By Mike Zummo
It wasn’t the Wallkill Panthers best showing of the season, but it was enough.
The Panthers enjoyed a brief surge to start the third quarter, turning a two-point lead into a nine-point advantage and held on for a 54-48 win in a non-league girls’ basketball game on Feb. 6 at Beacon High School.
“We did not play up to our potential,” Wallkill coach A.J. Higby said. “That’s the issue. We definitely can play a lot better than that. There were some good spots and there were some bad spots.”
The good spots came at the start of the third quarter, as the Panthers came out of the break clinging to a 26-24 lead. Alex Dembinski gave the Panthers some breathing room with a 3-pointer 25 seconds into the second half and Zoe Mesuch added a basket to open a seven-point lead.
Mesuch finished the run with a layup to give the Panthers a 33-24 lead.
The Panthers stopped building the lead at about seven points, but the Bulldogs were unable to threaten the Panthers’ lead. They pulled to within five points after a 3-pointer by Rayana Taylor with 1:07 left in the game, but Dembinsky hit two free throws to push the lead back out to seven points.
“Once you go ahead and pull the tricks on them, and they work for a little bit, but then you have to go back to playing real basketball,” Higby said. “I wasn’t enthused with our effort.”
Mesuch led the Panthers with 22 points and Alex Dembinsky added 12.
Beacon’s Reilly Landisi outdid Mesuch with a game-high of 25 points. Taylor added 10.
“Reilly Landisi was ridiculous,” Higby said. “She was just phenomenal.”
One thing was clear to the Panthers’ coach: play had to improve, especially as the Panthers head back into Mid Hudson Athletic League Division I play on Friday with a road game against the Saugerties Sawyers, who they defeated 61-36 on December 1.
The Panthers entered the game winners of nine straight since their 70-63 loss to the Pine Bush Bushmen on December 30, 2023.
“If they don’t play better, they’re going to lose to Saugerties, and that’ll be the issue,” Higby said. “We won’t talk about the one after that.”
The Panthers didn’t lose, beating the Sawyers, 67-31 on Friday behind Mesuch’s 24 points.
The “one after that” would be their rematch with the Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors, who have handed the Panthers their only MHAL loss.
“I don’t know if it’s because we’re short kids,” Higby said. “I expect so much out of these kids it’s ridiculous. Maybe my expectations are too high. They’re good kids. That’s not my problem.”