The Niskayuna girls basketball team started hitting shots in the nick of time to avoid an 0-3 start.
The Silver Warriors (1-2) outscored Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 16-2 in the third quarter on their way to a 43-32 victory in last Friday’s Suburban Council North Division game.
I’ve been waiting for that to happen, said Niskayuna coach Sarah Neely. `We’ve been struggling with our shooting in the first two games, and it happened again in the first half.`
The Silver Warriors had plenty of scoring chances in the first half, but they just couldn’t get their shots to fall as they fell behind 17-12 to BH-BL (0-2).
All of that changed in the second half. Led by Ashley McCaughan and Lindsay Mayo, Niskayuna quickly assumed control of the game as it turned a five-point deficit into a nine-point lead.
`We talked at halftime about targeting our shots and that we had to play better,` said Neely. `It must have worked because we played much better in the second half.`
McCaughan led Niskayuna with 15 points, while Mayo contributed nine points. Kayla Brown’s 11 points paced BH-BL.
Neely said she’s hoping for more efforts like the one against BH-BL this season.
`I have been looking forward to this season ever since the last game of last year,` she said. `With six seniors on the team, four of whom are starters, and a deeper bench than we’ve had before I think this team has a lot of talent.`
The Silver Warriors received another test Tuesday when they met undefeated Averill Park in a cross-divisional game.
`Part of the fun of the Suburban Council the last couple of years has been that you never know which team will step up game to game,` said Neely.
Averill Park (3-0) was coming off a 59-44 victory over Mohonasen last Friday in a rematch of last year’s Section II Class A final. The game was close until the fourth quarter when Averill Park outscored Mohonasen (1-2 league, 2-2 overall) 20-6.
Michela Ottati led a balanced Averill Park attack with 16 points. Katie Duma contributed 14 points, and Brittany O’Shea added 11 points.
Lea McLain had 13 points, Courtney Cowell chipped in 11 points and Ashley Tallman netted 10 points for Mohonasen, which hosted BH-BL Tuesday.
In other girls basketball action last Friday, Scotia-Glenville defeated Hudson Falls 47-29 in a Foothills Council contest, while Schenectady Christian edged Canajoharie 40-35 in a Western Athletic Conference game.
Cassie Broadhead poured in 22 points, and Sarah Janson contributed 13 points for Scotia-Glenville (1-0, 2-1) in its first league game of the season. Ashley Buonviaggio led Hudson Falls with 13 points.
Schenectady Christian (2-0) outscored Canajoharie 7-2 in overtime to pull out its WAC South Division victory. Monica Compton’s 16 points paced the Falcons, while Rachael Brush chipped in 12 points.
Cohoes used an 18-2 second quarter to pull away for a 60-37 Colonial Council victory over Schalmont (0-4) in last Friday’s Colonial Council game. My’Asia Alston had 18 points for Cohoes (3-1), while Kelly Piotrowski scored the same amount to lead Schalmont.“