By Ted Waddell
ELDRED — February 13, 2004 – It’s isn’t quite yet spring, but on Monday night the Lady Yellowjackets of Eldred came out of the hive and buzzed around their home court to defeat the Lady Comets of Fallsburg, 50-41.
On the way to the non-league win, Eldred (8-6) took a 26-13 halftime lead.
In the final quarter, Fallsburg (4-8) started to play catch up, outscoring the Lady Yellowjackets by a 22-10 margin as veteran Eldred Coach Frank Kean emptied his bench in the closing minutes to give everybody some floor time.
Lauren Timan of Eldred was the game’s high scorer with 25 points. She was followed by a trio of teammates who each scored seven points: Jessica Cherry, Jenna Fredericks and Jenny Haas. Cherry also grabbed 10 rebounds in the contest.
Fallsburg answered with a pair of “10s”, as Sarah Halprin and Felicia Strauss each finished with 10 points on the evening.
Stats from the free throw line: Eldred was 11-of-25 (44 percent), while Fallsburg was 5-of-16 (31 percent).
“It was a tough game, a tough loss,” Fallsburg Coach Les Hyde said. “Eldred played a great game.”
Hyde said that in the first half his squad was a little lackadaisical, but then picked it up in the final two periods.
“We started playing up to our capabilities and made it a closer game,” he added.
Kean noted that the Lady Yellowjackets “pretty much controlled” the court when they employed a full-court press.
Later in the game, however, he backed off a bit and cleared the bench in order to give everybody some minutes and the other team a chance to narrow the gap.
“I’m a coach who tries to let everyone in and play, so they came back and everybody left with a successful evening,” Kean said.