Troy holds off Kingston girls
Flying Horses edge Tigers 53-45 in non-league tilt
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Poor rebounding hampered Kingston High’s girls from staging a second-half comeback Saturday as the Tigers lost 53-45 in a non-league basketball game with Troy.
Jenalyse Ararcon had 14 points and Jakaiya Dewer 13 to lead the Flying Horses (4-6).
Jessica Alonso scored nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter to buoy Kingston (4-9).
The Tigers, who used a 9-0 run in the third to help take the lead, saw Troy craft its own 13-0 burst in the fourth to take control.
Kingston trailed 41-32 with 5:30 left. Alonso hit a 15-foot running jumper, made a 3-point play, and then sank two fouls.
A pair of Lexi Diers baskets had the Tigers within 46-43 with 58.4 seconds remaining, but Amaya George buried a clutch 3-point field goal for Troy 15 seconds later to clinch the win. Kingston never got closer than 49-45 after that.
“We can’t rebound. We can’t rebound off of foul shots,” Kingston coach Steve Garner noted. “How many times did they miss the foul
shot and we can’t secure the rebound? We’ve got lots of things to work on and that’s one of them.”
Troy had 11 offensive rebounds in the game.
“We had a lot of open looks the last the last three, four minutes. (They) just didn’t go down,” he added.
The lead changed hands 13 times in the first half before Troy used a closing 12-3 run to take a 24-16 halftime advantage.
The Tigers turned it around with a 16-4 third quarter.
Alonso, who also had 5 assists, hit a 3-pointer to start the second half. She then assisted on baskets by Madison Burke and Rachel Cook, then scored on a layup to get Kingston within 26-25. Burke hit a pair of baskets and Diers canned a 3-pointer to put the team ahead.
Burke and Diers each had 9 points for Kingston. The Tigers were without starter Samara Herzog, who was competing with the indoor track team at West Point.
“Samara wasn’t here and Samara makes a big difference.” Garner said. “We had other kids come in and step up. I thought they all came in and did a pretty good job.”
Kingston plays at Cornwall on Tuesday, Jan. 15.