FALLSBURG – The Burke Eagles narrowly defeated the Fallsburg Comets on Wednesday night. As the game got off to a slow start. The Burke Eagles were first to find the basket going on an 8-0 run to open the quarter. The Eagles showed promise early in the game in sharpshooter Moonandre Hippolyte who drained a 3-pointer that electrified the bench. Her teammate Kathleen Conlon repeated with a 3-pointer of her own.

By the end of the first quarter Burke held only a slim 10-4 lead over the hometown Comets as both teams struggled to score with consistency. Burke led by as much as eight points during the second quarter. But as both teams continued to battle foul trouble, combining for close to twenty calls in the first half, the Comets also faced some trouble at the foul line, shooting just over 30 percent from the stripe. In the final half the Eagles and the Comets played with a renewed intensity. Fallsburg’s Alajah Chambers drained a clutch 3-pointer to bring the score to 19-24 Burke advantage. 

After a foul down low that sent Marilyn Santos to the line, she would sink one of two to make it a four-point game. In the final minute of the game an unfortunate foul against the Comets sent Hippolyte back to the line. Hippolyte shot 66 percent from the line making the difference down the stretch. The Eagles closed out the game with a 27-20 win on the road over the Comets. Chambers led Fallsburg with 6 points and Marilyn Santos and Joslyn Smith contributed 5 a piece. Burke’s Moonandre Hippolyte led all scoring with 11 and Kate Cuebas scored 7 points for the winning team.

After the game Coach Ballard of Fallsburg said, “We competed tonight. We play Liberty tomorrow and I hope we keep up the same intensity.” 

Look for the full write-up of the Fallsburg vs Liberty rivalry in Friday’s sports section.