Clarkstown North Girls Move on in Playoffs after Clinching Out-Bracket Win

The Clarkstown North Rams girls basketball team defeated Roy C. Ketcham, 67-50, Thursday evening in a spirited out-bracket match-up.

North’s dominant performance propels them into the post-season.

 “Any win in sectionals is great,” said the Rams head coach Kerry Sullivan.  “This, unfortunately, is a play-in, but now we’re in it and now we’re just going to be gunning for it.  We have nothing to lose.”

For Coach Sullivan, Thursday’s win was all about the hard work to hustle to pressure the ball and players stepping up when their team needed them to.

“I think we applied a lot of pressure on the ball and made it tough for them,” said Sullivan.  “Our girls really worked hard end to end today and I’m very pleased with their effort.” 

She added, “I think that even when Danielle went into foul trouble, we had a couple girls in foul trouble, there’s always a few people stepping up.  It’s hard to stop a team when you have other people stepping up.”

Danielle DeStaso, senior co-captain of the Rams, expanded on this, saying, “We knew, even though they were placed lower than us, that anything could happen and anyone could beat anyone at any day and we still had to come out at our hardest and we did it.”

Motivating the players, especially the seniors on the team, is the fight to keep their season, and basketball careers at North, alive.

“We put everything on the court because we knew that our next loss would be the end of our season and we don’t want that,” said senior co-captain of the Rams Brooke Schwartz.  “We really just wanted to put everything on the court and give it our all.”

DeStaso agreed, saying, “I know none of the seniors want the season to end.  We don’t want our last game to come.  It definitely means a lot to be able to keep going and we’re going to try our best to win the next game too.”

North took the lead in the first and kept it as they ended each quarter on top and in control.  North outscored Ketcham 9-5 in the first and 18-15 in the second.  DeStaso led her team in scoring the first half with 7 points, though early foul trouble forced her to spend a good amount of time on the bench.

“We came out slow, I did at least, I got three fouls in the first half, so I spent a lot of time on the bench,” said DeStaso.  “But I knew my team was able to hold their own and keep the lead.  In the second half, we all played as an open motion and made screens for each other, and if I was standing by myself, there was somebody to come screen me so I could get the shot.”

The third quarter was Brianne Schneider's, who led North with eight points to a 48-38 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

North pulled away in the fourth when DeStaso came out hard to sink six of six free throws and score four baskets for a total of 14 points that quarter.  Schwartz contributed with some clutch free throws, hitting three of four, and Christina Graziano put up two to keep the Rams lead intact.  Thanks to their’s and their teammates’ efforts, the Rams took home the 67-50 victory.

“We knew that towards the end of the game, we had to use the whole 30 seconds,” said Schwartz.  “We really sought to pass the ball around and keep our lead up.

DeStaso was high scorer for the game with 25 points.  She is only 14 points shy of her 1,000^th career point.

 “It crosses my mind every once in a while, but if you think about it, you’re not going to get it, because you’re going to think too much and miss the basket,” said DeStaso.  "But I know that my team wants it too, so they’re trying their best to get me the ball if I’m open.”

Schwartz was next highest scorer with a solid 10 points on the night.  She tied with Ketcham’s Katie Riedy and Mary Armstrong, who led their team with 10 points a piece.

With this win, the Rams improve to 12-6 and move on to play at John Jay East Fishkill today at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s so great,” said Schwartz of Thursday night’s game.  “We were so happy that we had a home game, because we wanted to be on our court for one last time and we got our home fans back and this  is really great to pump us up for our first time in sections.”

Though they’re not quite sure what to expect, the Rams are hungry for the win and ready to play their hardest.

“The Dutchess teams we don’t know much about, so we’re kind of going in in the dark a little bit,” said Sullivan.  “I know they have a similar record to us, I know they have a tough league, so we’re just going to have to see what they give us.  Our girls worked super hard tonight, but I need the same effort tomorrow, there’s no excuses.”

DeStaso is ready for the challenge, as is the rest of her team.  “We know that we’re the underdogs and everyone will underestimate us that we come across now, but we’re still going to come out our hardest and do our best to win,” said DeStaso.

By the numbers

Clarkstown North 67, Ketcham 50
(Score by quarter)
Clarkstown North 9-18-21-19 < 67
Ketcham 5-15-18-12< 50
(Individual stats for both teams: field goals, free throws, total points)
Clarkstown North (67) <Brooke Schwartz 1-7-10, Liz Baisley 1-2-5, Danielle DeStaso 9-6-25, Nikki Petri 4-0-8, Brianne Schneider 3-2-8, Amanda Cooper 3-0-6, Kyla Donegan 0-0-0, Lexy Eckhart, 2-1-3, Christina Graziano 1-0-2, Totals: 23-18-67.

Ketcham(50) <Mary Armstrong 3-4-10, Allison Ginter 3-1-5, Madeline Tierney 3-3-9, Katie Riedy 3-3-10, Jackie Hart 2-1-5, Kim Quiles 2-1-5, Sam Alonzo 1-1-3 Totals: 17-14-50.

(3-pointers made)
3-point goals < CN: Schwartz 1, DeStaso 1, Baisley 1,  Ketcham: Ginter 1, Riedy 1

Records < Clarkstown North 12-6; Ketcham 6-13