Girls basketball: Red Hook overcomes eye poke, foul trouble to earn Class B title
MIDDLETOWN — It was a different type of contact that was being discussed on the floor today.
Top-seeded Red Hook defeated No. 2 James I. O'Neill 46-31 to win the Section 9 girls basketball Class B championship at Middletown High School on Saturday. It was the first section title for Red Hook since 2012.
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But winning a championship is never easy, and it came with adversity.
With 3:47 remaining in the first quarter, Red Hook's Morgan Tompkins was poked in the eye on a foul, which cracked her contact lens in half. She would miss both ensuing free throws.
"I have really bad vision, so I kept the contact in, but it scratched my eye every single time I blinked," Tompkins said postgame. "But then one of my teammates, Payton Gardner, actually gave me one of her contacts. It’s about three times less than my prescription, but I wore it anyway so it made it a little bit better, but I still can’t see.”
And that wasn't all: Emilie Kent started the fourth quarter with four personal fouls.
"I had to play extra careful," Kent said. "We were doing substitutions in and out when we were on defense, just so I wouldn’t foul out. Subbing in when we were on offense and subbing out on defense. And we just ended up pulling it off in the end.”
But the Raiders stuck with it and got through it, as they played a solid team game against an O'Neill squad who was also strong on the boards and didn't give in.
Red Hook coach Andrew Makebish said one of the keys to the game was making it a point of emphasis to box out.
Turning point
After the first quarter had Red Hook up 8-7, the tide turned in the second quarter and Red Hook would hold the lead through the end of the game. Red Hook's Emilie Kent grabbed an offensive rebound and put it home on a second-chance possession. Then Liv Christensen hit her first 3-pointer of the game. Kent fought for the ball inside and got back up for another basket. Red Hook would lead 20-13 with 2:52 left in the first half. Tompkins would then grab an offensive rebound and put it back in. Then, Katie Boyd went all alone on a layup and converted, giving Red Hook a 24-13 lead with 2:15 left in the first half, forcing O'Neill to take a timeout.
O'Neill would cut the deficit to three when Daisy West found Josey Arbogast to make it 28-25 in the third quarter and the team would continue to be gritty.
Player of the game
Emilie Kent and Morgan Tompkins are co-players of the game. Kent scored a game-high 17 points, but her ability to grab rebounds and give her team second chances was critical in the win. Tompkins had 16 points, including nine in the second half to guide her team and she worked a fast-paced offense. Tompkins also recorded her 1,500th career point during the game, and finished with 1,503.
By the numbers
No. 1 Red Hook (16-5) — Emilie Kent scored a game-high 17 points. Morgan Tompkins added 16 points. Katie Boyd and McKenzie Simmons each had four points. Liv Christensen finished with three points.
No. 2 James I. O'Neill (16-6) — Josey Arbogast led the team with 12 points and was a key piece in guiding the offense at the guard position. Brynn Marks added seven points and Daisy West had six. Audrey Elisondo and Aniyah Lewis each had four points.
Quotable
“It was a total team effort. I’d like to acknowledge all my coaches, Coach [Patrick] Caltobiano, Coach [Joseph] Rocco and Coach [Jesse] Smith. We work as a team and we wouldn’t be here without them. It was kind of a very rough game. James I. O’Neill is a good team. It’s just the epitome of “team.” Some games are like this. It was just a gritty and tough battle with O'Neill. And at the end we were able to get a couple of big baskets and pull it out.” - Red Hook coach Andrew Makebish on what it took to win a sectional title.
FINAL: No. 1 Red Hook (16-5) girls basketball defeats No. 2 James I. O'Neill (16-6) 46-31 to win the Section 9 Class B championship. Red Hook's Emilie Kent had a game-high 17 points. Morgan Tompkins added 16 points. #V845 @RH_Athletics @SectionIXSports pic.twitter.com/KGyO6gGdKs
— Melissa Kramer (@MKramerTHR) March 5, 2022
What's next
Red Hook will face the Section 1 winner in a sub-regional matchup on Wednesday, March 9 at Yorktown High School at 4:30 p.m.
MKramer1@th-record.com
Twitter: @MKramerTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Section 9 girls basketball: Red Hook wins section title
