Just like that, Erin Lofaro’s final season on the Marlboro girls’ basketball team ended in an empty gym.

The Dukes, who just five days earlier won the Section 9 Class B championship in a packed Kaplan Center on the campus of Mount Saint Mary College, played the New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional semifinal without spectators due to Coronavirus concerns.

“It was creepy,” Lofaro said. “Usually my parents are the loud ones here and not to have them here, it’s sad that decision was made. I am really upset that this had to happen and I hope they think about this deeply as this tournament moves forward.”

In the end, they had no answer for Putnam Valley freshman Eva Dechent, who scored a game-high 39 points as the Tigers beat the Dukes, 66-49 on Wednesday.

“We gave it what we had,” Lofaro said. “I don’t think we played our best game today. I don’t know what that had to do whether fans were here or not. I’m not making excuses. We just didn’t come out and play our best game with as much intensity as we should have.”

Arianna Stockinger added 15 points for the Tigers.

“We knew they had great shooters and good inside game,” Marlboro coach Marion Appler said. “We were trying our hardest to pick our poison and see if we could get out to shooters and still defend inside, too. We came up a little short on defense.”

Lofaro led Marlboro with a team-high 18 points and junior Briana Bernicker knocked down five 3-point baskets to keep the Dukes in the game until the Tigers pulled away in the fourth quarter.

They also managed to keep Elizabeth Lofaro quiet, limiting her to eight points.
The Dukes fell behind early as the Tigers built a 7-0 in the game’s first three minutes.

Erin Lofaro brought the Dukes back as she hit a jumper, starting an 11-2 Marlboro run that culminated in Bernicker’s 3-point shot that tied the game.
But the Tigers’ Cyera Daughtry broke the tie with a jump shot and Dechent added a basket to take a 15-11 lead.

A 3-pointer by Bernicker tied the game at 17 with 6:32 left in the second, but Stockinger gave the Tigers the lead for good with a hook shot as the Tigers ran off to a 35-24 halftime lead.

Elizabeth Lofaro pulled the Dukes to within four points when she knocked down a 3 with about 5 minutes left in the third, but the Tigers got away in the fourth quarter.

“We knew tonight was going to be a battle,” Appler said. “We knew we had to bring our best game to compete with their best game too. It’s the worst game ever of a season, of a high school career for them.”

It ends a season in which the Dukes recovered from what they called an “unacceptable” loss to the FDR Presidents in the MHAL playoffs to win the sectional title.

They also had to overcome several key injuries. They played just about the entire season without junior Joyce Ryder and lost senior Alexa Bernicker late in the season to a torn meniscus.

Doesn’t make the end of the season any easier.

“It’s hard to see their faces so upset,” Appler said. “They worked so hard to get here so I just tried to tell them to think of the positives. We overcame injuries and sicknesses and win Section 9. That’s a big feat right there.”

And for sisters, Erin and Elizabeth Lofaro, it was their last season as teammates as Erin will graduate in June and play next year at UMass-Lowell as Elizabeth looks to lead Marlboro to a three-peat.

And it ended in an empty gym with their parents in the parking lot unable to enter. The balance of the tournament would be cancelled the next day, along with all other school events for the next two weeks, and virtually all sporting events throughout the world, including the NBA and the NCAA tournament.

“I’ve had a great career,” Erin Lofaro said. “I’m really sorry it had to end this way when our parents couldn’t be here and our fans, but all credit to Putnam Valley. They played a complete, good game today. I hope they go win the whole thing.”