CATSKILL — After the break for the holidays, Catskill (7-1) hosted Rensselaer (4-5) Friday night for the first Patroon Conference girls’ basketball of 2020.
The Cats started off the new year with a 49-35 victory over the Rams.
Their win was due, in large part, to the big performance by Janay Brantley. She totaled 26 points on the night, with 17 in the second half alone. Brantley facilitated the Catskill offense throughout the contest, as Rensselaer struggled to convert possession time into points.
The first two periods were competitive and the Rams were keeping pace with the Cats overall. With the score tied at 11, Catskill outscored Rensselaer 15-7 in the final 3:42 of the first half and went into the locker room up 26-17.
Catskill began to pull away in the third quarter as its shooters heated up, and the Cats extended their lead to 15 points by the end of the period.
The fourth started with Catskill leading 39-24, and they started taking better care of the basketball on offense and were taking higher percentage shots as a result. Catskill’s last few possessions were mainly purposed with taking as much time off the clock as they could and they dribbled out the final seconds with a 49-35 lead.
Brantley also grabbed 11 rebounds, handed out five assists and came up with seven steals for the Cats. Hannah Konsul had nine points and 10 rebounds and Sara Leipman did a solid job on defense, limiting the Rams’ high-scoring Mechelle Cancer to just 10 points.
The win was Catskill’s seventh of the season against one loss. As for the Rams, this gives them 5 losses on the year so far, and they dip below .500, as their record slides to 4-5.
RENSSELAER (35): Alert 1-1-3, Brown 2-1-5, Cancer 3-4-10, Mann 1-0-2, Gergenti 5-1-11, Van Wie 1-2-4. Totals 13-9-35.
CATSKILL (49): Brantley 8-7-26, Konsul 4-1-9, O’Connell 2-1-5, Leipman 0-0-0, Shook 3-0-9. Totals 17-9-49.
3-pointers: Vrantley 3, Shook 3.
Cairo-Durham 55, Taconic Hills 26
EAST DURHAM — Arianna Myers poured in 27 points to power Cairo-Durham to a 55-26 victory over Taconic Hills in Friday’s Patroon Conference girls basketball game.
The Mustangs led 17-8 after one quarter, 32-10 at halftime and 48-28 through three quarters.
Amani Walcott added 12 points to the Mustangs’ attack. Anna James had 10.
Marleah Perry hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points for the Titans. Kirsten Shumsky contributed eight points.
TACONIC HILLS (26): Kernan 1-0-2, Mottoshiski 1-0-2, Perry 3-0-9, Shumsky 2-3-8, Sparacin 2-0-5. Totals 9-3-26.
3-pointers: Perry 3, Shumsky, Sparacino.
CAIRO-DURHAM (55): James 4-2-10, Makely 2-0-4, Mudge 0-2-2, Myers 10-6-27, Walcott 6-0-12. Totals 22-10-55.
3-pointers: Myers.