2019-20 Lady Goldbacks have lots of talent

By Mike Zummo
Posted 12/5/19

The Newburgh Free Academy girls’ basketball team will enter the 2019-20 season short on experience, but possibly long on talent.

“We have pretty good talent,” said senior Jayden …

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2019-20 Lady Goldbacks have lots of talent

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The Newburgh Free Academy girls’ basketball team will enter the 2019-20 season short on experience, but possibly long on talent.

“We have pretty good talent,” said senior Jayden Romero, entering her second season as a starter. “We play together as a team. We’re learning to play with each other on and off the court. We’re building relationships with each other.”
Romero is one of three returning players for the Goldbacks.

Sophomore Daysha Simmons is entering her first full year as a player on the varsity team after being called up in the middle of the season last year as a freshman.

“It was scary at first until I got used to the team,” she said.

The Goldbacks also will welcome back Ameesah Cotten to the lineup after she missed most of last season with an ACL injury early in the season.

“We’re a young team, but we’re probably going to struggle at times and we’re probably going to look good at times,” Newburgh coach Arturo Santana said. “They all work extremely hard.”

He looked for that chemistry during the Goldbacks’ preseason scrimmages.
They started with a scrimmage against the Rondout Valley Ganders, which is also a young team. The scrimmages are important during the preseason as it’s difficult to simulate a game setting in practice.

It also gave the young Goldbacks an opportunity to get the early jitters out.

“We were a little excited,” Santana said. “It was our first scrimmage and we just have to make sure we’re in control and do what we do best, instead of going outside of our comfort zone.”

What’s going to be the Goldbacks’ comfort zone?
Possibly speed and generating offense of the defense.

“If we keep working together the way we are now, we can be a good team,” Simmons said. “We just have to work together and keep our heads up.”
In the early going, Santana said he is looking for team chemistry and after the first two weeks of practice said he sees a team that works well together.

The players see it, too.

“We talk a lot,” Romero said. “We have good communication on and off the court. We’re always helping each other up whether we do something good or wrong. Nobody’s putting themselves down if they miss a shot or something. We just tell them to keep playing.”

That plays well with Santana’s philosophy of focusing on the next game. While both Romero and Simmons said they want to improve on Newburgh’s Section 9 Class AA semifinal finish from last season, Santana’s eyes are on the road ahead, a road that started Tuesday in a non-league game at Cornwall.
The Goldbacks will play their home opener Thursday when they host the Kingston Tigers.

“We’re only as good as the last game we played,” Santana said. “I always tell the girls, ‘you’re playing the best team ever’ and you’ve got to bring the best at all times. If you want respect, you have to earn that respect on the court.”

With a young core, Newburgh has an opportunity to build something that could last several years. However, the few seniors who may not get to see the future will have a hand in guiding it.

“It’s kind of scary because I don’t want to leave, but me and my two other seniors want to set a good example about what Newburgh basketball program is about.,” Romero said. “How we’re all one unit.”