FALLSBURG – The Fallsburg Lady Comets hosted the Sullivan West Lady Bulldogs for a girls basketball matchup. It was an excellent contest with Sullivan West pulling down the 50-15 win. Coach Pat Donovan of Sullivan West told the Democrat after the win, “We played well, we were able to get out and transition on offense and defense. We attacked the basket and that’s something that we’ve been working on so it was good to see it.” 

The first quarter opened with Ella Herbert of Sullivan West scoring off a wide open drive from the foul line to score the first bucket. The Lady Bulldogs’ defense was forcing multiple early turnovers and not giving Fallsburg a chance at the basket. Sullivan West’s offense put up an early six points, but they had many more missed attempts. 

Fallsburg’s first points came off a foul shot to make the score 6-1 with four minutes left. Fallsburg struggled to get past the half court mark with Sullivan West’s lockdown defense. The Lady Bulldogs were able to widen their early lead to 14-5 to finish out the first quarter. 

The second quarter showed much of the same with Sullivan West scoring an immediate basket followed by intercepting a pass on defense. The Lady Bulldogs continued to force turnovers, giving them significantly more scoring opportunities. 

A deep three from Sullivan West’s Sammy Hellerer took the Lady Bulldogs to 19-5 over the Lady Comets with five minutes on the clock in the second quarter. Fallsburg was able to get more scoring opportunities this quarter, but the buckets wouldn’t fall for the Comets. Sullivan West was able to hold the Lady Comets to just three points in the quarter.

Coming out of the half Fallsburg was determined to not give up. They scored off a quick layup to start the quarter, but this was answered with two baskets from Sullivan West. Fallsburg was able to more than double their score from the first half, but Sullivan West’s lead was just too much to overcome. The Lady Bulldogs led the Lady Comets 40-15 going into the final quarter. 

With only 8 minutes left in the game it seemed daunting for Fallsburg to catch up to Sullivan West’s 25 point lead. Both squads kept up their hustle and intensity. Sullivan West came out of the gate hot with a 10-point run with three minutes left in the game. Neither team was able to score in the final minutes. Sullivan West would win this one on the road 50-15.

Coach Ballard of Fallsburg commented after the loss, “Turnovers killed us, we couldn’t keep the ball under control. We weren’t running the correct plays tonight. Hats off to Sullivan West. They’ve got great down-low players. We are still rebuilding and just taking it one day at a time.