Successful Sleepy Hollow Girls Basketball Season Ends

To lose a playoff game by 29 points can be a demoralizing experience. Fortunately for the Sleepy Hollow girls basketball team, it has a coach in Nick Romeo who is able to see the big picture.

Sleepy Hollow's season ended in the opening round of the Section 1 Class A tournament yesterday with a 62-33 setback at No. 3 Peekskill (16-3). Romeo though stressed to his team not to dwell on the loss to the Red Devils but instead focus on all the good things it had accomplished in a 10-9 campaign.

"I told the girls inside (the locker room) that I was extremely proud of them and that they shouldn't be hanging their heads," Romeo said. "They have done so many things this year that haven't been done in the program for a long time."

Romeo then went on to list his team's accomplishments, which included the following: winning its own tournament for the first time in 16 years, finishing in third place in its league with five league wins – something that had not been done in recent memory, finishing in double digits in wins, something that hadn't been done in 16 years and making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

"A lot of us have been here for four years and to be able to make the playoffs two years in a row is special," senior Sleepy Hollow forward Tauress Campbell said.

Her coach concurred.

"There is so much to take away from this season," Romeo said.

Unfortunately, one of those things wasn't a playoff victory but there was no shame in that, considering the Lady Horsemen lost to a Peekskill squad that is a serious contender to win the gold ball at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.

Peekskill used its athleticism to jump out to a 15-2 lead. A 3-pointer by Jamie Bucci before the end of the first quarter enabled the Lady Horsemen to end it on a high note.

"That was huge, that 3-pointer," Romeo said.  "Especially early in the game, you want to hit that basket. It gave us some momentum going into the second quarter. But their front line, they are too big and too tough. When they missed, they made sure that they got second and third chances. We just couldn't contain them."

One of those front-line players Romeo was referring to was junior forward Tasia Nolan, who shared game-high honors with teammate Sheridan Taylor with 16 points. A field goal and made foul shot by Nolan put the Red Devils up 22-7 in the beginning of the second quarter.

However, Sleepy Hollow played hard all the way through and Brionna Gamble, who scored a team-high 11 points, hit a 3-pointer but Peekskill then scored the next five points to take a 26-10 lead.

Back-to-back treys by Kerry Olivera and Gamble pulled the Lady Horsemen to within 10 but that was as close as the Lady Horsemen would get.