By Ted Waddell
LIVINGSTON MANOR — January 8, 2008 — The devil had her due.
A few weeks ago, the Lady Wildcats of Livingston Manor defeated their rivals, the Roscoe Lady Blue Devils in the Eldred Central School Girls’ Basketball Holiday Tournament.
On Thursday night, the Lady Blue Devils had their due, as they beat host Manor, 49-45, in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI game that was a bit frantic at times and went down to the wire.
Roscoe (3-4, 1-2 Division VI) outpaced the Lady Wildcats, 17-6, in the first frame only to watch Manor surge back in the second period. At halftime, the Lady Blue Devils headed off to the locker room ahead by seven points, 26-19.
Manor (7-2, 2-1 Division VI) outgunned their rivals in the second half, outscoring them 16-11 in the third period and 16-12 in the fourth quarter. But it was a classic case of too little, too late.
With 3:30 on the game clock in the final frame, Roscoe led 42-38. But at the 1:45 mark, the Lady Wildcats closed to within a point, 46-45, on a bucket by Danielle Baker.
With less than a minute left, Roscoe’s Amanda Ladenhauf scored to put the Lady Blue Devils up 48-45. At the :23.1 mark, Ladenhauf went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line to make it a 49-45 ball game.
Three Lady Blue Devils – Sky Dutcher, Paige Clancy and Amanda Huggins – reached double figures in the scoring column. Dutcher had 14 points, Clancy netted 11 points and Huggins scored 10 points. Marissa Diescher led the Lady Wildcats’ attack with 14 points, while Natalia Cruz added 11 points.
Roscoe held a slight edge at the free-throw line. The Lady Blue Devils converted 9-of-17 (53 percent) of their foul shots, while Manor was 6-for-16 (31 percent) at the line.
“They shot free throws better than we did, and they wanted it more than we did,” Manor Coach Kevin Clifford said.
“I thought it was an excellent game on both sides,” Roscoe Coach Becky Ahart said.
“Both teams played very hard,” Ahart added. “Livingston Manor is a good ball club, we all know that, [and] we always play up to better competition.
“My girls have been looking forward to this… everyone stepped up to their potential.”