The Newburgh Free Academy girls’ basketball team is still searching for its first victory six games into the regular season.

It hasn’t been for a lack of effort, or hustle.

The Goldbacks, who entered the season lacking experience, ended the 2022 portion of their season with 57-31 loss to the host Goshen Gladiators for a fourth-place finish in the George McGinnis Tournament on Thursday at Goshen High School.

“It’s never a lack of effort,” Newburgh coach Arturo Santana said. “The thing that gets me the most frustrated is not having patience to run the play. That and throwing the ball away. Those are things that we can help.”

The Goldbacks opened the tournament with a 49-39 loss to the Washingtonville Wizards on Wednesday. The Gladiators fell to Chester in the opener.

When the Goldbacks were able to run the offense, they were successful, and it’s those little things the Goldbacks have been working on during the first month of the season.

Goshen had a trio of players in double figures, including Peyton Andryshak, who scored a game-high 18 points. Emily Palau scored 13 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter, and Meghan Doody added 10.

Titi Burden, a freshman, led the Goldbacks with 17 points. She’s also finding ways to get her teammates more involved in the offense, as well.

“She’s 13 or 14 years old; she’s a freshman,” Santana said. “She’s never played modified. Never played JV. She played in the City of Newburgh at the Rec. No disrespect to any other organization, but high school ball is a little different. She’s doing the best she can. But if you saw it from the first game to now, she’s learning to control and distribute the ball more, and that’s all you can ask.”

One play stands out the most. Immediately after a timeout late in the third quarter, Burden broke the Goshen press, executed a perfect bounce pass to Valerie Churns, who finished the play with a successful layup.

“We just have to be patient,” Santana said. “We have to be consistent, and we have to execute. Once you run a play one time, they already know what’s going to happen. So, you’ve got to learn to ‘play the cheat’ as I like to call it. Use your body more and time it better. My girls work hard. I love them. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them. So, we’ll just keep battling and fighting back.”

Serenity Robinson had a strong third quarter, scoring six of her eight points.

“Half the battle is confidence,” Santana said. “They’ve got to know they can do it. I tell them, ‘you never know if you don’t try it in the game. My job is get opportunities for you. Let me do that, and your job is to give it 100 percent, and let’s see what happens.’ She’s learning to have confidence and we’re learning to give it to her.”