Highland to face Marlboro for title
Highland High advanced to the Section 9 Class B girls basketball championship by beating Spackenkill 63-50 on Thursday.
The top-seeded Huskies will face No. 6 Marlboro at Orange County Community College at 4 p.m. Sunday. The game, originally scheduled for Saturday, was postponed because of Friday’s inclement weather.
The Dukes knocked off No. 2 seed Fallsburg 60-52 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
Highland jumped out to a 2920 lead at halftime and built that lead to a game-high six points by the third quarter.
“It as a very evenly played game,” Highland coach Jim Malak said. “I have to give coach (Don) Niese credit, Spack had two girls injured.”
Bri Rozzi powered the Huskies scoring 24 points to go with six rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Sam Garcia added 14
points, seven rebounds four steals and seven blocks, while Candace McCutcheon, contributed 11 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.
Emily Peterson tacked on eight points and Jaida Jackson had two points, five rebounds and three steals in the win.
Issy Herrera scored 17 points to lead the Spartans. Maya Johnson had 13 points and Olivia Zykoff added 12 in the loss. SPACKENKILL (50)—Herrera 5 4-6 17, Johnson 6 1-3 13, Zykoff 4 3-4 12, McCall 1 4-6 6, Libolt 0 2-2 2. Totals 16 14-21 50.
HIGHLAND (63)—Garcia 5 5-7 14, Rozzi 6 8-10 24, McCutcheon 5 0-0 11, Peterson 2 2-4 8, Jackson 2 0-0 2. Totals 19 15-21 63. Spackenkill 9 11 13 17—59 Highland 13 16 19 15—63 3-point field goals: Herrera 3, Zykoff; Garcia, Rozzi 4, McCutcheon, Peterson. Marlboro 60, Fallsburg 52
At Fallsburg, the Dukes punched their ticket to Saturday’s final with its second straight road playoff victory.
Erin Lofaro scored 19 points; Talaya Lewis had 15 and Joyce Ryder added 11 to pace Marlboro, which advanced to the semifinals with a 78-40 victory over No. 3 Burke Catholic.
Amanda Zeno had a game-high 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists to power Fallsburg in the loss.