Lady Raiders dash visiting Rondout Valley, 50-33

Pam White’s Lady Raiders basketball squads have a habit of getting out to big leads early, and never was that more evident than in Red Hook’s 50-33 rout of the visiting Rondout Valley Lady Ganders on Jan. 16.

Marist Parr got on the board for the Lady Raiders first at 7:02 on a set shot, and then things started cooking for Red in typical fashion; the girls went for six unanswered points before Rondout Valley could get a bucket. The Lady Ganders did flush another two baskets and net four points on the period at about the halfway mark, but Red still walked out of the quarter up 22-4.

Julianne Wilkinson broke the mold in the second, scoring on an assist from sister Jessica, and moments later stole the ball and went full court for a layup that forced a Rondout timeout. Up insurmountably, the Lady Raiders dialed back their defense and White sent the bench in for some first-half garbage time minutes.

The Lady Ganders played with a little more pep in the third quarter, challenging Red Hook underneath and matching the Lady Raiders’ point total with 10 points as White rotated players in and out. Red Hook, however, still led 50-18 coming out of the quarter.

Unfortunately for Red, things turned around in the fourth quarter when White sent out the bench for some real garbage-time play. Rondout laid 15 unanswered points on the Lady Raiders, even after Julianne Wilkinson was sent back in in the fifth minute to help right the ship.

Rondout’s Ayssa Olivier led all scorers with 16 points, while Parr and Jessica Wilkinson tied for Red Hook’s scoring lead with 12 apiece.

“I felt our team came out strong and were very focused on our defensive goal of holding them under 10 per quarter,” White told the Observer.

White added that she wasn’t concerned about the play of her bench late in the game.

“The bench came in and played hard. These girls work extremely hard every single day in practice and know that they may be called upon, so they need to be ready. Sometimes shots don’t fall, but I was pleased with their effort,” she said.