Wallkill girls roll over Saugerties

By Mike Zummo
Posted 12/21/21

The Wallkill girls’ basketball team is a talented squad.

When the Panthers are working in tandem, things are good. Really good. When they’re not, it’s a little bit more of a …

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Wallkill girls roll over Saugerties

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The Wallkill girls’ basketball team is a talented squad.

When the Panthers are working in tandem, things are good. Really good. When they’re not, it’s a little bit more of a challenge.

Things were good early on as the Panthers rode a big first quarter to a 66-38 win over the Saugerties Sawyers on Thursday night at Wallkill Senior High School.

The Panthers took charge in the first quarter, outscoring the Sawyers 21-6.

“When we get out and get to be aggressive and play that way, it goes well,” Wallkill coach A.J. Higby said.

“We tried to work on some stuff in the second half and it was as impressive as we would like, but it shouldn’t stop our offense. So, I think we’ve got to figure out some other things.”

The Panthers may have scored 66 points, but only one player, senior Emma Schwarzbeck hit double figures, as she scored 15 points. Wallkill had two players – Zoe Mesuch and Adeline Spignardo – and Alex Dembinski had seven points.

“They can all play, so it really doesn’t matter who I put up,” Higby said. “They could all play for sure, but there’s a couple of players at different levels, but so be it. They can all play the game. They can all shoot. They all can do what they’ve got to do.”

Although the Panthers participated in February’s abbreviated COVID-19 season, they really didn’t draw a benefit from it. The biggest benefit was giving last year’s squad’s one senior, Kylie Detz her final five games.
But beyond that, the Panthers’ development was interrupted by the shortened season last year. They also had limited time to play together in the fall because the players were doing other things.

It showed in the Panthers’ slow start against Warwick, a game they lost, 47-33 to start the season, but they followed that with convincing wins over Goshen and FDR and in their last three games have scored at least 66 points, while holding their opponents to an average of 32 points in those three games.

“The kids are passing the ball and looking for each other and when they play as a team, they’re pretty much unstoppable,” Higby said. “But if they don’t play as a team, and they start being selective on where they put the ball, that will become an issue.”

The Panthers are a mix of three seniors, with Schwarzbeck leading them, and youth. The Panthers’ youngest players – freshman Zoe Mesuch – is one of the most promising. She’s one of three Mesuch sisters on the team, along with Alexis, a senior captain, and Grace, a junior.

Zoe Mesuch scored 24 points in the Panthers win over Roosevelt.

“There’s no doubt about it; she can play,” Higby said. “People don’t pay attention to her, and she missed a wide open 3, I was like, ‘what’s up with that’. That doesn’t happen often.”

The Panthers will face more early tests as 2021 ends. They finished the week on Saturday, opening their holiday tournament against Cornwall, and then were scheduled to finish their first run through the Mid Hudson Athletic League Division I with a road game at New Paltz on Tuesday.

Over the holiday recess, they will play two games against Duanesburg and Troy upstate in Amsterdam before coming home on Dec. 30 to finish their holiday tournament.

“We definitely need to go ahead and play at a different level,” Higby said. “But we’re going to see some pretty good competition up there.”