BERNE — The players on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo girls’ basketball team look like they have found their confidence. And at the right time.

The Lady Bulldogs bounced back from a loss to Schenectady Christian on Friday with a 64-39 win over Canajoharie on Monday night. The game was re-scheduled to Monday from two weeks ago.
"We played well," said BKW Coach Tom Galvin. "We had an emotional loss to Schenectady Christian. We responded against Canajoharie. They are a very good team. I was surprised we were up 39-11 at halftime."

The Bulldogs lost to Schenectady Christian by four points, 54-50, after trailing by a large margin at halftime.

But that didn’t happen on Monday. BKW got out to a fast start and never looked back. The Bulldogs led by 10 points, 15-5, at the end of the first quarter and led, 39-11, at halftime by using a pressure defense and good outside shooting against Canajoharie’s zone defense.

Senior C.J. Vincent and sophomore Andrea Van Dyke hit from the outside while Anna Kusler and Brittany Krimsky were solid in the inside despite being in early foul trouble. Lauren Ford also overcame foul trouble to have a good game for the Lady Bulldogs.
"C.J. and Andrea got out of their shooting slumps," Galvin said. "They played a zone defense and the best offense against that is to hit shots. We had nine three’s, and, any time you hit nine three’s, it makes my job pretty easy."

Galvin and Vincent spent Sunday night working on her shooting after practice.
"We shot, shot, and shot," Galvin said. "It was about 10 p.m. when we rolled out of there. And she hit five today."

Vincent finished the game with 17 points and eight assists to lead the Bulldogs who were ahead, 47-27, at the end of the third quarter.

Ford added 13 points and made seven steals for the Bulldogs. Van Dyke scored 10 points and Krimsky and Kusler each chipped in with eight points.

Galvin was able to get every player in the game. Alysha Van Dyke scored four points; Kristin Spinnato and Allyson Bates each had two.
"We are playing well," Galvin said. "We moved the ball well and played tough defense."

"Wheels come off"

Against Schenectady Christian on Friday, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves down 32-13 at halftime.
"We played as hard as we could; we just weren’t getting the right opportunities," Galvin said. "And then the wheels started coming off."

At halftime, Galvin gave his team a talk, but had conceded the win.
"I gave them the respect speech," the coach said. "I said the game will be in the papers and people are going to say that Berne-Knox-Westerlo got their butts kicked. We just started to chip away and we got it down to four with three minutes left. We just couldn’t get over the hump. We had foul trouble""

Van Dyke and Vincent fouled out late in the game, and that hurt the Bulldogs’ offense. But Galvin was pleased with the effort.
"It told a lot about the character of this group. We could’ve laid down, but we fought back and almost had an amazing win."

The Bulldogs are now 2-1 in the Western Athletic Conference and have an overall record of 2-3.
"We are winning the games we should," Galvin said. "But at Christmas we’re participating in a tough tourney. But that will make us even better."

The Bulldogs will be in the Greenwich Tournament on Friday and Saturday. BKW will take on Hudson Falls on Friday and then play either Salem or Greenwich on Saturday.

Galvin said that the tough competition against those larger schools will make his team better as it heads into the heart of its league schedule, starting after the holidays.

The Lady Bulldogs will face Schoharie on Jan. 3.

The Bulldogs, Galvin feels, might have found themselves as they head into the break.
"At this time of year, I’ll take this," Galvin said after Monday’s game. "This team is starting to realize how good they could be. This is one of the most talented bunch of players I’ve had. And they are starting to play like that."