They might be young, but if the Tuckahoe Tigers have shown anything this year, it’s that they are more than ready for any challenges that might be thrown at them.
On Sunday afternoon, the underclassmen Tigers won their third straight Class C title, edging Alexander Hamilton 47-41 in a physical, hotly contested showdown at the Westchester County Center. The game might have been played on Section 1’s biggest stage in front of a throng of fans, but for Tuckahoe, it was just another game. Eighth grader Chloe Angello—who led all scorers with 17 points en route to being named Class C tournament MVP—said that Tuckahoe’s challenging schedule, featuring games against teams like Class AA finalist Ursuline, helped pave the way for the team’s success, readying them for the challenges of taking on a scrappy Hamilton team for the Gold Ball.
“The biggest thing that helped us was playing teams who weren’t in our league this year,” said Angello. “It gave us confidence and inspired us to try harder.”
After a competitive first half, Tuckahoe seemed poised to pull away with the game in the second when some key Hamilton players ran into foul trouble. But the Tigers would run into foul trouble of their own as freshman Cara Doherty—who scored 14 points while providing the Tigers with a fearsome physical presence in the paint—fouled out as well.
Doherty’s exit put the Tigers into something of a funk, as Tuckahoe was unable to record a bucket for the first six minutes of the final quarter. Tuckahoe coach Silvio DiSalvatore said that Doherty has been a catalyst this year and her importance to the team showed during that last stretch.
“She’s our freshman captain, she’s really the glue that holds this offense together,” said DiSalvatore. “You could see when she went out how much that affected us.”
But DiSalvatore praised his young squad for refusing to relent during Hamilton’s comeback attempt, mustering a resilience that belies their relative inexperience.
“We’re young and look at that moment, the crowd was huge, it’s the fourth quarter, Gold Ball on the line, I think we were playing not to lose,” he said. “But down the stretch, Angello went 3-for-4 from the foul line, she’s got absolute ice in her veins.”
Ultimately, said DiSalvatore, the Tigers showed that the strides they made during the season paid off in the year’s biggest game.
“As the season went on, I think we had so many close games that we started realizing that we could win this thing,” said the head coach. “When we played against Ursuline, held them to 10 points in a half, I began to think that there was a real possibility we could bring this back to Tuckahoe.”
The Tigers will be in action on Thursday in the regional semifinals against two-time state champion Millbrook.
“They’re a great team, they’re really well coached and they have a special player,” said DiSalvatore. “We’ve had that game circled on the calendar for a while. Our motto right now is ’32 Minutes’ and we believe we can beat anyone on any given day for 32 minutes.”
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