Kingston bounces back to top Monroe
Chaffin, Harrell power 52-33 win over Monroe-Woodbury, putting Tigers on top of the OCIAA Division I standings
A third-quarter burst enabled Kingston High to pull away and earn its first girls basketball win over Monroe-Woodbury in four years Monday as the Tigers rolled to a 52-33 victory over the Crusaders.
“It was a good win, a good bounce back win. We played well,” said Tigers coach Steve Garner, whose team had tough losses to Washingtonville and Bethlehem over the weekend.
Chloe Chaffin and Jaid Harrell paced Kingston in a win that gave it sole possession of the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Division I lead. Chaffin had 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals. Harrell, despite early foul trouble, finished with 11 points, four assists and two blocked shots.
With her performance, Chaffin is now just six points away from becoming the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 points. She can achieve the milestone Thursday in Middletown.
Jamie Waldron carried (7-8) Monroe with 20 points. The Crusaders hung tough with Kingston through the first half, trailing only 19-16 at intermission.
That all changed in the third when the Tigers went on a 17-0 run.
Harrell, who sat most of the first half with two fouls, scored six points to ignite the run. The Tigers went to a full-court press and
it led to 10 turnovers in the quarter. Kingston capitalized for 13 points. Harrell had two assists in the period, while Chaffin dished out three.
Madison Burke had a pair of layups and Nicole Spinelli buried a 3-point field goal to cap the run. Spinelli also had three steals in the game. Burke and Lexi Diers came off the bench for eight and six
points, respectively.
“It worked more than I thought it would,” Garner said about using the press. “The difference in the game is we made it a full-court game. The first half was more half-court where she (Waldron) kind of dominated us. In the third quarter, we took her out of it because she was having to dribble the ball up the floor.
“I thought we played with much more confidence in the second half. That third quarter, we just got the ball and threw it up the court. We played better
defense, too. We were challenging them more.”
Another factor was putting Harrell at the top of the post against the Crusaders’ extended zone.
“When she’s in there, we’re a different team,” Garner noted.
Kingston, which held Monroe to five points for more than 10 minutes, led by much as 26 with 5:53 remaining.
The Tigers struggled at the end with the Crusaders capitalizing for a 12-2 run. Chaffin settled matters, though, with a 3-pointer from the near corner with 1:27 left.
The last time Kingston had beaten Monroe was in the Section 9, Class AA championship game in 2014. MONROE-WOODBURY (33)—Waldron 10 0-5 20, Ton. Neely 2 1-1 5, Tay. Neely 0 2-2 2, Paul 0 0-0 0, Alifano 1 0-0 2, Metcalf 1 0-0 3, Silverstein 0 0-0 0, Kinsella 0 1-2 1, Hiner 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 4-12 33. KINGSTON (52)—Spinelli 1 0-0 3, Dorsey 1 0-0 2, A. Cook 1 2-2 5, Chaffin 7 1-1 17, Harrell 4 3-5 11, Diers 3 0-0 8, Burke 4 0-0 8, Alonso 0 0-0 0, Klein 0 0-0 0, Amato 0 0-0 0, Herzog 0 0-0 0, McCarthy 0 0-0 0, R. Cook 0 0-0 0, Santiago 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-8 52. Monroe-Woodbury 6 10 5 12—33 Kingston 13 6 24 9—52 3-point field goals: Metcalf; Chaffin 2, Spinelli, A. Cook. Team records: Monroe-Woodbury 4-1 OCIAA Division I, 7-8 overall; Kingston 5-0 OCIAA Division I, 9-6 overall.