TROY – The joyous howls made by every member of the Albany girls’ basketball team coming off the court Monday evening at Hudson Valley Community College could be heard in the parking lot and throughout Troy. No, the Falcons did not repeat as Section II champions against Colonie. This game was a semifinal, but it sure felt like much more than that to Albany’s roster.
Senior star forward Shonyae Edmonds scored 21 of her team’s first 40 points and led four Falcons in double digits as the reigning Section II Class AA champions fought off a determined contingent from Colonie to post an impressive 77-68 victory in front of a raucous audience inside the McDonough Sports Complex.
The Falcons (19-3) will next take on No. 2 seed Bethlehem (18-4) Friday evening in the Class AA championship game at HVCC. Game time is 7:45 p.m.
“Colonie is no pushover. They’ve got great players,” Albany coach Decky Lawson said. “Facing (Jayla) Tyler, you have to come to play. She came to our home and dropped 29 points on our Senior Night. Even though we were the No. 1 seed, people were expecting us to lose because they beat us the last time. We didn’t get respect as a No. 1. I am just going to put it out there.”
The game went back and forth through the first 19 minutes as the two teams exchanged the lead 10 times. The player who helped spur a 21-8 run for Albany with three-point shooting was senior Amari Scott-Starr. She helped turn a 37-35 deficit into a 56-45 lead.
“It definitely feels great to be back in the final,” Scott-Starr said. “(Azera Gates) is a really good point guard. She knows how to get me the ball.”
“She has definitely been preparing for that moment,” Lawson said of Scott-Starr. “She stays in the gym. She is one of those who comes to practice early and leaves late. She stays on the shooting machine all day. It paid off…
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