Somers Loses 35-32 at Horace Greeley

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On Thursday December 5, Somers traveled to Greeley and opened the basketball season. Shutout through the first six and a half minutes, the slow start did not look good. But by the end, there was plenty of excitement, and the girls treated the fans that made the trip to a very good game.

Unfortunately, the Tuskers could not hold onto a late 32-31 lead and fell 35-32.

The early power surge was not just contained to Somers, though. After Carolina Negrin followed her miss and was fouled, her free throw was the last point scored until Ashley Kuchinsky sent the gym a wake up call.

First, she fought for an offensive rebound, and when the ball eventually came back around, Kuchinsky dropped a three. So nice, she did it twice. Open in the corner, the sophomore let fly and the trajectory was true.

A 6-2 score, the Quakers were now awakened. Alexandra Mosca got inside for a layup at the buzzer, and the second quarter began the back and forth.

Negrin scored off the glass on an inbound under the basket and then hit a short jumper to give Greeley a 8-6 lead. Somers turn, Olivia Allegretti passed inside to Kacey McCullough, and she dropped it from ten feet.

All tied, Greeley would get some separation. First, Hera Isaka pulled down the defensive board and went coast to coast. Fouled, she got one from the line, and moments later, Georgia Sack doubled the output from the charity stripe.

!1-8, Kuchinsky put a brief stop on the mini run. She weaved her way through the paint, and went off the glass for two.

But there was no motion sickness the other way. Brooke Ackerman hit a triple, and Mosca’s steal at midcourt put the guard on the line.

One out of two, the five point lead at 1:23 looked like Greeley would go into the locker room with momentum.Not quite, Somers had other ideas and scored five straight. Elana Contrearas got to the line for one, McCullough hit a jumper, and Sophia Valenzuela hit an underhand layup to close the half in a tie.

Intermission didn’t interrupt the Tusker flow either. Kuchinsky connected from downtown to open, and Contrearas added one more from the line on a baseline floater.

Still, the four point lead didn’t scramble Greeley’s flight plan. On consecutive possessions, Ackerman and Negrin lined up for threes and were all nylon.

The 21-19 lead now left it to Somers to not give, and Contrearas provided the take. She hit a runner on the baseline, and stood pat on a three from the corner.

Sydney Ingraham would add one from the line to extend to a four point lead, but Greeley wasn’t going away. Isaka answered with a three, and after Valenzuela matched her above the arc, Claire Reynolds scored a layup and a jumper to knot the game at 28.

After the teams traded layups, Greeley took the lead when Isaka hit one from the line at 2:21, and a minute later, the Quakers refused to let misses give the ball back to their guests. Three shots up and three offensive rebounds frustrated Somers, but a travel by Isaka primed Contrearas to put her dribble skills to work

The point guard drew the defense and kicked to Allegretti. Open for the shot, the senior came through and gave Somers a 32-31 lead with just over a minute to go.

Unfortunately, Horace Greeley matched the Tusker clutch. Mosca dribbled left to the baseline and put up a fadeaway jumper that gave the Quakers the lead.

The Tuskers then left it to Contrearas to return the favor. She dribble through the paint and eluded the first line of defense. But there was still traffic ahead, and she was unable to convert the layup

So forced to foul, Somers was hoping for misses. One each from Sack and Mosca, the Tuskers were unable to take advantage and had to settle for a three point defeat.