After a disappointing start to the season, the Rye girls’ basketball team has begun to pick up the pace in January, reeling off three straight wins to start the new year. The Garnets’ latest victory came at the expense of league rival Harrison on Jan. 10, as Rye topped the Huskies 55-37 on the road.
Rye traded big runs with Harrison early on and headed into halftime with just a 18-16 lead. The Garnets were able to pull away in the third quarter, however, after outscoring their hosts 21-9.
Garnet point guard Katie Popp, who led all scorers with 29 points, said Rye’s second-half offensive surge was simply a function of raising the intensity level to match the defense.
“Our defense was consistently great the whole game, but we needed to pick it up on offense,” Popp said. “That’s what we focused on at halftime; just keep playing strong and finish our shots, and that’s really what we did.”
Ellie Dailey, who finished with 13 points for Rye, said that the Garnets came into the matchup aiming to slow down Harrison’s top scoring option, standout guard Avery LaBarbera. With LaBarbera being the focus of the Rye defense, teammate Lindsay McConway led the Huskies with 10 points.
“We were trying to stop the drive off the screen, that was our main goal, and we really tried to stop [LaBarbera],” Dailey said. “We definitely planned for her; we know that she’s a great shooter and that Harrison is a great team.”
Tuesday’s matchup marked the first meeting between the Huskies and Garnets this season, and the two teams will face off again on Jan. 28 at Rye High School. Harrison will look to bounce back from the league loss with a win over Byram Hills on Jan. 12, after press time.
The Garnets will look to keep their winning streak intact when they host Eastchester on Thursday. According to Popp, the Garnets are beginning to come into their own because of their struggles early on, not in spite of them. With a slew of league games still on the docket, a league title could still be in the cards for the reigning Section I champs.
“I think in the beginning of the season we weren’t playing bad, we were just playing top ranked teams,” Popp said. “I think that was good because we know what a good team looks like, we’ve gotten better playing against good teams, and we’ve been putting those skills into play as we head into league games.”
