BERNE — The regular basketball season is over, and the Berne-Knox-Westerlo girls are ready for the playoffs to begin.

After finishing with a 9-3 record and in third place in the South Division of the Western Athletic Conference, the Lady Bulldogs are ready to show they can compete in the Class CC Section II tournament.
"We have a nice record and we’re playing well at the right time of year," said BKW Coach Tom Galvin. "We’re doing some things and we are playing well together. Everything is coming down the right way at the right time for us."

The Lady Bulldogs wrapped up the season with two games against teams in the North Division of the WAC.

BKW played Mayfield on Monday — winning 61-39 — after beating Saratoga Spa Catholic on Saturday.

Next up for the Lady Bulldogs is the sectional playoffs and seeding were announced on Wednesday. They will play on next Wednesday (Feb. 21) at home against Corinth. The Bulldogs are the number-six seed.

"Never looked back"

BKW beat Spa Catholic, 60-25, on Saturday.
"We played pretty well early," Galvin said. "We took the early lead and never looked back. They are down a little bit."

The Bulldogs had four players reach double digits in scoring in Saturday’s game.

Andrea Van Dyke led the way with 13 points. C.J. Vincent scored 12, and Anna Kusler and Brittany Krimisky each added 11 points.

BKW was relegated to the cross-over games, and not the WAC final four even though the Bulldogs finished with the same division record as Schenectady Christian. Christian moved on because they beat Fonda-Fultonville and BKW lost to the Braves.
"The tie-breaker was the common cross-over opponent," Galvin said.

The Bulldogs finished in a tie for second place the South Division after splitting two games with Schenectady Christian. But the Bulldogs lost two games to division champion Schoharie.
"We played pretty well against Schoharie," Galvin said. "We were down by six with three minutes to go but we couldn’t hit any shots. We needed to beat them to get a shot at the league championship."

A hornet’s nest

Next up will be the competitive Class CC playoffs.
"The CC’s are a hornet’s nest," Galvin said. "There are a ton of good teams. There’s Mechanicville, Hoosic Valley, Maple Hill, and Lake George; all of them have had success. I think we can be a six, seven, or eight, and get a home game."

BKW hopes to continue the success it has had in recent years and improve upon the upset it almost pulled at Hoosic Valley last year.
"Hopefully, the girls see what they can do when they play the game," Galvin said. "We can play with anybody in the CC’s. We played with Hoosic Valley last year. We’re ready to roll and get a couple of wins and surprise some people. We’re jelling when we need to."

The Bulldogs finished 12-7 overall but those losses are to good teams.
"We have quality losses," Galvin said. "We lost two to Schoharie, which should be number-one in the C’s. We lost one to Christian, which will be one of the top C’s. We also lost to Troy, Ichabod Crane, and to Greenwich, which will be a three or four in the CC’s. Those are tough teams. If I scheduled some easy games, we could be 17-3. Those losses will prepare us and I think play up our seeding a little bit."

The Bulldogs are excited to get the playoffs underway.
"They’re playing together," Galvin said of his players. "We still don’t execute at times, but some teams are still going through the meshing process. We’ve been successful in the sectionals. And this team can be great. This year, we’ve proved that we can hang with the big girls."