The 2021 winter basketball season ended just as quickly as it began.
The Valley Central and Pine Bush girls’ basketball teams played an early season game against each other on Feb. 11. It was the second game for both teams.
Thirteen days later, the two teams finished their season against each other, with the Vikings overcoming Pine Bush in the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon for a 60-48 victory.
“It ended on a nice note, which was good,” Valley Central coach Bill Michella said. “I knew it was going to be a tough one. We had back-to-back games. They were a little sluggish in the beginning, but they came through fine to the end.”

Pine Bush, meanwhile, showed how far they had come since the second game of the season, as they jumped ahead of the Vikings in the first quarter. Pine Bush built a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and opened 27-20 lead with 1:30 to go in the second quarter.
“When we stay fundamentally sound, we do well,” Pine Bush coach Michelle Bouffard said. “This was going to be the test. We had a month of basketball.”
When the teams met on Feb. 11, Valley Central won 45-30. At that point, the season was less than a week old and practice time was limited.
“We started a month ago, and we were quickly thrown into the mix,” Bouffard said. “You can’t prepare them in a week. To see them progress in a month and be able to compete, I was proud of them.”
The Vikings started mounting a comeback late in the second quarter, with a jump shot and a 3-pointer by Grace Palczewski, who finished with 10 points, closed the gap to within two points with 51 seconds to go in the second quarter.
Shaina Cooney, who finished with a game-high 24 points, hit two free throws to tie the game early in the third quarter, but Pine Bush controlled a bulk of the third quarter, taking a 39-31 lead with 2:37 to go.
Then, Palczewski hit a 3 and Nikki Schmidt, who scored 10 points, hit a jumper to cut Pine Bush’s lead to three points, and Cooney scored off a spin move to pull the Vikings to within a point.
“(Shaina) did a great job, especially in the fourth quarter,” Michella said. “She gets hit a lot.”
The Vikings tied the game early in the fourth quarter, and then took the lead for good on Cooney’s layup with 6:17 to go in the game. By the time 3 minutes remained in the game, the Vikings had built a 10-point lead.
“We ran out of gas,” Bouffard said. “Defensively, we weren’t as quick.”
Freshman Jahesa Stokes led Pine Bush with 14 points and Serina Gerendiz, one of Pine Bush’s five seniors, scored 10 points.
“The seniors I have are very dedicated,” Bouffard said. “It’s hard when you have that, and I depend on them. As much as (this season) was for the seniors, you still want to tell the underclassmen, ‘it’s your program next year’. You want to see what they have to offer for next year.”
The Vikings learned not to take anything for granted this season and were more appreciative of the season they did have, but Michella was proudest of his team’s GPA of 99.23 at a time when student struggles are in the spotlight due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s just incredible,” Michella said. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I was so proud and impressed with them. Everyone in my team is a grade A person.”