Huskies top Valley Central in holiday tournament

By Mike Zummo
Posted 1/8/25

The Highland Huskies put up 30 points in the second quarter.

That was all it took to put some distance between them and the Valley Central Vikings as they outscored the Vikings by 15 points on …

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Huskies top Valley Central in holiday tournament

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The Highland Huskies put up 30 points in the second quarter.

That was all it took to put some distance between them and the Valley Central Vikings as they outscored the Vikings by 15 points on their way to a 69-58 win in the consolation game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Holiday girls’ basketball tournament on Dec. 30 at Wallkill Senior High School.

Danica Valente and Sam Callahan each led the Huskies with 21 points each, with Logan Van Zandt contributing nine points.

Callahan was named to the all-tournament team.
Valley Central’s Kelly Schmidt scored a game-high 31 points and was named to the all-tournament team.

The game was tied at 10-10 after the first quarter, when the Huskies started to take over the game.

Ciara Teamer opened the quarter with a basket and Valente knocked down two free throws to give the Huskies a 14-10 lead.

After Schmidt knocked down a 3-point basket with 2:48 left in the third to pull the Vikings to within two points at 24-22, two straight three-point plays by Callahan and Valente propelled the Huskies on a 11-0 run that gave them a 35-22 lead with less than a minute to go in the quarter.

Valley Central’s Hannah Garcia Curet broke the run, hitting the second of two free throws, but Highland’s Alexa Pavese knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 15-point lead heading into halftime.

The Vikings never trailed by less than eight points in the third quarter and a 7-0 run to start the third quarter gave the Huskies a 17-point advantage with about six minutes to go in the game.

The Pine Bush Bushmen won the tournament championship with a 59-35 win over the host Wallkill Panthers.

Pine Bush’s Leticia Watson and Ketura Rutty each scored 17 points each. Watson was named tournament MVP and Rutty was named to the all-tournament team. Wallkill’s Zoe Mesuch led the Panthers with 25 points and was named to the all-tournament team, along with teammate Aoife Brady.

Mesuch scored a game-high 38 points on Dec. 28 when the Panthers handed the Huskies a 74-58 loss in the tournament opener.
Callahan led the Huskies with 20 points and Valente scored 15.