LIBERTY –– The Liberty Lady Red Hawks hosted the Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats for a girls’ basketball game last Wednesday. It was a non-league matchup between the two Sullivan …
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LIBERTY –– The Liberty Lady Red Hawks hosted the Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats for a girls’ basketball game last Wednesday. It was a non-league matchup between the two Sullivan County teams and both teams came ready to play. Through superb defense and excellent down low play, Liberty was able to take the 29-27 home win over Manor. Coach Levar Hamilton of Liberty had this to say after the win, “It was a very competitive game, both teams went at it for sure. But we were able to pull out the win. I’m excited to see our team develop even further throughout the season. I see great things ahead of them.”
The first quarter opened with a back and forth with both defenses forcing multiple turnovers. With both teams running full-court presses, neither offense seemed to be able to get a real push going. However, the Red Hawks seemed slightly more dominant on both sides of the court.
Liberty was able to score first off a foul shot by Arianna Wilson followed quickly by a layup from Julissa Velez to make the score 3-0 over Manor. Liberty was able to hold the Wildcats to a scoreless quarter and ended the first quarter 3-0 over Manor.
The second quarter began with a slight defensive back and forth before Manor’s Olivia Stickle broke the ice with a deep three to tie the game 3-3. Liberty’s Arianna Wilson answered back by sinking two foul shots and then getting a three-point and-one layup right after.
Kelsey Ryder of Manor immediately fired back by sinking another deep three to make the score 8-6 with Liberty up by two points. In the final two minutes Liberty’s Adriana Ponce went on a six-point run followed by Julissa Velez sinking back-to-back breakaway drives that put their team up 18-6 going into halftime.
After the half, Liberty forced multiple turnovers through their full-court press and was able to convert two of them into easy baskets. Manor was able to go on a nine-point run shortly after that to try to close in on Liberty’s now seven-point lead and end the quarter 22-15 behind Liberty.
The beginning of the fourth quarter started slow with neither team scoring until the five minute mark. Manor was the first to get a basket off an excellent inbound play by Olivia Stickle. This was followed by a layup off a rebound to bring the score to 22-19 with Manor down by just three points.
A minute later Manor scored again to make it a one-point game with four minutes left on the clock. Liberty’s Julissa Velez didn’t want to make it that easy and quickly responded by sinking a floater to bring Liberty back up 24-21.
With two minutes left Manor’s Kelsey Ryder sank a three-pointer to tie the game 24-24. Only 50 seconds left on the clock and Liberty was able to score a smooth inside the paint layup to put them up 26-24 but it was still anyone’s game. With sharp foul shooting Kelsey Ryder of Manor brought the score to 26-25.
Liberty was able to score a foul shot of their own to bring the score to 27-25. Manor responded and tied the game with 4 seconds left. Liberty’s Giselle Payton finished the game by hitting a buzzer beating layup to win the game 29-27 over Livingston Manor.
Manor Coach Joe Clarke had this to say after the loss, “We characteristically started off pretty slow and to start competing. But I’m very proud of how hard they fought to be able to bring that back at the end. I’m hoping we continue to improve throughout this season.”
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