By Ted Waddell
LIBERTY — December 26, 2006 — Trailing by 21 points at halftime is one thing, but when you’re behind 33-2 going into the locker room, that’s got to hurt and you must have a lot of heart to come back to the floor and compete.
Last Thursday evening’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) basketball game between the home team Lady Indians of Liberty and the Fallsburg Lady Comets featured a couple of young teams. Both squads lack a great deal of experience, but they display a scrappy attitude.
At the final buzzer, Liberty (1-4, 1-1 Division IV) defeated Fallsburg, 46-8.
In the first two periods, the Lady Indians dominated the action, outscoring Fallsburg (0-2, 0-2 Division IV) by a 12-2 margin in the first quarter and 21-0 in the second.
Liberty Coach Tom LaGattuta sent in the substitutes for the final frames. But the Lady Indians outscored the Lady Comets, 6-5 and 7-1, respectively, in those third and fourth quarters.
The top scorers for the Lady Indians were Ceara Williams, who had 11 points, and Heather Stewart and Aryana Walizadeh, each of whom finished with nine points.
Nicole McLemore led Fallsburg with four points.
Stats from the free throw line: Liberty was 16-of-27 (59 percent), Fallsburg was 2-of-5 (40 percent).
Fallsburg Coach Tarra Strauss declined to comment after the game.
“The game was sloppy, but a win’s a win,” LaGattuta said. “We’re both inexperienced, but we got the better of them today.”
He also singled out a couple of players for their excellent play.
“Heather Stewart did a real nice job off the bench and Angela Giacalone handled the ball well for us,” LaGattuta said.
Ceara Williams, Liberty’s 15-year-old sophomore center, summed up the contest in a few words.
“It was good, we won,” said Williams, who is the daughter of Carlton Williams, head coach of The Family Foundation School’s Lady Falcon basketball team.
Maggie Sauchuk, Liberty’s 17-year-old senior guard, said that the team is off to a better start than it had 12 months ago, when the Lady Indians finished the 2005-2006 season with a record of 1-19.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I’m glad we got our first win of the season… it’s a lot better than last year.”