VOORHEESVILLE — With the crowd roaring and excitement filling the gymnasium at Voorheesville, the Lady Blackbirds clawed their way back into Tuesday’s game against Schalmont. But it took just two plays for the gym to go quiet and the momentum to end.

The Lady Blackbirds were trailing by two points when back-to-back turnovers led to easy lay-ups and a win for Schalmont. The final score was 48-38.
"We had two turnovers when we cut it to a two-point lead," said Voorheesville Coach John McClement. "That killed us. I went with a smaller line-up. A quicker line-up got us there but those turnovers gave them easy opportunities to score."

The Birds had trailed, 38-29, at the end of the third quarter when they started to go on a run.

Courtney Bourque scored on an inside basket with 6:18 to go in the contest to cut the lead to seven points.

She scored again inside with five minutes left to cut the lead to five and get the crowd back into the game.

Senior Jenna Massaroni made a strong move to the basket, getting the bucket despite being fouled. She converted the free throw chance and the score was 38-36 with just over four minutes left in the contest.

Schalmont committed a turnover on its next possession and Sabres coach, Joe Lochner, called a time-out. His team responded with the biggest plays of the game.

Voorheesville had the ball at the top of the key when a pass was stolen by Kelly Woodrow, who coasted to the hoop for an easy lay-up.

Woodrow made a steal in the exact same spot on the next Voorheesville possession and again had an easy lay-up to give the Sabres a six-point lead with 3:19 left in the game.

The Blackbirds couldn’t get another basket until 15 seconds were left in the game and they were forced to foul.
"We spot them an 11-point lead," McClement said. "We beat them in the third quarter by two, then we came back. We had our chances. You could feel the momentum all of a sudden change. But it was an outstanding effort. We did all the right things up to three minutes to go. I guess that made up for all our mistakes."
"Some breakdowns"

The Blackbirds played well in the first quarter against the Sabres, trailing by just one basket, 12-10, after the opening stanza.

Schalmont dominated in the second quarter, outscoring the Blackbirds, 17-7, and taking a 28-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Voorheesville then out-scored Schalmont, 12-10, in the third quarter to cut the lead under double digits.

But it wasn’t enough.
"We didn’t finish what we needed to do," McClement said. "We had some breakdowns against their zone defense."

Woodrow led all scorers with 19 points. Brittany McDonald added 16 points for Schalmont and Joelle Litz scored 11. Only one other Sabre scored in the game. Carolyn Barber scored two points.

Voorheesville got balanced scoring as seven Lady Blackbirds got points in the game. But none reached double digits.

Massaroni and Casey Becerra each scored seven points. Prendergast scored six points as did Katie Bollentin. Bourque and Brittany Vogel each had five points for Voorheesville. Kelly Larsen had two points for the Birds.
"I’m working a lot with the kids," McClement said. "I want to keep them fresh. I’m trying to keep them fresh because we’re trying to really get after it. Conditioning has not let us down. We’re making game mistakes. Turnovers are costing us. We need to cut down on our turnovers. We cut down on them in this game; it was just the timing of the last two.
"We’re going to make mistakes," McClement added. "We played hard to get back into the game. At that point, we needed to take care of the ball."

"Getting better"

The Blackbirds are a young team that is gaining experience in each game. The Birds are trying to bounce back from a two-win season last winter.

Voorheesville is 2-5 this season and 2-3 in the Colonial Council. The Blackbirds beat Ravena and Lansingburgh in league games this season.
"Absolutely, we’re getting better," McClement said. "I feel like any night, we’re capable of playing our best. We haven’t put it together and have a complete game.
"We’ve had our moments," McClement said. "We are capable of doing a great job. The kids are looking for their identity as a team."

The Birds will continue looking for that identity on Friday at Cohoes. The Birds will then have a break for the holidays before returning to Colonial Council action against Watervliet on Jan. 5.
"We were doing the things we need to do to be successful," McClement said. "We’re just not doing enough of them."