By Mike Zummo
It took until the middle of the third quarter, but the Pine Bush Bushmen finally got going.
They outscored the Cornwall Dragons by 10 points in the fourth quarter on their way to a 53-40 win a non-league girls’ basketball game on Dec. 10 at Cornwall High School.
“We only played two games so far,” said senior Ketura Rutty, who led the Bushmen with a game-high 22 points. We’re still getting out of our shells., but overall, we’re a good team. We just have to get the nerves out because in the beginning of the game it’s hard for us to score.”
The game was tied late in the second quarter, but baskets by Jayla Breland and Rutty gave the Bushmen a 21-17 lead at halftime.
The Dragons cut the lead to one point on a 3-point basket by Emerson Shapiro, but that’s when Rutty and her teammates took charge. Rutty knocked down a set of foul shots, then converted a three-point play, starting a 12-1 run that gave the Bushmen a 39-25 lead at the end of the third quarter.
“We just had to get out of our heads,” Rutty said. “We get in our heads a lot and focus too much on what the refs call and start rushing the ball. We just have to change the game and change our pace.”
Changing the pace helped settle the Bushmen, and even though Emily Olsen knocked down a 3-point basket to open the third quarter, the Dragons never trailed by less than nine points in the fourth quarter.
“In the first half we couldn’t buy a basket,” Pine Bush coach Michelle Bouffard said. “Things were working. We were hustling, but when you can’t make shots, that’s when you’re going to struggle. I think they came back, and it was an aggressive game, and they were able to control the game. Our press worked.”
Leticia Watson added 12 points for the Bushmen.
Karis Addison led the Dragons with 16 points and Olsen added 10, knocking down two 3-point baskets in the process, keeping the Dragons close early.
“We started off a little shaky, but we’re coming together,” Leticia Watson said. “Every game is getting better.”
It’s also a different Pine Bush team than the one that reached the Section 9 Class AAA championship game last year. That team had a deep bench. This year’s Bushmen only feature nine players, meaning at least one starter will always be on the floor.
It took some adjusting.
“We started off tryouts and we’re conditioning 30 minutes every single practice, so we’re getting ready,” Watson said.
The Bushmen finished the week with their Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I opener against the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks on Friday.
The Bushmen won the game, 65-35.
“I feel like we just have to keep pushing harder during practice,” Rutty said. “We have to work on things that we made mistakes on in the game, but I feel like we’re definitely going to go far into the season.”