The Highland Huskies’ win over the Spackenkill Spartans was a brutal one.

Two players – Deanna Barry and Ciara Teamer – left the game with injury and missed their game in the Wallkill tournament the following day.

Barry returned to the Huskies’ lineup on December 19 and played a key role in the Huskies’ 60-23 win over the Onteora Eagles in their final game before the holiday break.
“We really fought back after a big loss,” Barry said. “We were playing against a tough team, so we just wanted to get our confidence back with a big division win.”

The Huskies have one more divisional game before finishing the first run through the division on January 6 against the Rhinebeck Hawks. They posted wins two weeks ago against the Ellenville Blue Devils and the Spackenkill Spartans.

“Division games are the ones you want to win, and so far, we’re 3-0 in the division,” Highland coach Michael Geller said. “We’ve got

Rhinebeck coming up, and then we’ve got to play every other team again, which is always tough.”

Barry and Grace Koehler led the Huskies with a game-high 16 points each, while Samantha Callahan added 12 points.

“Feels good (to be back),” Barry said. “I didn’t like seeing my team be down on themselves when I sit on the bench. I just like to come back in and give them some of that energy and play my part. Do what I can to get the team a win.”

Lilyana DeGondea-Heaney led the Eagles with seven points.

“Onteora’s always a tough team, a well-coached team, so I knew they’d be tough,” Geller said. “I’m happy we got to play them on our court.”

The Huskies jumped on the Eagles early, taking a 20-7 lead after the game’s first eight minutes. However, things evened up in the second quarter, and Highland took a 13-point lead into halftime.

However, the defense stepped up in the second half, as the Huskies limited the Hawks to six total second-half points, three in the third quarter and two in the second.

Meanwhile, Highland scored 17 third-quarter points to take a commanding 47-21 lead.

“The defense really contributed to our offense,” Barry said. “That’s how we get most of our points. Defense is a big part of what we work on all the time. We’re really big on that.”

The Huskies had 11 days off after their victory before they face the Valley Central Vikings on Saturday in the consolation game of the Wallkill holiday tournament.

Highland opened the season with a loss to Class AAA Pine Bush and the Vikings are a Class AA team. Geller said he purposely scheduled a difficult non-league schedule for the Huskies to prepare them for their conference schedule and Section 9 Class B play.

“I think that’s making us a tougher team and really bringing us together on how we work with each other,” Barry said. “We always bring it all. We just try our best.”