By Jordan J. Michael

TROY –– The Witches of Greenwich cast an early spell on Berne-Knox-Westerlo and the girls never recovered.

The Lady Bulldogs’ hope of a Class C title was quickly diminished by Greenwich in the final on Friday night at Hudson Valley Community College. The Witches jumped out to a 19-to-5 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.

Greenwich kept piling on the points and led by 27 at halftime. The final score was 65 to 27. BKW knew it would be a challenging game, but losing by 38 points seemed a little unreal.

“They were better than us, flat out,” said junior Marian Bates, who was named a Class C All-Star after the game. “They had everything we didn’t.”

BKW came into the game as an underdog, but the team had played that role before during the season. Senior Kristin Depeaux, the only senior on the team, said that BKW was comfortable as an underdog after beating Fonda earlier.

“We knew Greenwich was the favorite, but we’ve been in this situation before,” Depeaux said. “We didn’t expect the score to be that bad. It got out of hand. I think we were surprised by their quickness.”

The Bulldogs looked in good shape at the start of the game, leading 4 to 2. Samantha Harvey stuck with the ball to grab two offensive rebounds and passed it to Tuesday Bishop for a jumper, and Bates made a running jump shot.

After that, Greenwich’s athleticism took over and BKW’s composure turned into panic. The Bulldogs started turning the ball over and the Witches were hitting shots from all over the floor.

Greenwich put up 39 points in the first half and BKW had nothing but pride left to play for in the second half.

“We were completely shocked,” said Depeaux. “We thought, ‘Wow, we’re going to have to dig deep.’”

BKW ended the game with 36 turnovers and Greenwich had 20 steals. Bates and Liz Harvey, the Bulldogs’ two leading scorers, were held to five points apiece. The Witches’ Dani DeGregory dominated the game with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

“They were faster than us and they could make shots from anywhere,” said BKW Head Coach Tom Galvin. “They were like us on steroids. Hats off to them.”

Greenwich Head Coach Tim Brophy told The Enterprise that his team came into the game with intensity and readiness because it didn’t want to lose the Class C final for the second year in a row. The Witches were defeated by Maple Hill last time.

“Winning the title by this wide of a margin shows us that we’re a very good team,” said Brophy. “We can control how well we play and we certainly did that tonight.”

Future looks bright

There is reason to believe that the Bulldogs can make another run for the Class C finals next year. Depeaux is the only player graduating.

“We can learn from all the mistakes we made tonight,” said Bates.

Bates, Liz Harvey, Samantha Harvey, and Tuesday Bishop will all return to the starting line-up next season. Rising freshman Mary Salo, who grabbed 13 rebounds on Friday and led the team with 10 points, will be back, along with T.T. Conklin, Jean Farnam, Christina North, Victoria McCormick, Emily Mahoney, and Nena Ruiz.

Galvin said that his team will use this game as motivation to work hard during the off-season. “True character comes out in tough times,” he said. “We need to get back to this point and show that we belong here.”

Depeaux’s senior leadership has left the Bulldogs in a good position to grow. She believes the team can only get better after Friday’s experience.

“These girls have so much talent,” Depeaux said. “You always need to work hard because you never know when it’ll be your last game.”