NCN Girls’ Basketball/Baseball Blog

Freelancer Mike Sabini was on hand for Ossining’s 67-50 win against host Hendrick Hudson Jan. 14. Here are Mike’s thoughts on the game:

I, like everyone else, was disheartened when I heard the news in the preseason that Ossining senior guard Hayley Awerdick tore her ACL. Conversely, it was heart-warming to see Awerdick play at Hen Hud. It was her third game back and second start for Ossining.

Awerdick (right) may not be 100 percent, but she’s still better than most when the money is on the table. She scored 10 of her 15 points in the pivotal third quarter in Ossining’s victory.

I talked with her after the game and you could tell she was genuinely happy to be back on the court, playing with her friends again.

“It means everything to me,” Awerdick said. “Basketball is my passion. My team, I love them like a family. It just feels great.”

Ossining Head Coach Dan Ricci is happy to have Awerdick back.

“You got to have a third option because what is happening is everybody is focusing their defenses on stopping Alex (Venuto) by face-guarding her and double-teaming Saniya (Chong),” Ricci said. “So you have to have another girl that can shoot the ball. And 60-70 percent, whatever she is, she can still shoot the ball. She had 15 today and this is only the beginning. I think she will only get better as we go along.”

Chong contributed to the win by tallying a game-high 30 points. Jalisa Taylor also played a key role in the victory by leading Ossining (8-3) off the glass with 12 boards in addition to scoring eight points.

While Ricci was happy with the efforts of Chong, Taylor and Awerdick, he said overall his team must improve if it wants to reach its goal of winning a Class AA sectional title.

“I am not happy with the way we are playing, I am not happy with the way we are practicing,” Ricci said. “I’m hoping this game is a wake-up call.”

Hen Hud Head Coach Kenny Sherman was happy with his team’s effort, which was led by 17 points from a hard-charging Fiona Callagy and 16 points from Meghan Jacobs (right).

“I wish I had this effort against Peekskill (a 67-31 loss Jan. 12),” Sherman said. “I just said to them, unfortunately in this game as everyone knows, it is a cliché, there are no moral victories but they played their hearts out for 32 minutes.

“I wish we handled their press a little bit better because we gave them some easy points. But in our half-court sets, we got goodton looks at the basket.”

Sherman is hoping to get a key player of his own back in all-section guard Sareeta Nethersole, who suffered an ankle injury in the loss at Peekskill. Nethersole was to be re-evaluated Jan. 18 and Sherman is hoping to have her back for the Sailors’ 4:15 p.m. home contest Jan. 29 against John Jay-East Fishkill.

That should be perfect timing because the two other games she will miss, Jan. 19 at Putnam Valley and Jan. 21 at Croton-Harmon, both 6 p.m. starts, the 9-3 Sailors will be favored to win even without Nethersole.