Chateaugay pulls away, advances to state title game
TROY — In its past two games in the NYSPHSAA Class D girls' basketball playoffs, Chateaugay trailed at halftime. It just so happened against La Fargeville and Schroon Lake/Newcomb that the defense came alive in the second half to completely shut those teams down. So it was a little bit of uncharted territory for the Bulldogs (27-0, 13-0) to hold a lead against Smithtown Christian.
"I thought ...
TROY — In its past two games in the NYSPHSAA Class D girls' basketball playoffs, Chateaugay trailed at halftime. It just so happened against La Fargeville and Schroon Lake/Newcomb that the defense came alive in the second half to completely shut those teams down. So it was a little bit of uncharted territory for the Bulldogs (27-0, 13-0) to hold a lead against Smithtown Christian.
"I thought our mindset, our defense right off the bat was pretty good," Chateaugay head coach Chris Reynolds said. "We had them playing a little faster than they wanted to play, which is, you know, what we like to do. And absolutely, I was more pleased with our first-half defense than I have been in the last couple games.
" The Bulldogs built an insurmountable lead to put away the Knights 62-37 and advance to Friday's state championship game. While there were admitted jitters early in the contest, Chateaugay's Khloe Parmeter hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give her team a two-point lead after the first quarter. That's when the Bulldogs truly clamped down on defense, giving the Knights only eight points in the second quarter as they began pulling away.