Lady Reds end season top-ranked, 25-3
By JOHN ADDYMAN
john.addyman@yahoo.com

GLENS FALLS - The hoops season that made history for the Newark Lady Reds Basketball Team ended last weekend at the Federation Championship semifinals.

Playing a solid first half against Long Island’s Kellenberg Memorial and building up a 10-point lead, the Lady Reds lost their focus and intensity in the second half, dropping the game, 49-43.

“We just didn’t have the intensity,” said Coach Diane Kirnie. “The state championship was our goal; we were just not really in synch.”

The Reds found themselves on the wrong end of a 22-point swing from halftime into the third period, when they were left behind by 12 points. Scrapping back and trying to make ground against a team that suddenly was making few mistakes, Newark cut the lead to two points, 42-40, with 2:28 left in the game, but couldn’t get any closer.

But the team - and their fans - did not walk away from the season with regrets.

“We had a great season,” said Kirnie. “The state title was our ultimate goal and that’s what we achieved. We were on such a high coming off the state championships- and it was such an emotional game, with the pressure put on us and the pressure we put on ourselves and the pressure to win.”

In the Federation Championship, the state public high school champion takes on the state Catholic school titleist, and then meets the best private school after that. So Newark met Kellenberg.

“We were looking forward to spending another week together as a team,” said Kirnie, “and we went into the game with intentions of winning it as well.”

It was a season of record-breaking moments for the Lady Reds: A 25-3 season; top-ranked Class A high school team in the state; Alyssa Fenyn with 16 points to end her high school career with 2,499 points - second-best ever in Section V; Shakista Woolfolk had 13 points.

Fenyn will now turn her attention to Virginia Tech and new horizons there. Woolfolk could wind up playing at Finger Lakes Community College or Medaille College. Marissa Bunce, whose rainbow 3-pointers sparked collegiate interest, is undecided. Kira Lauer will be at Bucknell in the fall, in pre-med, not basketball. Nikki Clark will be at Syracuse University, also studying pre-med, with a career as a pediatrician ahead of her. Heather Virts is being recruited to play basketball at FLCC, and that’s where Amanda Robson is headed.

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