By Ted Waddell
LIBERTY — January 21, 2003 – The Liberty girls’ varsity basketball squad is on a winning streak.
With last Thursday’s 47-27 victory over the Lady Lions of Chapel Field in a non-divisional contest, the Lady Indians extended their current overall record to 11-1.
(Although both teams are members of the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association, Chapel Field plays in the OCIAA Division V, while Liberty is in OCIAA Division IV. Ergo, their contest was a non-divisional matchup.)
“I thought we tried to play their game instead of ours,” said Coach Rebecca Sharkey, who is in her first year guiding Chapel Field (9-4). “If we had stuck to our system and settled down, I think we would have done much better.”
Sharkey said her team is conditioned not to run and gun as much as Liberty. While she felt that the Lady Lions were able to do a good job in breaking the opposition’s press, Sharkey noted that “every once in a while, we got a little brain dead”. That, in her opinion, allowed the Lady Indians some easy buckets.
“We like to win the glass, but we didn’t do that tonight,” she added.
Liberty Coach Tom LaGattuta is one of those coaches who really gets into a game. Win, lose or draw on a call or play, his refection on the polished hardwood floor is one of unbridled excitement at the ebb and flow of the game.
“I thought we played really well,” he said. “Our defense showed up, and we had excellent offense.”
In the closing minutes of the game, with the win seemingly anchored in the scorebook for posterity, LaGattuta gave his starters a break in order to give his bench players some valuable floor time.
“I went 11 deep tonight, and we didn’t lose a beat,” he said. “We played great team ball . . . that’s what we’ve been striving for all year, and it’s starting to happen.”
LaGattuta credited the play of senior guard Christine Waryha for putting a game-high 22 points on the scoreboard.
“And she did a super job on the defensive end,” he added.
Keely Hamlin and Andrea TerBush each netted 11 points for the Lady Indians.
The coach also singled out the ball handling of Waryha and fellow guards Kate DeMayo, Chelsea LaGattuta and TerBush.
“We still have a lot of games left to go,” said LaGattuta with an eye to the remainder of the season. “It’s been a lot of fun, and the girls are playing well.”
According to Liberty’s first year girls’ varsity basketball coach, the Lady Indians will face some stiff competition in the next few days.
“We have some tough [opponents] coming down the road,” he said. “Cornwall and Tuxedo . . . and we’re expecting a battle at Sullivan West.”