WATERVLIET–On Saturday, days after pulling an upset over fourth seeded Cohoes, the Ichabod Crane Riders girls basketball team traveled to Watervliet to face the fifth seeded Titans from Taconic Hills. The Riders used a barrage of three pointers, 10 in all, to pull the 58-51 upset and secure their place in Section II Class B semifinals scheduled for Wednesday night. The Riders were scheduled to face off with top seeded Watervliet in Rensselaer, a team that beat them by 11 in January.
Both teams came out firing right from the get-go, as Sarah Quinn Dempsey hit an early three for the Riders and Alexis McComb hit one right back for the Titans. After an ICC free throw the Titans took the lead on a Alison Schermerhorn post up. But Jaycee Volkmann came off the bench for the Riders and she hit a three off an inbounds play. The Titans seized control as McComb scored on a drive and a three, forcing the Riders to up their defensive pressure on her. A Paige Niemeyer free throw and a Volkmann transition layup put ICC back up and with 10 seconds left in the quarter Dempsey hit another 3-pointer, but the Riders left too much time on the clock as McComb drove and scooped home a layup with a second left to pull the Titans to within one.
The Ichabod deep attack kept up at the start of the second quarter as Volkmann and Dempsey hit back to back threes. The Titans fought their way back into the game with a variety of players getting involved eventually pulling themselves to within two in the waning seconds. With 15 seconds left, Reychel Webster hit a 3 for ICC, then Danielle Ooms stole the ball near mid court and hit a half court heave at the buzzer, while also drawing a foul, to give ICC an 8-point lead heading to the half.
Coming out of the half the Titans showed they were not going down without a fight as they outscored ICC 8-3 in the early goings as Sydney Bosko scored four early points. The Riders responded on their next two possessions, running the same play twice to get Volkmann open for back to back three pointers. Again it was Bosko who got her team back into things scoring five points over the next two minutes. With ICC up by three the Titans forced a turnover and Schermerhorn drew a foul knocking down both free throws and after another turnover Danielle Barbato hit one of two free throws to tie it up. Catie Farrell put the Riders back on top with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left as the game headed to the fourth quarter.
The Riders looked to extend their lead on a fast break layup early in the quarter, but Schermerhorn sprinted the floor and notched her fourth block of the game on a come from behind block that kept the Titans down just two. On the ensuing possession however, freshman point guard Ashley Haywood buried a three pointer that shifted the momentum of the game. Niemeyer then picked up a bucket down low off a great drive and dish by Haywood and Mikela Freeman followed that up with a jumper for the Riders.
Down by eight the Titans again came roaring back as Schermerhorn hit two free throws, Tara Clapper followed with an offensive rebound and score and Bosko got a bucket with a minute left to pull the Titans to within three. Still in order to come from behind the Titans would need ICC to miss their free throws and that didn’t happen as Haywood and Farrell iced the game converting six of six free throws down the stretch.
Volkmann finished with a team high 15 points and Haywood added 11 and 4 assists. Dempsey scored nine on a trio of 3-pointers, while Farrell added 7. Niemeyer and Webster scored 5 apiece, Ooms added 4 and Freeman scored 2. The Titans ended their season at 16-4, finishing in second place in the Patroon Conference and are set two graduate 10 of their 11 players. McComb scored a game high 17 points and Bosko added 13 in the loss. Schermerhorn notched 8 points and 4 blocks while Clapper added 4 and Barbato and Michelle Link scored 2 apiece.