The Newburgh Free Academy girls’ basketball team got off to a slow start and by the time they got the offense moving, it was too little too late.

Despite outscoring the Goshen Gladiators, by nine points in the second half, the Goldbacks were unable to overcome a large first-half deficit in a 56-44 non-league loss on Friday.

“It’s been a tough year,” Newburgh coach Arturo Santana said. “We definitely don’t start the way I wish we would start. We work hard and finish strong. I’m very happy with our thoughts and focus in the second half. I wish we would have played like that in the second half.”

The Goldbacks only had the lead once, early in the first quarter when Nyah Williams, who led Newburgh with 14 points, hit a 3-pointer giving her team a 3-2 lead 59 seconds into the game.

However, Goshen took the lead for good with 3:38 left in the first quarter when Erin Smith hit two free throws and then a jump shot 27 seconds later to give the Gladiators a 10-6 lead.

Smith finished with 20 points and became the Gladiators’ all-time leading scorer amongst both boys’ and girls’ players in the fourth quarter.

A putback by Ameesah Cotten and two free throws by Jayden Romero pulled the Goldbacks to within a point.

Romero finished with 12 points.

Then Goshen’s Madison Clark, Smith and Brosnan put together an 8-0 run to give the Gladiators a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

After two quarters, Goshen led 39-18. Clark also finished the game with 20 points.

“You have to give credit to Goshen,” Santana said.

“They came hard in the beginning. They took it to us and they had such a big lead that it was so tough to get back.”

The second-half defense held Goshen to 17 second-half point as the Goldbacks won the third and fourth quarters.

“They missed some shots; that helps,” Santana said. “We started making shots. When we start making shots, we get some transitional layups, we develop confidence and good things start rolling.”

The Goldbacks trailed by as many as 25 after Brosnan’s basket in the third quarter, but Williams hit a 3 with 2:16 left, starting a 9-0 run to cut Goshen’s lead to 16 points at the end of the third quarter

However, they didn’t get any closer than 12.
Defensively, McKenzie Vondras stood out for Newburgh, smothering the Goshen offense and chasing the ball all over the court.

She left the game with about a minute to go after getting the wind knocked out of her diving for a ball and getting her lip bloodied.

The things that don’t show up in the scorebook.

“McKenzie always plays like that,” Santana said.

“She practices like that. She plays like that. She doesn’t know how to not play that tough. Obviously, we have to control her a little bit so she doesn’t get hurt and if she can control that toughness defensively, she’s going to be one of the best defenders in the whole county.”

The Goldbacks finished their season on Tuesday with a non-league game at Liberty.

“The only thing I can ask of my girls is to take care of the ball, play hard and leave everything on the court,” Santana said. “If we do that, I’m happy. I love these girls. They’re a great group of girls. I wish we had won more for them.”