of an eye. The Tigers got a major contribution from sophomore Amanda DeChent, who dropped a career-high 19. Caitlin White (8 points), Katie Geyer (5) and Lauren Minnerly (5) added to the Tiger cause.
"I was proud of the way my kids played," PV Coach Kelly Thompson said. "They executed what I asked them to do. We pushed the tempo and ran the floor pretty well, but we missed some open looks that we need to bury against a team like this. We got outrebounded and pushed around a little bit inside, but that's because we've got some real young, small kids playing down there. That's going to be a challenge for us all year. No doubt, we were competitive as hell. I'm real proud of them. I think by the end of January there might be some teams afraid to play us by then.
"Amanda had an excellent game," the Coach added. "All the way around I didn't have anyone that was afraid to go to the basket, and that's key with a young team like this without much varsity experience at all."
After coming over from Peekskill as an assistant to NYS Hall of Fame Coach Lou Panzanaro, Coach Haskins was glad to see his team spread the ball around and he hopes to see more of the same from point guard Scotti King, who drained 10 points, including a pair of back-breaking 3's in the second half.
"I think Scotti can be one of the better point guards in the area if she gets more aggressive with her shot," Haskins said. "She's a very talented player."
Haskins is blessed with several talented players, and he believes it's a matter of time before the Blue Devils round themselves in to potential championship form, playing a new style that they are yet to be completely comfortable with.
"I don't think we played our best basketball today," Haskins added. "We did some things wrong today that we need to correct by tomorrow because we've (Class AA) Yorktown on Wednesday and (defending Class C champion) Blind Brook on Friday. We've got to get these things worked out quick. We did a lot of things well. We just need to do it on a more consistent basis. The girl's aren't really used to the tempo I like to play. We going to run the floor and get after the ball."
When the Blue Devils did that in the second half, Putnam Valley struggled to keep up. Shields and Avery Zuvich (nine points) controlled the boards, and second chance opportunities were taken advantage of.
"Coming in, you know about Shields," Thompson said, "and you know about Scotti. You know that Shields can do everything well and you know that Scotti can hit the outside shot. We talked about how we can slow that down and we did it for a half. We didn't give Scotti an open look the whole first half, but once we collapsed inside, which we had to do, they found her outside and she buried it."
And, as a result, Haldane A.D. Susan Reid promptly put the PCNR Cup into its rightful place, according to the Blue Devils; alongside a host of Section 1 gold balls in the Blue Devil trophy case.
Please visit www.yourdirectrays.com to view Section 1 photo galleries.
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