The most challenging part of the Pine Bush Bushmen’s season is the last.

It started on Wednesday night at Monroe-Woodbury High School when the Bushmen won their 14th straight game this season with a 62-34 win over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley.

“We’re trying to go for an undefeated season,” said Pine Bush’s Jah-esa Stokes, who led her team with a game-high 19 points. “We’re not stopping. We’re putting the gas pedal on and we’re not taking it off.”

Ketura Rutty was right behind Stokes with 17 points. They did most of their damage in the first half as the Bushmen built a 36-10 lead at halftime. Leticia Watson added 11 points.

Madison Fileen led the Crusaders with nine points, while Sienna Feeley and Brianna Taveras had eight points each.

“They played well,” Pine Bush coach Michelle Bouffard said. “We moved the ball.

We got a little lethargic, and into a slow pace, which we’re not. That’s not our type of ball. But transitioning, we’re getting people in and out. We’ve been mixing things up.”

The Bushmen have been able to mix things up as their 14 wins have been by an average of 28.8 points per game. That’s given the Bushmen the opportunity to also mix up their lineup on the court, giving most of the team an opportunity to get on the court.

“We try to fit everybody in,” Stokes said. “If we know somebody’s about to hit 30, we keep giving them the ball. We’re not a selfish team. We all score. We all pass. It’s just a good team. We’ve got good chemistry, and good IQ.”

The only two teams to have gotten close were a pair of non-league opponents. Pine Bush beat the Wallkill Panthers by seven points on December 30, 2023, and rallied from a 20-4 first-quarter deficit to beat the Red Hook Raiders, 66-55, on February 5.

“It was a different story in the second quarter (against Red Hook),” Bouffard said.

“What happens is they have that ‘never say die’ attitude, and you have to have that attitude, or you’ll put your head down and you’ll never win. You have to have that killer instinct.”

The Bushmen will need that killer instinct as they look to preserve their unbeaten streak, as they are scheduled to host the Kingston Tigers on Tuesday at Pine Bush High School. Last Friday’s game in Kingston was postponed. While not unbeaten, the Tigers entered the game unbeaten in Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I record.

“Teams don’t want a team to go undefeated, so they want to beat us,” Stokes said. “They want to come at us, but we’re not going to let that happen. Kingston is going to be the toughest team we play.”

They will finish the regular season with two non-league road games against the Warwick Wildcats and the Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors. They could see the Warriors again in the Section 9 Class AAA playoffs.

“We’re just going to keep rolling,” Stokes said. “We’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep playing how we’ve been playing.”