NCN Girls’ Basketball/Baseball Blog

Freelancer Mike Sabini was on hand for Peekskill’s 67-31 win against visiting Hendrick Hudson Jan. 12. Here are Mike’s thoughts on the game:

When Peekskill (11-1) takes the court, it plays with a tremendous amount of intensity. That is especially the case when it plays its cross-town rival Hendrick Hudson (9-2), who knocked out Peekskill in the opening round of the Section 1 Class A playoffs 51-50 in overtime at Peekskill last year.                    

“Whenever we play Hen Hud, we kind of used what happened last year in the playoffs as motivation,” Peekskill Head Coach Rodney Headley Jr. said.  “Overall, I can’t tell you why they (his players) came out with so much intensity other than again, the playoff loss from last year in the first round. That will be on our player’s minds every single time we step on the floor against them.”

It was definitely on their minds when they hosted Hen Hud Jan. 12. Led by 18 points from Asia Jackson and 15 points from Tasia Nolan, the Red Devils jumped out to an 18-1 first-quarter lead and beat Hen Hud for a second time this season, 61-37.

“You know Asia is always going to be what she is,” Headley Jr. said. “A menace on the ball and a menace in the passing lanes. As far as Tasia goes, that’s what a captain does. She’s our only captain on an 11-1 team. She makes sure that she plays to her potential.”

Class A’s Peekskill will be looking to keep playing up to its potential when it travels to play Class AA’s Monroe Woodbury 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14. 

“We need to face as much AA pressure as we can get,” Headley Jr. said. “When it comes down to the sectionals, that’s the pressure you are going to face so it helps to get used to it right now.”

Hen Hud has enjoyed a solid year as well, as its only two losses have come against Peekskill. One thing that hurt the Sailors against the Red Devils is losing all-section guard Sareeta Nethersole to injury with 4:27 to go in the opening quarter, when they trailed Peekskill 7-0.

“Sareeta definetly pulled her ankle,” Hen Hud Head Coach Kenny Sherman said. “She wasn’t sure if she rolled it on another person’s foot or jumping up in the key making a pass to one of our guards.

“She’s got swollen on the outside; she was going to get checked out at halftime by the doctor.”

What also hurt the Sailors besides the loss of Nethersole was not being able to overcome Peekskill’s pressure.

“We didn’t handle their half-court trap properly, we had too many turnovers,” Sherman said. “We couldn’t even get to our offense. There were a couple of possessions we couldn’t even get it past half court. We didn’t match their intensity defensively or offensively.”

Leading the Sailors against the Red Devils was Meaghan Lynch, who scored 11 points.

“Meaghan Lynch, our sophomore center, stepped up and played an excellent game,” Sherman said. “Meghan Jacobs, who normally steps up, her shot just wasn’t going down for us today.”

The Sailors go from the frying pan into the fire when they host Class AA power Ossining at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14.

“If we don’t have Sareeta for Ossining, that would be a big loss for us,” Sherman said. “It will be the same thing Thursday, like it was today, they (Ossining) have a tough, defensive man to man defense.”