Setting the Scene: The short-lived subregional season was, well, really short-lived. It took all of two days to knock the 49 NYSPHSAA section champions & state playoff representatives down to 40, a number that will shrink to 20 by the end of the week. Two of those subregional games took place Wednesday evening deep in Section IX territory at O’Neill High School near West Point. Last year, Putnam Valley inched past Red Hook in the S1 vs. S9 Class B subregional and Millbrook blew past Tuckahoe in the C game en route to HVCC appearances (and for Millbrook, a Class C state title). Different gym, different host section, same matchups in 2023. Winners go to the Island for regional finals on Saturday.
Putnam Valley 61, Red Hook 36
75 Words or Less: It was close for a while, but the way the game was trending, it also felt like only a matter of time before the Section I representatives blew away. That happened in the 3rd quarter as Putnam Valley more actively defended the three-point line out of the locker room & received another dominant showing from Eva DeChent. She had 36 for the game, including 15 in a +16 3rd quarter that put them up 25.
THE FULL STORY
A story as old as time in Section I. Eva DeChent (Putnam Valley 2023, Rhode Island signee) walks in, Eva DeChent gets buckets. It almost felt that simple at the jump as the longtime standout started to put her stamp on the game offensively within minutes of the opening tip. They fell behind early with Liv Christensen (Red Hook 2024) taking advantage of a couple open looks with two threes, but DeChent answered with a personal 7-0 spurt that put her up to 9 in the first 4 minutes. Emilie Kent (Red Hook 2025) got on the board and tied it with a three of her own, but after a second DeChent trey that gave her 12 in the opening frame, PV ended the opening eight up 14-11.
Shot quality was often there for Putnam Valley in the later stages of the first half, but shotmaking went dry, and with that, Red Hook was able to hang around despite their own stagnancy & struggles. What PV did get though was a couple makes from Nai Torres (Putnam Valley 2024) – her second bucket of the quarter gave PV their first double digit lead at 24-14 with just over two minutes left in the half. However, partially as a result of their focus on Kent & Katie Boyd (Red Hook 2024) on the ball defensively, Christensen kept getting comfortable perimeter looks & made them pay. She answered the Torres midrange J with her 4th three of the half to bring it back to single digits, and DeChent’s last two of 18 1st half points sent PV into the locker room up 26-17.
Red Hook got something in the opening possession of the 2nd half that they pretty much didn’t get at all before the break – a 1v1 post touch for Kent. She rebounded her own initial miss & converted the putback through contact to start the 3rd right for the Section IX champs. Unfortunately for them, that was it for nearly five minutes as Putnam Valley stepped on the gas & started to blow away. DeChent started the run with two free throws, then added a three to send the margin back to double digits. Another Eva score made it 16, and a couple minutes later, the margin ballooned to 20 as Simone Gabriel (Putnam Valley 2023) capped a 13-0 run with a breakaway layup. Boyd got downhill & finished in close range to stop the bleeding momentarily for Red Hook, but the damage had been done as they were never able to challenge from there. DeChent put the icing on the cake before the 3rd quarter was even over, adding 8 points over the last 2:30 of the frame including a middle drive, spin at the nail, and crafty finish around the rim before the buzzer that put her highly regarded skill level on display. That finish stretched the PV lead to 49-24, and with the exception of a 15 second stretch in the 4th where it was 53-34 after another Boyd bucket – Jona Kabashi (Putnam Valley 2025) scored on the ensuing possession – the margin remained in the twenties to the final buzzer.
Eva DeChent had 18 at the break, added another 15 in the 3rd quarter when Putnam Valley went +16 to run away for good, and pumped in a game high 36 points for Putnam Valley. Liv Christensen was Red Hook’s lone double digit scorer with 12 points coming off 4 first half threes – Katie Boyd and Emilie Kent chipped in with 9 & 8 respectively.
Millbrook 77, Tuckahoe 36
75 Words or Less: Tuckahoe won the Section I title convincingly, came in with energy, and played hard throughout. Unfortunately for them, Millbrook did the same and they’re a different animal. For the second straight year, the Blazers stepped on the gas & blew away from the Tigers for a lopsided subregional win. The frontcourt led – Natalie Fox had 23, Emily Grasseler 22 – but the whole team ate in a game that Millbrook put away early.
