The Highland girls’ basketball team showed they could play with the big schools on Saturday, as they finished third in the Wallkill Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament with a 54-48 win over the Valley Central Vikings at Wallkill High School.

“This is definitely a big win for us,” Highland’s Grace Koehler said. “We haven’t had a game since before break, so we’ve been preparing for it, and it’s against a big school. We’ve scrimmaged and played them in past years, and I feel like we’ve always fallen short.”

The Huskies didn’t fall short this year, using five straight points from Danica Valente to take a 14-8 lead after the first quarter, and never looked back.

They widened their lead to 30-19 at halftime.

“One of the big things that we talked about in practice was that we want to get out there early in the first quarter, and push ahead of the other team,” Koehler said. “So we don’t fall behind and have to fight later.”

However, the Vikings showed they had some fight left in the third quarter.

After Highland’s Deanna Barry opened the quarter with a 3-pointer, the Vikings’ Maggie Bishopp answered with a spin move in the paint, starting a 9-0 run that pulled the Vikings back to within five points.

The Huskies led by seven points – 41-34 – after the third quarter, but never let the Vikings get closer than four points in a six-point victory.
“I thought in the first half we played our game,” Highland coach Michael Geller said. “In the second half, when they had a little more high pressure, we needed to be a little calmer under the ball. I was really happy with the defense.”

The offense, meanwhile, was led by Sam Calahan, who led the Huskies with 15 points.

“When they got me the ball in the paint, I was able to do my thing,” Calahan said. “Even when I was being double teamed, the rest of the team was still able to get points up.”

Calahan was one of three Huskies to finish in double figures. Danica Valente scored 11 points and Barry added 10 points. Koehler was named to the all-tournament team.

“I’m really grateful, but I think it was definitely more of a team effort, though,” Koehler said. “I feel it should be everyone, but I’m grateful it’s nice.”

Koehler was one of the few bright spots for the Huskies in the tournament’s opening game on December 16, a 70-27 loss to the Pine Bush Bushmen that sent the team for a loop.

Calahan said that game took a toll on the Huskies.

“We’re not familiar with Orange County schools and those bigger schools, so I think that surprised us,” Koehler said. “This game, I feel like we came out with a vengeance. We wanted this one.”

Kelly Schmidt led the Vikings with a game-high 17 points, and Breonna Curtis Wright added 13. Schmidt was named to the all-tournament team.

Pine Bush won the tournament with a 70-63 win over Wallkill in the championship game. Jah-esa Stokes was named tournament MVP and Ketura Rutty was named to the all-tournament team. Wallkill’s Zoe Mesuch and Samantha Dembinsky were named to the all-tournament team.

The Huskies will return to action on Friday with a home game against Rhinebeck before returning to Wallkill on Saturday to face the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders.

“I wanted to schedule a few more big schools to challenge us so that down the road it helps prepare for sections, MHALs and winning our division,” Geller said. “That’s our goal as a team, so I wanted to play Valley Central. I want to play Monroe-Woodbury and I want to play Pine Bush so we can learn from that.”