By Lori Brown
LOCH SHELDRAKE — March 3, 2006 – The Chapel Field Lady Lions are moving ahead in the Section IX Class D tournament after Wednesday night’s victory over the Eldred Yellowjackets in a semifinal game at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse on the campus of Sullivan County Community College.
The Lady Lions, who are the top seed in the tourney, will play No. 2 John A. Coleman Catholic School the Class D title game tomorrow afternoon at SUNY New Paltz.
Chapel Field fought hard to keep their season going.
During the first quarter, Chapel Field (15-1) was in control of the court. The Lady Lions scored 18 points in the stanza and held Eldred (9-10) to only two points – a basket by junior guard Stephanie Berger.
For the Lady Lions, Katie Oskam swished a pair of 3-pointers within the first four minutes of the game, and made another 3-pointer in the second period.
Throughout the second eight minutes of play, the Chapel Field players made quick passes to each other to keep the Lady Yellowjackets from getting the basketball.
Eldred’s Kim Henry made a 3-pointer to add to her team’s total, but it was not enough to really cut into the Lady Lions’ lead. At halftime, Chapel Field enjoyed a 27-8 lead.
However, Eldred’s offense improved in the third quarter. The Lady Yellowjackets outscored the Lady Lions, 12-10. Leading the Eldred scoring surge was senior center Kayla Bozan who scored six points in the stanza.
Trailing by 19 points going into the last quarter, the Lady Yellowjackets knew that they had some catching up to do.
But Eldred could not overcome Chapel Field’s advantage in those last eight minutes of competition.
The top scorers for Chapel Field were guards Grace Hodges and Katie Oskam. They each recorded 12 points. For Eldred, Bozan finished with eight points and senior guard Brittany Borstelmann added six points.
Chapel Field Coach Sal Patane was happy with the way his team played.
“We were pretty well rested tonight,” Patane said.
“We played good offense,” he added. “Early on we had good shooting and that boosted the girls’ confidence.”
He thought that the Lady Lions caught Eldred off guard and it seemed that the Lady Yellowjackets were missing some open shots.
He was happy that some of his younger players on the team got to play several minutes in the contest, including Grace Hodges, who is only an eighth-grader.
“She has an average of 13 points per game and you will hear more and more about her,” he commented. “[Senior] Jessica Wiejak, the starting point guard, did a nice job tonight.”
Eldred Coach Frank Kean said that his team started off slowly.
“It seemed that in the first half of the game, there were lids over the baskets,” he said. “We can’t win the game when we go 3-for-30 while shooting.”
He mentioned that Bozan, who in addition to scoring her aforementioned eight points, grabbed several rebounds and blocked a few shots, played well.
Kean also said that Chapel Field “showed good balance throughout the game.”
The game was the final scholastic hoops contest for Eldred’s five seniors: Borstelmann, Bozan, Becky Hallock, Ayla Kelty and Marla Parisio.