Team effort leads Fox Lane to win over rival Horace Greeley

Morgan Clinton gets fouled on her way to the hoop. Dylan New scores two of her 15 points for the Foxes. Nora Dooley leads fast break for Fox Lane. Jim MacLean Photos

By Jim MacLean

Right from the start, Fox Lane took control and went down and scored as Dylan New hit a three-pointer on the opening possession of the game and the Foxes never looked back.

The shots kept falling and Fox Lane pulled away for a dominant win on the road against rival Horace Greeley on Friday, Jan. 16, as the Foxes came home with a 49-23 victory over the Quakers.

“I’m happy with everything, Greeley is a big rivalry for Fox Lane and the girls understand that, they’ve played against these girls since they were little kids, so to get out of here at Greeley with a win where everybody got to play, that is great,” said Fox Lane coach Kris Matts. “I was very excited to get everybody a shot, Greeley kept the pressure on, so all the girls got real game time experience against tough defense.”

It was Fox Lane playing the tough defense in the first half as the Foxes came out fast and went into the locker room with a 27-7 halftime lead.

All five starters scored in the first quarter as Dylan and Riley New, Kamryn Boniello, Morgan Clinton and Cora Moore each scored at least one basket to build a 12-4 lead. The second quarter was even more dominant as the Foxes allowed Greeley to score just three points in the quarter, while the Foxes pulled away as Dylan New hit another three pointer at the buzzer to make it 27-7.

Greeley scored the first hoop of the second half, but any thoughts of a comeback were squashed in a hurry as the New sisters combined for the next 10 points of the game, with Riley scoring the first five and Dylan scoring the next five for a 37-9 lead.

The Quakers started to warm up, hitting on four three-pointers down the stretch, but Fox Lane had the answers as Nora Dooley scored eight points in the fourth quarter alone to help the Foxes close out the 49-23 victory.

Dylan New led Fox Lane overall with 15 points in the game, including three three-pointers, while her sister Riley was right behind with 12 points for the Foxes. Dooley also finished in double figures with 10 points. Clinton finished with five points, Moore scored four, and Boniello and Avery Stark each scored two to round out the scoring for the Foxes.

“When Dylan’s on she’s one of the best shooters around, she just needs that confidence, and this game gives her that,” Matts said. “Riley is so hard on herself, she had a great game defensively and does so much and she always wants to do more to help us win. Dooley doesn’t miss and she’s getting more confidence and more aggressive on defense. We want her to shoot, but she’s so unselfish, now she’s starting to feel it a little bit and that’s going to help us down the stretch.”

With the win over Greely, Fox Lane improved to 6-6 overall. After hosting Ossining, Fox Lane has a tough five-game road stretch to work through with games at Byram Hills, Yorktown, Mahopac, Harrison and Blind Brook before finally returning home again on Feb. 6 to host Greeley.

“We definitely needed this win to stop the bleeding a bit after a couple of tough losses,” Matts said. “No rest for the weary with games against Ossining, Byram Hills and Yorktown, but if we play like that with confidence, we’ll be a tough opponent for anyone to face.”