By Rob Potter
LOCH SHELDRAKE — December 16, 2003 – A total of eight area scholastic basketball teams took to the court on Saturday at the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse in the annual Sullivan County Community College High School Holiday Tip-Off Tournament.
Newburgh met Tri-Valley and Livingston Manor faced Sullivan West in the opening round of the girls’ division.
Newburgh took control early against T-V (0-2) to record a lopsided victory. Kanisha Henderson led the way for Newburgh, scoring 10 points in her team’s 58-9 win.
The second game of the afternoon, featuring the Lady Wildcats and the Lady Bulldogs, was much closer. Neither team held a lead larger than eight points and the game’s outcome was not certain until the final quarter.
SW (4-0) overcame an early deficit to defeat Manor (2-2), 35-29.
The Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Bulldogs 12-7 in the opening period. But SW rallied in the second quarter and held a 19-17 advantage at halftime.
A basket inside the lane by senior center Nadine McCarthy four minutes into the third period gave SW its largest lead at 23-15.
Manor responded early in the fourth quarter, however. Just over a minute into the final stanza, senior forward Jen Taggart drove into the lane and converted a layup to pull the Lady Wildcats within two points, 27-25. But McCarthy answered with a hoop 15 seconds later to make it a 29-25.
After neither team scored in the next two minutes, SW’s Jessica Lederman put the ball off the backboard and through the net to extend her team’s lead to six points.
Manor’s Charlene Vail responded with a basket 20 seconds later to cut the Lady Bulldogs’ lead back to four points, but the Lady Wildcats could not get any closer in the remaining minutes.
McCarthy finished with a game-high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Lederman recorded eight points and Vanessa Kline added four.
For Manor, Vail, a senior forward, had a team-high 10 points. Heather Sherwood netted eight points and Carrie Lewis had five.

Sullivan West, T-V Score Wins
Like the Lady Bulldogs in the girls’ first round, the Bulldogs found themselves down after the first eight minutes of play. And like the SW girls, the SW boys rallied to post a win.
Down 18-12 to the Fallsburg Comets after the first quarter, the Bulldogs dialed long distance for their comeback. SW (3-0) made six three-point shots in the game on the way to recording a 59-29 victory.
A pair of three-point shots by junior Sean Semenetz on consecutive possessions in the second period allowed the Bulldogs to turn a 20-16 deficit into a 22-20 lead. And once Semenetz connected on the second three-pointer, SW had a lead it would not surrender for the rest of the contest.
Three Bulldogs reached double figures in the scoring column. Leading the way was Brian Parks, who had a game-high 17 points. Semenetz, who made a total of five three-pointers in the game, and Joe Meyer each finished with 14 points.
Sean Buckner led the Comets with 10 points. Senior forward Doug Novogrodsky added five points.
In the final game of the day, T-V also overcame a first quarter deficit to record a win.
The Bears were down by six points to Liberty at the end of the first eight minutes, but outscored the Indians 26-11 in the second period to take a 29-20 lead at the intermission. T-V also outscored Liberty in the final two quarters to record a 58-31 triumph.
T-V’s J. R. Rennison finished with five three-pointers and a game-high 23 points. Henry-Lester netted nine points and Travis Wolfe and Ryan Briggs each added six for the Bears.
For Liberty, senior guard Andrew Reigler scored 10 points and junior forward Jason Garritt registered nine.
Notes: The consolation and championship games in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions were supposed to be played yesterday at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse. But the storm that blanketed the county with several inches of snow forced the games to be postponed until this coming weekend.