By Rob Potter
CALLICOON — December 19, 2000 – The baskets finally started falling for the Sullivan West/Delaware Valley Lady Eagles Saturday afternoon.
In the first half of the non-league game between host SW/DV and Liberty, the Lady Eagles had several good looks at the hoop but could not get the ball to fall below the rim and through the net. And many of those shots were in the lane, no more than a few feet from the basket.
But the SW/DV offense came alive in the fourth quarter, outscoring Liberty (0–2) 16 to 3 in those eight minutes to post its first win of the young season by a 47-36 final.
Junior Calley Sander led the way for SW/DV (1–3), as she swished a trio of three-pointers in that decisive fourth quarter. Sander’s hot shooting allowed the Lady Eagles to overcome a 33-31 deficit going into the final period.
“All of our players can shoot to a degree, but she’s probably our best shooter,” SW/DV coach Patti Roche said of Sander. “She played on the varsity last year, but was not as big a part of our offense as she is now.”
Sander, who also tallied a three-point bomb in the first half, finished the game with a team-high 16 points.
“We played decent defense and it’s hard to fault our effort on defense,” said Liberty coach Ted Crowley. “In the second half, the ball started to drop for them and it stopped dropping for us.”
Crowley also noted that the SW/DV defense posed more problems for his team following halftime.
“We didn’t move the ball too well against their zone (defense),” he said of his squad, which held a 22-17 advantage at the break. “Their zone didn’t allow us to have the good looks we had earlier.”
Liberty’s Andrea TerBush scored a game-high 19 points, six of which came on a pair of three-point bombs. Christine Waryha added eight points for the Lady Indians.
Helping Sander with the Lady Eagle offensive attack were Jen Ackermann, who netted nine points, and Alicia Peters, who scored eight.
Roche was pleased with how her team improved its play as the game progressed.
“We started to move the ball better in that second half,” she said. “And we’re finally starting to work well together and do some positive things. I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a big win streak for us.”