GREENVILLE — The Catskill Cats went on the road Monday evening and defeated the Greenville Spartans 49-41 in Patroon Conference varsity girls basketball action to start off the week.
Janay Brantley led the Cats and the rest of the field with 34 points, Ava Edmond added six, and Alessia Salierno and Jillian Devlin each scored three.
Piper O’Hare was the leading scorer for the Spartans with 12 points, followed by Charlotte Dawson who scored 11. Mikaela Crawley was in double figures as well for Greenville with ten points, and Bryn Fitzmaurice added eight.
Catskill coach Chris Quinn knew the Spartans would be a tough match-up for his Cats.
“It was an energetic, early season matchup with Greenville,” Quinn said. “They took us out of some of the things we wanted to do. Emily Smith did great at controlling the ball, Bryn Fitzmaurice a few huge threes to keep them in it…my girls just grinned, played hard, and never quit when it got close.”
Coach Quinn also said that Janay Brantley carried their offense with her 34 points and took over in the fourth quarter when they needed it the most. He also said the Cats would have Aaliyah Shook back by Friday for the big game against the Hudson Bluehawks after Shook did not play in Monday’s contest.
Both teams started off slow on offense and had more than a few misses each throughout the first quarter. They would remain disciplined on defense despite the offensive struggles however. Greenville’s Emily Smith had a nice block early in the first on a shot attempt by Catskill’s Alessia Salierno.
Stevie Arp was fouled shooting a three pointer for the Cats, and she made one of three at the line for a 1-0 lead. Brantley got a quick basket for two points after a miss by the Spartans at the other end. Then Greenville’s Madison Wisenburn got her hands in on a loose ball and forced a jump ball in favor of the Spartans for the turnover.
Piper O’Hare got the ball after a miss by a teammate, and laid it up and in for two for Greenville. O’Hare then made another nice layup in transition to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead. Charlotte Dawson got to the line for Greenville and made one of two. Brantley had a nice crossover to get a defender out of the way but she could not knock down the three.
Greenville’s Bryn Fitzmaurice then followed her own miss to grab the rebound and dished it to Mikaela Crawley underneath for a score inside the paint. The Cats forced a couple of steals to end the quarter but could not convert them into points and they trailed the Spartans 9-8 after one.
Early in the second, the Spartans tried a catch-and-shoot three pointer on an inbound pass but Wisenburn’s shot did not fall. Salierno had a shot blocked again, this time it was Crawley on the swat for Greenville. Three minutes into the period neither team had scored until Crawley pulled up from midrange and hit the jump shot for two.
Brantley got a bucket and the foul for Catskill but missed the shot at the line and the chance at three points. She put up a shot from beyond the arc shortly thereafter, and Ava Edmond grabbed the offensive rebound on the miss and laid it in for two. Brantley blocked a shot on defense and finally got a three point attempt to fall on the other end of the court as she pulled up from beyond the arc.
Closing out a minimal output from both teams in the second quarter, the Cats led, 18-17, at the break.
The shots started to fall at long last for both sides in the third period, starting with a lay-in by Brantley on a fastbreak after a steal. Edmond made a nice play for Catskill as well, pivoting around a defender inside the painted area to get space for two points.
Salierno committed a five second violation on an inbound play the Spartans’ defense clogged up, but Edmond made another great spinning layup inside the paint on their next possession. Following a timeout by Greenville, O’Hare gathered an offensive rebound for the Spartans and put it back in for two points.
After a pass from Arp, Brantley dribbled in and knocked down a nice floater down the lane to keep the Cats ahead and leading, 32-29, through three quarters of play.
Opening the fourth quarter, Catskill’s Kaylee Nearey caught an airball chucked from beyond the arc by a teammate and put it up and in off glass for two instead. Then Brantley dished to Jillian Devlin on the right wing for a three point attempt that Devlin drained. Greenville was quickly down ten and used a timeout with 6:39 left trailing Catskill, 39-29.
Out of the stoppage, Brantley converted a shot, got the foul call, and sank the free throw to complete the three point play this time. The Spartans would not go away quietly however, and Fitzmaurice knocked down a three pointer to keep them close. Out of a Cats’ timeout, the Spartans got the ball back after a double dribble by the Cats, and Fitzmaurice hit another shot from three-point range.
Crawley made a layup in the paint and over a defending Edmond as the Spartans looked to close the distance on the scoreboard. Crawley helped cut the lead down to one point after making one of two shots at the line on this 7-0 run for Greenville. However Brantley’s killer instincts took over in the closing minutes as she made two very quick layups, and knocked down a handful of free throws down the stretch to close out the game.
Catskill got the ball back in the final seconds and dribbled out the rest of the clock to seal the tough road victory 49-41 over the Greenville Spartans.
CATSKILL (49): Edmond 3-0-6, Salierno 1-0-3, Arp 0-1-1, Nearey 1-0-2, Brantley 13-7-34, Devlin 1-0-3. Totals 19-8-49.
3-pointers: BrantleySalierno, Devlin.
GREENVILLE (41): Fitzmaurice 3-0-8, Smith 0-0-0, P. O’Hare 5-1-11, Mi. Crawley 4-2-10, Dawson 5-2-12. Totals 17-5-41.
3-pointers: Fitzmaurice 2.