Kingston season ends in Section 9 semifinals
Monroe-Woodbury earns berth in Section 9, Class AA championship game today with easy win over Tigers
Kingston High's season came to an end with a 51-28 loss to Monroe-Woodbury in the Section 9, Class AA semis.
CENTRAL VALLEY, N.Y. >> Kingston High played well in the first quarter of its Section 9, Class AA girls basketball semifinal with unbeaten Monroe-Woodbury.
“We had a good first quarter offensively. We were hitting everything. We ran plays and had some good stops,” Tigers coach Steve Garner said. “At the end of the quarter, I looked at the scoreboard and we had given up 20 points and were down eight.”
That set the tone as the (22-0) Crusaders rolled to a 51-28 victory over Kingston, ending the Tigers’ season and continuing Monroe on its bid for a third consecutive sectional title.
The Crusaders will face No. 2 Warwick, a 50-21 winner over Roosevelt in the other semifinal, in Saturday’s noon final at SUNY Orange.
Maya Bernsley had 16 points, including four 3-point field goals and Brianna DeLeo scored 11 to lead Monroe.
Jaid Harrell had nine points, Chloe Chaffin seven and Nicole Spinelli six to pace Kingston.
The Crusaders hit a pair of 3-pointers to expand their lead to 14 to open the second quarter. The margin ballooned to 35-15 by halftime.
“When they hit those threes to make it 14, we started to panic. We were rushing things, getting into some one-on-ones and that’s a recipe for disaster,” Garner said.
“Everything we did or switched to, they had an answer for,” he added. “It was very frustrating.”
The loss didn’t detract from a strong finish by Kingston.
The Tigers were 5-3 before the holidays, then went on a five-
game losing streak.
A winless January had raised the spectre of Kingston not even qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1999.
The team regrouped, however, and won seven of its last nine to earn a No. 4 seed in the tournament. A solid win over Pine Bush in the quarterfinals earned the Tigers a shot at Monroe.
“I like how we did finish the season,” Garner said. KINGSTON (28)—Rand 1 0-0 3, Spinelli 2 0-0 6, Regan 1 0-2 2, Dorsey 0 1-2 1, Cook 0 0-0 0, Amato 0 0-0 0, Chaffin 1 5-6 7, Burke 0 0-0 0, Meyers-McCarthy 0 0-0 0, Harrell 4 0-0 9. Totals 8 4-6 28. MONROE-WOODBURY (51)—DeLeo 4 2-2 11, Helbeck 3 0-0 6, Bernsley 6 0-0 16, Harwood 2 2-4 6, Duffell 4 0-0 8, Alifano 1 2-4 4, Varley 0 0-0 0, Waldron 0 0-0 0, Paul 0 0-0 0, Powell 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 6-10 51. Kingston ............................. 12 3 5 8—28 Monroe-Woodbury ........... 20 15 10 6—28 3-point field goals: Spinelli 2, Rand; Bernsley 4, DeLeo. Team records: Kingston 12-10; MonroeWoodbury 22-0.