VOORHEESVILLE — Again, the girls’ basketball team at Voorheesville pushed another top Colonial Council team to the limit, but just could not find a way to pull off an upset victory.

The Lady Blackbirds scrapped and fought with Mechanicville, the third-place team in the Colonial Council, but came up on the short end of a 48-44 decision on Friday.
"Statistically, we played such a better game than last time," said Voorheesville Coach John McClement. "We cut our turnovers in half. Our free-throw shooting could’ve been a little better. We were 25 of 35 from the line and we missed some looks in the second half that put us over the top. We’ll work at it. We’re progressing and getting better each game. It’s exciting and great to see."

The Blackbirds never led but breathed down the neck of the Red Raiders for the entire game.

Mechanicville led, 13-9, at the end of the first quarter and 24-19 at halftime.

The Red Raiders opened up the lead a little bit in the third quarter, holding a nine-point lead, 39-30, going into the final frame.

But the Blackbirds clawed right back.

Jenna Massaroni scored four straight points for Voorheesville that cut the lead down to five. She scored on a drive to the basket and than knocked down a jump shot to make the score 39-34.

Mechanicville got a foul shot by Lindsey McKeever, but foul shots by Casey Becerra and Courtney Bourque kept the Birds within striking distance.

The teams traded foul shots — Kelly Murphy for the Red Raiders and Becerra for the Blackbirds — before Becky Gronczniak scored on a drive to the basket for Mechanicville, to make the score 44-37.

Alyssa Schultz answered for Voorheesville, hitting two foul shots to cut the lead down to five. Brittany Vogel made a foul shot of her own for the Lady Blackbirds and Bourque made two big foul shots to cut the lead to two points, 44-42, with 2:04 left in the game.

Mechanicville’s Sam Bagnoli hit a jump shot to make the lead four points and Voorheesville couldn’t catch up.

Murphy made a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left to clinch the win for the Red Raiders, despite two free throws by Becerra with five seconds left in the contest.

"Getting close"
"We are not playing the way we envision us playing, but we are getting close to that," McClement said. "We struggled with zone [defense] teams. This was the first time we took them out of it. They couldn’t press us; they pulled the press early. And we were able to press the whole game. Defensively, we did a great job. Everybody did well with their match-up."

Murphy had a big game for Mechanicville with 23 points. McKeever added eight for the Red Raiders.
"The kids played well," McClement said. "Eight kids scored. We need some people to step up and get bigger numbers."

Bourque led the Blackbirds with 11 points. Becerra added 10, and Schultz chipped in with eight points. Massaroni, Kara Zimmerman, Katie Bollentin, Vogel, and Kate Prendergast also scored for the Birds.
"We achieved some goals," McClement said of the contest. "We made some shots against them and we battled. On offensive rebounds, we didn’t give up half as many as we did the first time we played them. Statistically, we played a much better game."

Though McClement was happy with the progress, he is not totally satisfied.
"We don’t feel good about the loss," he said. "Now, I feel better, because we came in saying that we wanted to play better. It gives us a chance to win games against teams that are better. We are building up each game and get progress and get better when we finish up with Watervliet."

The Blackbirds have been improving and been competitive with teams, but have not been able to get over the hump.
"We’ve had four games that were one-possession games," McClement said. "In the last two or three minutes we weren’t able to pull it out."

The Blackbirds have just three more games to go in the regular season. The Birds travel to Schalmont on Friday and then wrap up the regular season at home against Cohoes on Tuesday and Watervliet on Feb. 9.

Then it is on to the sectionals, where the Lady Blackbirds have had great success. Voorheesville won eight consecutive sectional titles and nine in 10 years in the late 1990’s until 2004. Voorheesville also won two state titles — 1998 and 2002 — during that run of success.
"We know that the end of the regular season is approaching," McClement said. "Then we know that it starts all over. Depending on your seeding, you just have to win three or four games to win the title. And who knows that better than us" We’ve seen it. The kids still remember. They came to all the games. Hopefully, that is something else that helps us out."