By Ted Waddell
ROSCOE — December 21, 2004 – It was an evening chock full of hoops Friday night at Roscoe Central School, the “Home of the Blue Devils. The program featured a girls’ varsity basketball game, followed by a boys JV match and, to top in all off, a boys’ varsity contest.
As an added measure of spirited high school sports, two squads of cheerleaders performed during the varsity game in front of an enthusiastic crowd of home team Roscoe fans as well as supporters of the squads from Eldred Central School.
In the girls’ varsity game, which was an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI contest, the visiting Lady Yellowjackets of Eldred stung the Roscoe Lady Blue Devils, 53-28.
After Eldred (2-1, 1-0 OCIAA Division VI) racked up a 16-point lead in the first quarter, their coach started emptying the bench to give everyone some floor time.
“I thought we pressed real nice in the first period, and once we got up 21-5, I figured that was enough,” said Eldred Coach Frank Kean.
“It doesn’t matter what the score is, as long as everybody gets to play once you have the game in hand,” he added.
In the second period, Eldred outscored Roscoe 17-7 and in the third by five points (8-3).
The final frame was a different story. Substitutes from both teams battled for supremacy, the Lady Blue Devils coming out on top 13-7.
In the scoring department, it was Jessica Cherry’s night, as Eldred’s senior forward was the game’s only player to reach double digits. She finished the evening with 26 points.
April Hodge scored a team-high eight points for Roscoe (2-3, 0-1 OCIAA Division VI.)
Stats from the free throw line: Eldred was 11-for-19 (58 percent); Roscoe went 2-for-5 (40 percent).
In a game directed by a couple of veteran coaches, Roscoe’s Becky Ahart was quick to congratulate her opponents.
“Eldred is a good team with a nice group of girls who work very well together,” she said.
Her take on the progress of 2004-2005 Lady Blue Devils?
“We’re a young team, and in the second half they finally started to do what they needed to do, and made decent passes and made their shots together as a group,” Ahart said.
“They’re a good group of girls, and they’re going to get it,” she added.