The Lohud Girls Basketball Blog

If you haven’t seen this week’s NYSSWA girls hoops rankings, click here. Section 1 had nine teams listed (just like last week), except Haldane was dropped from the Class C list and Pearl River is on the A list for the first time this season.

Shelby Zucker (shown below) paved the way for Scarsdale with 30 points as the Raiders topped Mamaroneck, 72-38.

Abby McDonald and Rachel Cohen each scored 11 points. Kimi Chiaparelli scored 11 points for the Tigers.

Solomon Schechter 42, Yonkers Montessori 19: At Solomon Schechter, the Lions won their fourth straight game behind 15 points from Hannie Everett. Teammate Jessie Espinet added eight points. Sarah Crucitti scored eight points for Yonkers Montessori.

Rye Neck 37, Valhalla 36: At Rye Neck, Paige O’Donnell had 10 points and 14 rebounds. Sarah Cochrane had 10 points and four assists. Rio McGuire had six rebounds. Brandi Coon had 10 points for Valhalla.

Holy Child 57, St. Luke’s 46: At St. Luke’s, Julie Kellett lead the Gryphons with 20 points. Teammate Josie Amerson added 16 points and 20 rebounds. Chellzea Edgar had eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Hamilton 54, Rye 29: At Hamilton, Maia Hood had 27 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and four assists. Tiffany Corselli had 15 points, four assists and four steals. Jasmine Robinson had seven points and seven steals. Maddie Eck had eight points for the Garnets. Hood (shown right) is now 79 rebounds away for 1,000 for her career. Hood joined the 1,000 point club last season.

Briarcliff 49, Croton-Harmon 45, OT: At Croton-Harmon, Summer Horowitz had 16 points and Kelsey Sampson had 11 points. Marissa Contento had 10 points. Grace Mulligan and Bella Addio each had 11 points for the Tigers.

Nanuet 59, Edgemont 35: At Nanuet, Theresa Jelalian had 16 points and Dana Rohan had 12. Shayna Davner had 14 points and Gaby Susz had 11 for the Panthers.

Westlake 49, Byram Hills 33: At Westlake, Faith Lovett had 13 points. Lauren Holzer and Natalie Alfieri both had 11 points. Kim Franco had 12 points and Lucy Bancone had 11 points for the Bobcats.

Mount Vernon 41, Suffern 31: At Suffern, Lubirdia Gordon had 20 points. Infinity Hammonds had eight points. Tina Prenaj had 10 points for the Mounties.

Horace Greeley 57, Harrison 40: At Horace Greeley, Jackie Brett led the Quakers with 16 points and teammate Lauren Brown added 14. Paige Braban scored 11 points for Harrison.

Dobbs Ferry 52, Ardsley 40: At Dobbs Ferry, Alyssa Chipello had 26 points and three steals. Kristin Foresti had eight points, nine assists, six rebounds and five steals. Molly Altholz had seven points and nine rebounds. Toni Pilla had 17 points for Ardsley.

Saunders 61, Lincoln 32: At Lincoln, Amanda Smith had 18 points. Amanda Kiriakos had 11 points and Gabriella Faria had eight points. Antoinette Morris had 18 points for Lincoln

Pleasantville 58, Port Chester 18: At Port Chester, AnnMarie DiCarlo led the Panthers with 13 points and teammate Zaira Cobbs added 12. Kyra Hart scored 10 points for Port Chester.

Irvington 80, Woodlands 30: At Irvington, Lexi Martins (pictured below) had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Brittni Lai had 19 points and seven assists. Ryan McMahon had 14 points. Shanice Perry had 19 points for Woodlands. Falcons standout Imani Tilford, who was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected in a Jan. 5 contest, did not play.

Panas 62, Pawling 29: At Panas, the Panthers held the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter, outscoring them by 13. Megan Moreno scored 25 points for the Panthers. Samantha Sudol added 14 points.

Palisade Prep 36, Tuckahoe 24: At Palisade Prep, Paula Richards led the Phoenix with 16 points.

Pelham 39, Eastchester 28: At Eastchester, Vittoria Volpe had 10 points and six rebounds. Jordan Amorelli had eight points and seven rebounds. Campbell Fee had nine points. Olivia Heffernan had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Eagles.

Albertus Magnus 46, Clarkstown North 33: At Clarkstown North, Madison McGrath had 21 points and Christine O’Riordan had 12 points. Belle Jarrett had eight points for the Rams.

Sleepy Hollow 40, Hastings 21: At Sleepy Hollow, Jessica Tucci scored 16 points in the win and Alex Davis-Sumter added 13. Elena LeFevre had seven points for Hastings.

Here are Mike Zacchio’s post-game notes from North Rockland at East Ramapo:

SPRING VALLEY — North Rockland defeated East Ramapo at Spring Valley High School Monday evening, 75-60. Read the game story and view a photo gallery here.

