VOORHEESVILLE — A rough and unexpected season for the Voorheesville girls’ basketball team came to an end last week.

The traditional small-school powerhouse finished the season with just two wins after leaving in the first round of the Class B Section II playoffs. Voorheesville lost to Hudson, 62-48, last Tuesday.

In the past decade, the Blackbirds have always made it at least to the sectional finals.
"In the Hudson game, we spotted them an 11-0 early lead," Voorheesville Coach John McClement said on Friday. "We were even the rest of the game. We were able to cut it to four but we didn’t get any closer. In the last few minutes of the game, they were able to get some easy transition baskets.
"The slow start killed us. We thought we had a good draw. We would play at Hudson, and Cohoes we would’ve played at Cohoes tonight and then at Schuylerville," he said on Friday. "Last time we played Cohoes, it was a one-point game. I thought we had a good draw and had a shot at the semifinals."

A strong run in the sectionals would have overshadowed a difficult season on the court for the Lady Blackbirds; it seemed to get worse after a tough loss to Holy Names at the midway point.
"I think the real turning point for us was the second Holy Names game," McClement said. "It was a one-point game, but we got beat because of an official’s call. That call killed us. It was tough and hard to recover and to overcome from that loss. If we win that game, it’s a different second half. It was a big blow."

Holy Names won the game on a last-second foul shot.

The Blackbirds also had to deal with injuries and illness during the season. They lost leading scorer Brigit Feeney.
"We lost Brigit in our next game due to injury," McClement said. "It was a lot to overcome. But I give the kids credit; they never got negative. It could’ve easily gone the other way. The kids stayed positive and continued to work."

The bad luck was something the Voorheesville team hasn’t seen in a number of years.
"We saw a lot of adversity in one season," McClement said. "In 12 years, we’ve been fortunate not to have seen a lot of adversity."

Call to varsity

McClement did get the opportunity to bring up some junior-varsity players, though maybe a little earlier than he would have liked. The younger players got a lot of experience.

Ninth-grader Casey Becerra, and sophomores Courtney Bourque and Erika Schultz got the call to the varsity.
"When we lost Brigit in the Lansingburgh game, we were down to seven healthy players," McClement said. "We had some girls that had some illness and weren’t at 100 percent.
"The j.v. had a wonderful year. They had the best record in the Colonial Council. We brought some kids up and they had a tremendous opportunity. They took tremendous advantage of it.
"The future is bright. The kids saw both ends of the spectrum. They were successful on the floor and, when they moved up to the varsity, they certainly stayed positive.
"They came in and fit right in with the kids that were already there. The same with the kids we brought up for sectionals. The last week, we had a great week of practice."

The team will lose three seniors in Feeney, Amanda Markert, and Laura Haskell. Feeney and Markert were on the team as sophomores.
"Amanda played up that whole season," McClement said. "And Brigit was up for the playoffs when we lost in the regional final to South Jefferson. That connection remains. They understand it and know what it was that got us there. All the positives that happen for them, this is not the way they wanted to finish their senior years."

McClement said the seniors did not get down and became leaders to the younger players.
"When we brought the younger kids up, they made them feel comfortable," McClement said. "They accepted them. They were very positive having to deal with adversity."

Though the season has ended for the three seniors, the next season has already begun for the younger players.
"Next year has already started," McClement said. "Most will be playing in the spring and AAU [ Amateur Athletic Union] and stuff like that. We’ll have big numbers up from the j.v."

Despite the down year, McClement said that things won’t change for his team as it prepares for next year’s campaign just as it didn’t change this year.
"They certainly came in with high expectations," McClement said. "This is Voorheesville; we didn’t drop expectations because we weren’t successful. We are looking forward to the kids that came up after the ’Burgh game and ended up with eight varsity games to teach them the pace. It’s quicker and more physical.
"More or less, they got a jump on it," McClement added. "We had enough talent to be successful. We had some tough breaks, but you make your luck. We worked hard; it just didn’t always work out."