Story by Jon Dinan
FALLSBURG — February 5, 2013 - Despite a double-double effort from star center Nyasia Blakney, the Fallsburg Lady Comets fell to Chester Thursday, 48-33.
With the victory, Chester claimed the OCIAA Division V title, its first OCIAA championship since 1997. Fallsburg fell to (8-5, 1-5 league).
Turnovers coming in virtually every form plagued Fallsburg early. Just thirty seconds into the game, Fallsburg coach Daniel Redmond was forced to call a timeout as his out-of-sync Lady Comets allowed Chester to take a quick 4-0 lead.
At the end of the second quarter, after being down by as many as 12, the Fallsburg offense began to click.
“We started to relax,” said coach Redmond. “We felt more under control and less under seige.”
Tifannie Suhm hit a big three pointer to get the rally going and Blakney took control from there scoring eight of her 18 total points over the the course of the 11-6 Fallsburg run that spanned the end of the second and beginning of the third quarter.
“Tiffanie Suhm really controlled the game,” said Redmond. “This is her first year at the point guard position and this was her game to really shine and she went out there and competed.”
“It’s harder than playing forward, but I have a good team,” said Suhm. “I knew I had to go into tonight’s game and be a leader.”
Chester forward Simone Ayers’ persistent scoring attack kept her team’s lead just out of Fallsburg’s reach however. What were confident low-post maneuvers in the third quarter for Blakney, turned into desperate long-range runners in the fourth.
Although the Comets whittled the Hambletonian lead down to as little as three points in the third, turnovers and defensive lapses were too much to overcome. Chester capitalized with patient ball movement and a balanced attack of inside and perimeter scoring.
“I look for improvement,” said Redmond. “Our number one goal is to get the win, and we didn’t do that, but we’re improving. They can feel hurt. They can feel broken. They can feel like they’re losers, but they went out there and made it a game.”