THE FULL STORY
After the first couple minutes, it was 2-2 with Beth Bosan (Millbrook 2023) and Sophia Colasacco (Tuckahoe 2023) trading baskets… and then it wasn’t. The Tigers went nearly 6 minutes without a point after that Colasacco bucket, and Millbrook used the combo of their major frontcourt advantage and great activity in various zone looks to flex before the first quarter was through. Natalie Fox (Millbrook 2024), Emily Grasseler (Millbrook 2023, USCGA commit), and Ella Wilson (Millbrook 2023) all got in on the act along with Bosan in a 16-0 run that Tuckahoe finally stopped with an Angelina Mazzuoccolo (Tuckahoe 2023) three. She canned another one before the 1st quarter buzzer, but two Fox scores on consecutive possessions between those treys helped Millbrook keep a comfortable 22-8 margin.
The Section IX representatives & reigning Class C state champions weren’t satisfied with that and repeated the feat in the next stanza. They kept the Tigers off the scoreboard for over 4 minutes to start the 2nd and scored the first 10 to run the margin into the twenties. Although the basket opened up for Tuckahoe in the back end of the half, it never closed for Millbrook and in particular, the frontcourt of Fox & Grasseler. Grasseler ran the floor & used transition opportunities to get to double digits before the break, and Fox – who had 8 points in the opening frame around the rim – showed the versatility in her game by stepping out & canning 3 threes before the break. The last of those pushed Millbrook’s lead to 40-15 with less than 90 seconds left in the half, and they extended it to 47-18 at the break.
Tuckahoe competed, but it was more of the same in the 2nd half until Millbrook called off the dogs. That came pretty early, but not before the Blazers ran the margin into the thirties & even the forties. The starters all got in on the action over the first six minutes of the quarter, with Grasseler in particular producing on the scoreboard with 8 more in the 3rd, before Coach Peek went to the bench with a 67-25 lead at the 1:41 mark. From that point, starters played only a brief amount in the 4th as the Blazers coasted to the finish.
Natalie Fox led all scorers with 23 points, 17 of them coming before halftime. Emily Grasseler was also in double digits before the break and was right next to Natalie in the books with 22. Sophia Colasacco, a strong frontcourt athlete, was Tuckahoe’s main source of offensive output – she had 16 to lead them.
Next Up: It’s onto AAU and spring sports for those who partake after repeat sectional championship winters for Section IX Class B champ Red Hook & Section I Class C gold ball winner Tuckahoe. Putnam Valley & Millbrook now advance to Saturday’s regional final at Farmingdale State on Long Island. PV gets Section VIII champ Locust Valley, who beat Suffolk County champ Center Moriches 45-30 in their subregional. Millbrook takes on Section XI Port Jefferson, who had a bye into the regional final. Those games are scheduled back-to-back with 4:00 & 6:00 tips.
#ThoughtsFromTheBaseline
- I’ll try, but I’m sorry in advance – I don’t really have a lot for you here from either game. Neither game brought an overload of thought-provoking material. Just two teams that have been heavy favorites to make it to HVCC since the jump taking care of business on their path.
- I walked into the gym just after the opening tip (by seconds). By the time I was able to put a battery in my camera, Eva DeChent had 9 points. It was that kind of a fast start for her, and frankly, it came way too easy. Red Hook hung tough for a half because PV wasn’t able to score enough to blow away (Eva did, but very little complimentary production before halftime), but the Rhode Island signee – with future coach Tammi Reiss in the gym – did her thing from the jump. Bad news for the other side. It honestly felt like her 36 points could’ve been closer to 50.
- The Millbrook/Tuckahoe game kinda was what it was, you knew Millbrook was clearly on a different level and it really came down more to if Millbrook played with effort or urgency out of the gate or chilled & took their opponent lightly. Generally speaking, they played with focused energy. That was it. Really all they needed to ensure a convincing result. Natalie, Emily, Ella, Beth were all way too much to deal with.
- This game wasn’t indicative of the kind of season Emilie Kent had for Red Hook this year, so it’s only right to mention her regardless of result. PV face-guarded her with a smaller player and if she went to the post, they sagged enough to successfully make Red Hook think twice about trying to get it to her, which was the right defensive scheme. All that aside, she made a big jump in her game over the last year and tremendous jump in her production at the high school level, as much as anyone I cover. 6 footer in the 2025 class with a lot of upside and developing face-up & stretch game in the frontcourt… it’s AAU season now, and she should start to catch some eyes.
- First time at O’Neill High School. Not exactly known for their girls’ basketball prowess. Interesting setup, a very ‘build up, not out’ campus, felt like kind of an odd spot for a regional game but liked the gym. I wish the Hudson Valley schedule provided more opportunities to see more than one game at a time outside of regional play because I’d be around considerably more, but hey, I’ll take it.