By Ted Waddell
FALLSBURG — February 6, 2004 – It figured to be a hard scrabble game, and there would be a winner and a loser. That much was certain from the get-go.
But the final outcome wasn’t decided until the closing minutes of Monday night’s non-league varsity girls’ basketball game between the home team Fallsburg Lady Comets and the Monticello Lady Panthers.
Despite taking an 8-2 lead in the first period, the Lady Panthers went scoreless in the second frame, allowing the Lady Comets to outgun them 10-0 on the way to taking a 12-8 lead into the lockerroom.
Fallsburg (4-6) held onto that advantage in the second half and won the game by a final score of 29-24.
With 1:52 left in the fourth quarter and the Lady Comets up by four points (24-20), Fallsburg Coach Les Hyde risked losing the game by getting tagged with a technical foul after he got a bit carried away questioning a referee’s call. A golden rule in high school sports: argue too much with the guys or gals in the striped shirts, and you’re going to get whistled for a “T.”
Monticello’s Nicole Christopher closed the gap to 24-22 by making the subsequent pair of foul shots.
At 1:41, Abby Smassanow snatched those two points back for Fallsburg by swishing two shots at the free-throw line to make it a 26-22 contest.
In the closing moments of the game, Christopher and Liila Mack went down for the count – and out of the game – after they cracked skulls going up for an up-for-grabs ball.
Smassanow was high scorer for Fallsburg with 10 points.
For Monticello (2-10), Mack led the team with nine points.
Stats from the free throw line: Fallsburg was 7-of-12 (58 percent), while Monticello was 5-of-14 (36 percent).
“It was a tough game,” Hyde said. “It was a good matchup both ways.”