Pine Plains boys, girls fall in championship matches

PINE PLAINS — The boys and girls varsity basketball squads both advanced to championship games with wins over Webutuck on Monday, Dec. 28, but both also lost the following night, to conclude the Pine Plains Bomber Booster Basketball Tournament held over the holidays this year.
The boys beat Webutuck 66-45 on Dec. 28, with Rob Lamont tallying 21 points and 7 rebounds, Marquis VanDewater made 14 points and 4 steals and Mark Flinntotaled 13 points. The Bombers then found themselves facing Rhinebeck in the four-team tournament championship (Pine Plains, Webutuck, Rhinebeck and Germantown all brought their boys and girls varsity and junior varsity teams).
The Bombers got off to a shaky start, committing turnovers and trailing 28-20 at the half. But a comeback began to mount by late in the fourth quarter, with  the game’s momentum  clearly shifting in the Bombers’ favor. The Pine Plains squad pulled to within three, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Rhinebeck’s consistent free throw shooting late in the game. The Bombers fell by a score of 52-47. Pine Plains’  Lamont finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, as well as drawing three offensive charges against Rhinebeck. VanDewater added 14 points and 6 rebounds.

“I told them in the locker room, I was real proud of them, especially the way they never folded,� said coach Jedd Sims over the phone after the game. “They had a lot of guts, and the defensive energy was phenomenal. That’s been the staple of the team: hard, hard defense. It worked, we just came up a few points short.�
The day after, Pine Plains used that defensive energy to best Haldane, 48-35.
Foul shooting is the team’s main concern moving forward, Sims added.

“We’re shooting about 55 percent from the free throw line this season,� he said. “It’s one of the reasons we’ve come up short twice against Rhinebeck. The first game we were 12 of 20, the second we were 15 of 23. Those were two games that we could have won from the foul line.�
On the girls varsity side, Pine Plains advanced to the finals game with a 40-18 victory over Webutuck on Dec. 28. Jordyn Funk contributed 8 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks during that game; Alexa Betts added 9 points, 4 rebounds and 8 steals. For Webutuck, Kaelan Reynolds contributed 7 points; Allison Flinn had 5.
The tables turned the following evening however, and Germantown bested the Bombers, 56-19, off of impressive performances from Germantown’s Patti Cameron and Taylor Race, who contributed 26 and 16 points, respectively, totaling 75 percent of their team’s point total.
Deanna Strang neared double-double territory with 9 points and 9 rebounds for Pine Plains, and Nikki Lengyel and Allie Blackburn netted 3 points each.

“We competed hard and played well in the first quarter and then the wheels fell off,� stated Eric Sullivan in a press release. “Taylor Race controlled the game offensively and defensively. We know that we will see players as good as her when we play our division opponents Spackenkill, Ellenville and Onteora; we have to improve very quickly on the offensive end to compete in the [Mid-Hudson Athletic League].�
Webutuck girls lost in their consolidation game against Rhinebeck, 42-16. Reynolds netted 10 points; Flinn, Victoria Cullinan and Rileigh Campion each had 2.

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