With the Section 9 basketball playoffs on the horizon, I figured I'd give my thoughts on the tourney's match-ups for the local teams.
In the girl's bracket, Rhinebeck, the third seeded squad in Class C, will travel to Tri-Valley to battle the top seeded Tri-Valley squad.
The Lady Hawks have been playing much better late in the season and have played some tough competition in the MHAL. With Kelly von der Leith and Sarah Turpin able to explode for double digits in any game, Rhinebeck could make this one very interesting against the state's 13th-ranked team in Class C.
Red Hook, the fourth-seeded team in the girl's Class A bracket, will host Saugerties in the opener of a twinbill they are sharing with the Raiders boys.
The Raiders blasted the Lady Sawyers by a score of 56-26 in the season opener for both teams. Sabrina Eggink joined the 1,000 point club at Red Hook earlier this season and is one of the top players in the MHAL as a junior. Eggink and teammates Makenzie Burud, Sienna O'Han, Jordyn Dezago and friends will be too much for the Sawyers to contend with in this one.
The Red Hook boys team, the state's third-ranked Class A school, was only able to earn the second seed based on a points system. Cornwall, the Raiders' postseason nemesis, garnered the top seed for Class A and is the 6th ranked team in the state for Class A.
Red Hook will host #7 New Paltz on Monday, March 1 after the girls game against Saugerties. Guard Spencer Dalzell leads the Raiders in to the playoffs after helping the scarlet and white to the MHAL title. Cody Mauch, Danny Totten, Ryan Dalton and Drew White and the Raiders exceptional bench players make them strong favorites to reach the championship game.
If the brackets play out the way many people expect them to, Red Hook and Cornwall will have their much anticipated showdown in the final at SUNY New Paltz.
In the boys Class C bracket, the Rhinebeck boys teams enters as the #7 seed against a Pine Plains team that they defeated twice during the season. The Bombers are ranked second in the bracket.
Rhinebeck's athleticism gave Pine Plains some problems in the first two meetings but in each contest, Rhinebeck built a lead only to see the Bombers nearly rally for a victory. Rhinebeck's leading scorer, Ben Hoynes, along with his cast of teammates Reed Fox, Nick Lunn, Jacob Sopchak and Mark Scott can win this game if they control the tempo.
