By Rob Potter
ROSCOE — February 14, 2003 – It took awhile for the Roscoe Lady Blue Devil offense to click in Tuesday night’s game.
But when it finally did, it spelled trouble for the visiting Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats.
Roscoe outscored Manor by a 20-6 margin in the fourth quarter to earn a 54-36 victory in the OCIAA Division V contest.
Roscoe, the 15th-ranked Class D team in the state according to the latest New York State Sportswriters Association Poll, improved to 13-3 overall and 6-1 in Division V competition. Manor fell to 12-6, 5-3 Division V.
Holding a 34-30 lead at the end of three quarters of play, Roscoe began the fourth period with a scoring run. Five seconds into those final eight minutes of play, Lady Blue Devil forward Amber Gray hit a baseline jumper to boost her team’s advantage to 36-30.
After a 30-second shot clock violation on Manor, Roscoe’s Cheyenne Smith swished her fourth three-point shot of the night to increase the lead to 39-30 and force Manor Coach Andy Taggart to take a timeout in an attempt to stop the Lady Blue Devils’ momentum.
But 33 seconds after the timeout, Roscoe center Rose Miesner made one of two free throws to make it a 42-30 game. Just about 30 seconds later, Miesner scored an easy basket on a fast break thanks to a nice pass from guard Christine Rosencranse to boost the lead to 44-30.
“They’re such a strong team,” Taggart said of the Lady Blue Devils. “It was pretty even through three quarters, but they have great speed and they were able to get a good run on us at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Their second chance points and three-point shooting beat us.”
Leading the Lady Blue Devils to the win were seniors Miesner, Rosencranse and Smith. Miesner scored 12 points and pulled down a team-high 25 rebounds. In fact, Miesner grabbed 25 of Roscoe’s 40 total rebounds in the game.
Smith finished with a game-high 15 points and Rosencranse added 14.
Seniors Alys Mann and Jen Wright each scored 12 points for the Lady Wildcats.
“Both teams were really cold in the first half,” Roscoe Coach Becky Ahart said. “But once we were able to get our offense out and running, we were able to blow it open.”