BERNE — The players on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo girls’ basketball team gave it their all in last Wednesday’s Class CC sectional semifinal game.

But they fell just short of pulling off another upset.

A few days after they upset third-seeded Greenwich, the Lady Bulldogs almost did the same to number-two Mechanicville. However, the Red Raiders made a couple of shot down the stretch and held on for a 48-43 win.
"It was a close game," said BKW Coach Tom Galvin. "We played as well as we have this season. They did everything you could ask of them. We were down three with 25 seconds to go and we had a chance to tie it. But we turned it over. They had a steal and got a lay-up at the buzzer. That made it the five-point spread."

Scrappy dogs

The Bulldogs clawed back from a deficit to make it interesting at the end.
"We were down at the end of the fourth quarter," Galvin said. "We battled back and we tied it with five minutes left. I thought we had all the momentum and we had a chance to take over. But to their credit, they made some big shots and we ended up going home, I think before we wanted to."

Everybody played a great game, Galvin said, and the players left everything on the court at Burnt Hills High School.
"We had a desire to get back to Hudson Valley," the coach said. "It was in their eyes. They hustled and scrapped."

Sophomore guard Andrea Van Dyke led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points.
"I think she scored 55 points in the three tournament games," Galvin said.

Senior Brittany Krimsky also scored 12 points and classmate C.J. Vincent finished the contest with nine points. Lauren Ford scored seven points and Anna Kusler scored three points and pulled down an impressive 21 rebounds.
"As has been our fashion all year, the five starters spread out the scoring," Galvin said. "We did a great job defensively. It was a total team effort. We just couldn’t get over the hump at the right time."

Kelly Murphy led Mechanicville with 22 points. Though the Red Raiders’ leading scorer had a good game, BKW did the job of holding down the Raiders’ other big scorers — Lindsay McKeever and Shannon McBride.
"Defensively, we held them to 40 points," Galvin said. "Our offense struggled at times. We had a good game plan, but we were a little nervous. We watched them a couple of times on tape. They looked more intimidating than in real life. Plus, they play in the Colonial Council and have a tough schedule. My kids proved they can play with any Section II team their size."

Looking ahead

The good news for the Bulldogs is that they will have eight returning players for next winter. The bad news is that they lose two key players and leaders in Vincent and Krimsky.
"That’s great to have that many kids coming back from a team that had a 15-8 season," Galvin said. "But we have two holes to fill. Brittany and C.J. were great. This was supposed to be the next great senior class. But seven or eight players trickled out. I thank C.J. and Krim for sticking it out.
"The returners we have are good," Galvin continued, "but we’ll miss those two next season. They had a chance to win the CCs. We lost so many kids that were supposed to bring us back to the promised land, but with Krim’ s and C.J.’s leadership, we never missed those kids that didn’t come out over the years."

Krimsky hasn’t decided where she will go to college and Galvin isn’t sure if basketball will be in her future. Vincent will play basketball and has narrowed her choices to a couple of schools.
"She is looking at Keene State in New Hampshire and Oneonta," Galvin said. "She is looking to continue to the next level. For Brittany, it depends on where she goes."

Though Galvin will miss his two seniors, the future looks bright for the Bulldogs.
"We have great energy coming out of the program," he said. "We want to re-capture it a little bit. We went to the semifinals two years ago and last year we were in the quarters. We have great fan support and they were there for us again.
"The returning players realized how much fun basketball can be," Galvin added. "There’s fun in the Hilltowns again. We’ll take some time off and then come out ready to work. We’ll play AAU, and team camps, and summer league. And, before you know it, it’ll be open gym again, and we’ll be ready to roll."

Galvin will also have a good group of players coming up from the junior varsity. The young Bulldogs won the Southern Division of the Western Athletic Conference.

This year’s varsity Bulldogs tied for second in the division and did more than what was expected.
"It was a successful season," Galvin said. "We took a team that was not supposed to do much and not supposed to win eight games and won 15. And we’re looking to go even further next year."