By Rob Potter
NEWBURGH — March 11, 2003 – One thing was certain when the Roscoe and Haldane girls’ basketball teams met Friday night in a state quarterfinal Class D game at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh.
That certainty was that a team known as the Lady Blue Devils would be moving on to the Class D semifinals in Troy this coming weekend.
Unfortunately for the Roscoe players, coaches and fans, it will be the Haldane Lady Blue Devils who play this weekend at the state final four in Troy.
Roscoe (18-4) struggled to get its offense going as Haldane, the Section I champion, took a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. At halftime, Haldane held a 27-18 advantage.
In the second half, Haldane (17-6) led by as many as 18 points enroute to recording a 55-38 victory.
Roscoe’s Cheyenne Smith made one of two free throws with 3:11 left in the first quarter to cut her team’s deficit to 12-11. But Haldane responded with a 5-1 run to close out the period.
Haldane began the second quarter with an 8-2 run to take a 24-14 lead with 3:50 left until halftime.
Leading the Section I Lady Blue Devils to the win was sophomore guard Brittany King. She hit five 3-pointers on her way to scoring a game-high 21 points. Tara Percacciolo added nine points for Haldane.
“I think their aggressiveness surprised us a little bit,” Roscoe Coach Becky Ahart said. “They play great defense and are an aggresive ball club.”
Center Rose Miesner led Rosoce with 16 points. Teammates Christine Rosencranse and Cheyenne Smith added nine and eight points, repectively.
“Our girls played hard throughout the game,” Ahart said. “They played with a lot of heart tonight and I’m proud of them.”
A combination of the tough Haldane defense and an inconsistent offense was too much for Roscoe to overcome.
“We had trouble with our offense,” Miesner said. “It was better in the second half, but it was kind of helter skelter all night.”
Despite the disappointing loss, the Lady Blue Devils had a successful season.
“We had a great year,” Rosencranse said. “We all got along, we had fun and we won a sectional championship. We went as far as we could go.”
“We had an excellent season,” added Miesner, who missed about three minutes of action in the third quarter while having her left ankle taped after getting tangled up in a group of players. “We earned a Section IX title and an OCIAA division title.”
Next season will be a rebuilding year for Roscoe, as six team members will graduate in June. Those seniors are Amber Gray, Miesner, Stefani Oblak, Rosencranse, Smith and Danielle Sullivan.
“We had a great run with these seniors,” Ahart said. “They won two Section IX titles and two [OCIAA] Division V titles. They did a great job.”