Panther Girls Basketball Team Falls To Cambridge, 56-34

by Gary Danforth
The home standing Cambridge Central School girls basketball team used a balanced scoring attack last Friday evening, December 11, to take a 56-34 measure of Kerry Brannigan’s Hoosick Falls Central School girls hoop team. With the loss, HFCS drops to 0-4 on the season. The Panthers drop to 0-2 in WASAREN League play. Freshman point guard Frankie Pearson led the Panther effort with 16 points.
CCS broke out to a 12-2 lead with :51 left in the opening quarter before settling for a 12-4 advantage after eight minutes. Jenna Priore and Samantha Skott scored first quarter buckets for HFCS. Hoosick Falls battled back to 14-10 on back to back hoops by Skott and another field goal by Priore. A three pointer by Skott with 4:23 left in the opening half got the Panthers to 16-13. But CCS went on a 5-0 run to spurt to a 20-13 lead with :55 remaining in the first half. Then Pearson hit the first of her three treys on the night to get the Panthers to 20-16 with :16 left in period two. A three pointer by the Indians’ Molly Lauver, a sophomore, gave CCS a 23-16 halftime bulge.
Skott hit a trey to open period three for HFCS which cut the Panther deficit to 23-19. But Cambridge found their range. Sally Frakes scored inside for CCS before hitting a foul line jumper. Then Lauver hit another three pointer and free throw to push the Indian lead to 31-20. A Skott free throw interrupted the Indian run. But Cambridge broke the game wide open. A fast break bucket, an inside score and a conventional three point play pushed the Cambridge lead to 38-20 with 1:26 left in period three. Sara Tironi scored for CCS on a left baseline jumper. Sandra Andrew hit from the right baseline and scored off the Indian fast break to give CCS a 44-20 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Another Andrew jumper gave the Indians a 46-20 margin. Pearson hit a three pointer for HFCS. Pearson, playing hard the whole game, hit on a Panther drive and then canned her third trey of the game to cut the HFCS deficit to 54-30. Shelby Jones and Becca LaPorte hit Panther foul shots before a Melody Mentiply steal and lay up brought HFCS to the final 56-34 tally.
Pearson had 16 points, Skott, 8, Priore 5, Mentiply, 2 , Jones,2, and LaPorte scored 1 point for HFCS. For CCS, Frakes(13), Lauver(12) and Andrew(10) led the way. Rebounding from Afar: Next up for Hoosick Falls is a home game this Friday night, December 18, against Schuylerville. This should be a good match up for the Panthers.