HIGHLAND FALLS – The Sullivan West Lady Bulldogs traveled to James I. O’Neill High School on Tuesday evening to face the No. 1 seeded Lady Raiders in the Class B Sectional semifinals. 

After pulling off a come-from-behind victory over Spackenkill on their home floor on Saturday in the first round of Sectionals, the Bulldogs were unable to see a repeat of that performance. They would drop the contest, 48-25, to finish the season 16-6 (5-3). 

“We had a good season,” said Coach Pat Donovan. “We were pretty much outsized every game and my girls play a lot bigger than they are. They battled every single game that they were in and didn’t let size or anybody deter them from their goal.”

The Lady Raiders proved too much to handle and showed why they are the No. 1 seed in Class B. On defense, James I. O’Neill was suffocating the Lady Bulldogs who failed to score in the entirety of the first quarter. 

“We were getting shots, they just weren’t falling,” Coach Donovan said. “It could have been nerves a little bit. We got shots on the rim and we got them on the perimeter. Some nights they fall down and some nights they don’t.”

It even took O’Neill nearly three minutes of game action to score themselves, scoring with 5:18 in the first. After a quarter of action, the Lady Raiders were leading, 13-0. 

Sullivan West broke through on the scoreboard at the 6:32 mark in the second quarter when Sophie Flynn downed a three-pointer to make it 15-3. The Lady Bulldogs were still struggling to get rolling on offense and couldn’t get shots to fall. They would, however, break through for 10 points in the second quarter and make it 23-10 at halftime. 

Flynn found the back of the net one more time on a two-point shot in the second quarter and she would finish the game with those 5 points. Nicole Reeves scored five of her 10 points in the second quarter on a two-pointer and a three-pointer. The senior guard would repeat that in the third quarter as she was the leading scorer for Sullivan West. 

The Lady Bulldogs had their best quarter in the third as they scored 13 points and got to within 33-23. Abby Parucki scored six of her eight points in that quarter, on three free throws and a three-pointer. Karlee Diehl scored her two points of the game in the third. 

Despite still being in the game after three quarters, Sullivan West struggled to knock down shots in the fourth quarter. The Lady Bulldogs scored just two points in the final quarter on two free throws from Parucki. As the minutes ticked away, O’Neill put the game on ice as Coach Donovan got some playing time from his bench. 

Coach Donovan spoke about how tough of a conversation it was after the game with his five seniors he is losing to graduation. Those five seniors are Nicole Reeves, Liz Reeves, Diehl, Flynn and Parucki. 

“Losing five starters is a lot,” he said. “I told them how much I cared about them, how much they’ve done for us, how much they gave to the program and how much they’ve helped the younger kids out.”

Coach Donovan also said that those five seniors really demonstrated what being a Sullivan West student-athlete is.

“They’re all great athletes and they’re all just great kids,” he said. “It’s always a tough conversation after a game like that to say goodbye to the seniors. It doesn’t get any easier after all the years I’ve been doing it.”

Coach Donovan also looked forward to next season for the Lady Bulldogs as he noted that Ella Herbert and Brooke Nunnari are two of their top returners. He also said that they have a good group of JV girls coming up that were able to get some varsity experience in a couple of games throughout the season, which included Tuesday night. 

“I hope to do some stuff in the offseason and over the summer with them,” Coach Donovan said. “It’s a group that wants to play. So hopefully we can get them together and hit the ground running as quickly as possible.”