By Frank Rizzo
JEFFERSONVILLE —January 16, 2001 - What was anticipated as an early season showdown turned into a laugher as visiting Eldred downed Jeff-Youngsville 55-39 in Thursday’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division IV match.
It was the first loss for the host Lady Trojans, who had been ranked as seventh in the New York State Class D girls’ poll.
“We’re for real,” declared Eldred (7–1, 4–0 Division IV) coach Frank Kean. “The girls were real focused and had a positive attitude all the way over on the bus.”
“We did not rise to their level,” acknowledged J-Y coach Ron Bernhardt. “Eldred played a superb game.They’re a better team right now. This was a humbling game.”
The humbling began from the tip-off, as Eldred ran off nine consecutive points and held the hosts off the boards until Tiffany Hauser sank a free throw at the 3:23 mark.
Christina Winski, at 2:11, scored the first bucket for the Trojans, who trailed 15-5 after one quarter and 26-9 at the half.
A third foul for Hauser, midway through the second, deprived J-Y of its vital center; Hauser and Eldred pivot Stacie Blaut had more or less nullified each other.
But for Eldred, Christine Lizzi penetrated almost at will, while Jessica Timan proved to be an outside shooting threat.
“We thought we could drive to the hoop,” Kean noted. “We have good shooters and good drivers, so it makes it tough for the other team.”
“Lizzi’s a very good player, the best one we faced this year,” Bernhardt praised. “We had no help defense against her, and she can handle our man-to-man press, which is our bread and butter.”
Kean cautioned that it was still too early to talk about how far this group can go.
“My job is to keep them focused one game at a time,” Kean said. “We didn’t look past Chester (a 37-25 win on Tuesday) to Jeff and we’re not looking past Narrowsburg tomorrow.”
Eldred traveled to Narrowsburg on Friday and won the non-league contest 46-11 to improve to 8–1.
Against J-Y, Lizzi topped the scoring list with 17. Blaut added 11 points and 15 rebounds (six on the offensive boards) and Timan and Loretta Wolff scored nine each.
Aileen Semenetz led the Trojans with 10 while Winski scored eight and Kristin Erlwein added six.
One area where both teams shined was the free throw line. Eldred converted 14-of-17 while J-Y was 11/14.