By Mike Bloom
FALLSBURG — December 18, 2007 — Even the Fallsburg Fire Department couldn’t keep the Fallsburg Lady Comets from getting burned, 69-32, by the visiting Port Jervis Lady Red Raiders in Friday night’s non-league basketball game.
Port Jervis (2-1) wasted little time in grabbing the lead.
In the first quarter, the Lady Red Raiders scored 16 points while nearly shutting out the Lady Comets. Fallsburg’s Erinn Gilmore scored her team’s only two points in those opening eight minutes.
Led by Gilmore, Fallsburg (1-2) came back strong in the second quarter, outscoring Port Jervis 16 to 12. As a result, the Lady Comets narrowed the Port lead to 10 points (28-18) at halftime.
Just before the start of the second half, the school’s fire alarm sounded. The alarm forced the players, coaches and fans outside for a frigid 10-minute intermission until members of the Fallsburg Fire Dept. declared it safe to return to the gym.
Once play resumed, Port Jervis outscored Fallsburg 40 to 14 in the second half.
Port Jervis’ Cynthia Gaston scored a game-high 27 points to lead her team to victory. Teammate Sam Tempelmeyer recorded 22 points.
Gilmore led Fallsburg with 15 points, while Keyshawn Kennedy added five points.
“The girls played well, we fired on all cylinders,” Port Jervis Coach Kyle Ross said. “The fire drill kind of slowed us down in the second half, but we came back.
“This was our first time to get running through the motions; we had a couple tough games to start the season,” he added. “I’m glad I got to get the other girls involved as well.”
Fallsburg Coach Frank Godlewski noted that his team struggled offensively.
“We were 6-for-25 from the [free-throw] line, we just couldn’t get out of our own way tonight,” he said. “We scored two points in the first quarter and missed six free throws.
“Port had some really good players,” Godlewski added. “They had a real nice inside-out combo going. But the good news [for us] is everybody got some minutes tonight.”