With two fast teams, the game was expected to be high-paced, but certainly not this close.

Don’t let the score mislead you — for the first 30 minutes of the game, this was an otherwise close contest. An 8-0 run by the Red Raiders in the closing minutes eventually sealed East Ramapo’s fate in the 15-point loss.

The Lady Titans were as close as nine points with less than half of the fourth quarter to go. The team was pumped, the crowd was fired up, the shots just didn’t fall.

North Rockland (8-2) clearly outplayed the Lady Titans on Monday if you saw the game, but I think that the Red Raider were a little too overzealous on 3-point shooting. (I can’t believe I’m saying that, knowing the North Rockland program)

The Red Raiders should have won this game by at least 30, but it was still a convincing, and impressive win. Even the Lady Titans (3-5) were impressive in the loss. After watching them against Clarkstown North last week, I definitely had doubts, but the girls performed well for what they were up against.

East Ramapo center Stephanie Rodriguez dropped a game-high 24 points off the bench, scoring all but two free throws from the paint. The senior used her enormous height advantage to exploit North Rockland down low.

“We got a little lazy at the end, but overall, I think we pushed ourselves and tried our best,” she said after the game.

Knowing how to use her height in her favor, almost all of Rodriguez’s points came from grabbing rebounds, keeping the ball high, and then just banking it off the glass. Think of when you played hoops in middle school, and the one kid who was much taller than the others and how he/she played — that should give you the visual.

Still, North Rockland’s all-around game was simply too much for the Lady Titans.

The Red Raiders had three players score at least 18 points, and scored many of their points on breakaways.

Sophomore Ciera Rivera led the team with 23 points, while senior Alex Bertolino followed right behind her with 20 points.

“We were very surprised,” Rivera said. ”(East Ramapo) came out hard, but we had a pretty slow start.”

Following what Rivera called a “heart-breaking” 63-60 loss to Clarkstown South on Friday, the team was glad to get back in the win column.

After allowing 40 points to Vikings standout Laura Castaldo, the Red Raiders’ woes in the paint continued Monday, as evidenced by Rodriguez’s 24 points.

“Everybody is tough for us because we’re so small,” North Rockland coach Kevin Metcalf said. “To Laura’s credit, she’s a phenomenal player… We never focus on one player. We’re slowly learning how to box out — not nearly as quick as anyone of us would like — we still make the mistake of looking at the ball and jumping with the girls.”

Considering their roster contains nine freshmen and sophomores, Metcalf is thrilled with the team’s performance through the first half of the year.

“Nine girls are 14 and 15 years-old, so it’ll come,” he said. “Being 8-2 with nine freshmen and sophomores is, I think, a tremendous start.”

One of the standout performers for North Rockland Monday was freshman Chloe Mullarkey, who hit three 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter, en route to an 18-point night off the bench.

“It’s good to know that other girls who are starting can bring up the points too, and I just want to add to that as much as I can,” Mullarkey said. “Alex and Ciera (pictured left) are both really strong, offensively and defensively, along with the rest of the team, and they’re both just great players.”

While the game may not have been exactly how North Rockland wanted it to go, Metcalf says the final minutes showcased the team the Red Raiders that got off to such a hot start this season.

“I think we have to get our confidence and our mojo back, but those last two or three minutes, it was coming back,” he said. “I think sometimes when you have wins like we did against Newburgh and Mount Vernon, coming back from 17 and 11, you think you accomplished something.

“We have a slogan — ’It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,’ and I think sometimes, especially in mid-January, you lose sight of that — you get tired. Hopefully that was a sign of what’s coming and we’re going to get back to where we were in December.”

Photos from the North Rockland at East Ramapo game by Seth Harrison/The Journal News.

By the numbers: North Rockland (8-2) at East Ramapo (3-5)

Out with a bang: Both teams had a tough time getting going out of the gate offensively, but managed to wake up in the second half. After combining for just 57 points in the first half, the two teams exploded for 78 in the second half (44 in the final quarter).

Hackalicious: As East Ramapo coach Austin Goldberg said last week, the Lady Titans are no strangers to foul trouble, and Monday night was no exception. East Ramapo amassed 19 team fouls, while the Red Raiders committed just 11 fouls. Lady Titan Dayonara Elysee fouled out for the second consecutive game.

No freebies here: Piggybacking on the foul shooting, North Rockland gave away nine additional points in missed free throws (13-for-22), while East Ramapo only gave away four points (5-for-9).

Spreading the love: Even with three players scoring 20-plus points, there was still some pretty even scoring amongst the players. Each team had three players score in double figures. The difference being that North Rockland’s three players averaged 20.3 points each, while East Ramapo’s players averaged just 15.0 each.

Sixth man award: Two of the top scorers in the game came off the bench. East Ramapo senior Stephanie Rodriguez led all scorers with 24 points, while freshman Chloe Mullarkey chipped in 18 points for North Rockland.