VOORHEESVILLE — Despite having just two subs coming off of the bench, the Voorheesville girls’ basketball players showed no clear signs of fatigue during its season-opening win against Cobleskill. The Birds used its strength of speed to get easy baskets on breakaways.

Simply, Voorheesville outran Cobleskill’s press as passes connected between Birds’ players who were hustling towards the hoop.

“Everybody is fast on our team,” said junior Stephany Keenan, who scored 16 points for Voorheesville in its 51-to-45 win last Friday. “We have to be in good shape.”

Junior Jordan Pettograsso led the Blackbirds with 18 points, including four three-pointers, and said that it’s challenging to have a roster of only seven players. “We’re up to it,” she added. “We run a fair amount in practice, but we haven’t ran more this year than we did last year.”

Head Coach Robert Baron has never fielded a large Voorheesville team — usually eight, nine, or 10 players — but “seven is a little scary,” he said. “If a few of them get into foul trouble like they did tonight,” he said, referencing the fact that a few girls made four fouls each, “I would like to have one more for an extra rotation.”

A few former players not returning and a few injuries led to the low roster numbers, Baron said. In the near future, Voorheesville might have an eighth player, he said.

“We’re making it work with seven,” Keenan said. “We just have to learn to run a lot.”

Keenan made a living under the basket as the Birds pushed the ball hard last Friday; 12 of her points came in the first half. On one inbound play, Keenan cut towards the basket, separating herself from the defense, and Rachael Bogdany sent a long pass over every other player’s head as Keenan put in a lay-up for an 18-to-13 lead.

After that, Pettograsso raced down the floor with Rachel Blow as Pettograsso rebounded Blow’s miss and scored with an accompanying foul. Then, Pettograsso sunk a baseline jumper and spotted up for a three-pointer that swished nothing but net as the half ended with Voorheesville ahead of Cobleskill by 11 points.

^{_{Eyes on the prize: Victoria Coluccio takes a free-throw shot for Voorheesville during its 51-to-45 win over Cobleskill last Friday. Jordan Pettograsso led the Birds with 18 points, including four makes from three-point range; Maya Nicholas had 20 points for the Bulldogs. The Enterprise — Jordan J. Michael}}

“They are well conditioned, and they’ll get even moreso as the season goes on,” Baron said of his players. “This group can run. We run every day with the basketball. I don’t like sprints, never cared for sprints. You can get all of the running you need while running offensive and defensive drills with the basketball.”

Voorheesville’s six juniors — Keenan, Pettograsso, Bogdany, Blow, Laura Patak, and Victoria Coluccio — have played basketball together since fifth grade; this is their second season together on varsity. Coluccio came off of the bench last Friday, but Baron says that he has six starters because Coluccio was in the starting line-up last season. Fallon Zell, a ninth-grader, made her varsity debut, and Baron said that she showed that she belongs.

“We all contribute our strengths and balance each other out with our weaknesses,” Pettograsso said. “We have nothing to lose because all of us will be here next year.”

The Blackbirds increased its lead to 14 in the third quarter off of another three from Pettograsso and another breaking lay-up by Keenan; she came to a surprising halt under the basket as the Cobleskill defender flew by her and crashed to the floor. But the Bulldogs were able to claw back into the game in the fourth quarter because it kept grabbing rebounds, which led to more scoring chances.

With about one minute left in regulation play, Cobleskill closed Voorheesville’s lead to two points, 47 to 45. But Blow made two made free throws, and a breakaway finished by Pettograsso off an assist from Blow sealed the victory for the Blackbirds.

“Rebounding is one of our weaknesses; we didn’t box out, and we’ll address that,” Baron said. “We can’t afford to play that good of a defense — force them into a bad shot — and then give them second and third shot opportunities.”

To Voorheesville’s advantage, Cobleskill missed many of its shots.

^{_{Tough defense: After boxing a Cobleskill player into the corner of the court, Laura Patak, right, and Stephany Keenan, of Voorheesville, cause a turnover as Patak reaches for the loose ball. The Blackbirds won last Friday’s game, 51 to 45, and Keenan had 16 points; 12 of those came in the first half. The Enterprise — Jordan J. Michael}}

“It’s the first game,” Keenan said. “We can only improve and grow from here.”

The Blackbirds ran fast, played quick, and shared the ball well. Not bad for a young team that doesn’t have much depth.

Baron told The Enterprise that Voorheesville is learning the skill of patience. “What’s the best shot and when do you need it most?” he pondered. “We should get better.”