By Lori Brown
FALLSBURG — February 12, 2010 — The Fallsburg Lady Comets hosted the Tri-Valley Lady Bears on Monday night in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division V basketball game.
T-V took a double-digit lead in the first quarter and went on to record a 52-22 victory.
Just four seconds into the game, Kathryn Schneyer scored a basket to give the Lady Bears the lead.
Fallsburg’s Keyshawn Kennedy scored a basket early on as well. Schneyer added another basket before Fallsburg Coach Daniel Redmond called a timeout. With 3:23 left in the quarter, Fallsburg’s Sheryl Pinder made a free throw.
However, T-V (12-3, 5-0 Div. V) dominated the rest of the quarter. The Lady Bears recorded some steals which led to baskets and a 19-3 advantage at the end of the quarter.
T-V continued to dominate the second period by making steals and forcing many turnovers by Fallsburg (4-11, 0-6 Div. V).
T-V prevented the Lady Comets from scoring until 2:30 was left before halftime. The Lady Bears scored a total of 37 points up to that moment. Pinder made a traditional basket and a 3-pointer as her team ended the half with eight points.
The third quarter was even as each team recorded seven points. Schneyer had five points in those eight minutes of play, while Kennedy netted six points.
In the fourth period, T-V’s Heather Knox scored six points to help her team maintain its advantage.
Fallsburg played hard to the end of the contest, but could not overcome its early deficit.
Schneyer led the Lady Bears with 15 points, while teammate Kelly McNamara added 12 points. 
Kennedy paced the Lady Comets’ offense with 10 points. She also had three rebounds.
Pinder finished the game with nine points.
“Tri-Valley is a very good team, they put a lot of pressure on us,” Redmond said. “We couldn’t beat their press.
“We played a lot better tonight compared to the last time we played them,” he added. “We played from the first minute to the last second of the game.
“We have a lot to work on, we have to take little strides and can’t go [directly] from A to Z,” Redmond concluded.
Fallsburg was scheduled to visit the Monticello Lady Panthers last night in a non-league game. Tonight, the Lady Comets will travel to Eldred to meet the Lady Yellowjackets in a non-league contest. Next Friday, Fallsburg travels to S.S. Seward for an OCIAA Div. V game.
“We haven’t played for three weeks,” T-V Coach Andy Taggart said. “We did a lot of things early and we took care of business.
“During the second half, we had too many mistakes,” he added. “We worked on fast breaks. The girls are very capable of getting turnovers.
“My team is very selfless,” Taggart added. “Heather Knox played well tonight.”
The Lady Bears have now won eight consecutive games.
The team’s next three games are all within OCIAA Div. V. T-V was scheduled to host S.S. Seward last night and will play at Chester next Friday night. On Monday, Feb. 22, the Lady Bears will finish the regular season by hosting Tuxedo.
Prior to the start of Monday night’s game, Redmond recognized the people who were instrumental during their season as well as the seniors on the Lady Comets’ team. They included scoreboard operator Erica Knell, Don Thomas, who was in charge of music and the national anthem, and scorekeeper Senita Olavarria, who is also Redmond’s girlfriend. The two Lady Comets’ seniors are Kayla Kearns and Kennedy.
Everyone was presented with roses.
“These girls will be missed and thanks for all of your hard work,” Redmond said of Kearns and Kennedy.