Schalmont surges past Berne-Knox-Westerlo

SCHENECTADY, NY (NEWS10) -- The Schalmont girls basketball team faced a tough test on Monday night. The Sabres, 4-2 out of Class B, welcomed in an unbeaten Berne-Knox-Westerlo team, ranked ninth in the state in Class C.

The Sabres held a 23-20 lead at the half. They were able to grow their lead to seven by the end of the third quarter.

Schalmont's Gianna Cirilla scored 12 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter to help the Sabres pull away, winning 56-37. "Winning a game and playing a game like this kind of brings up the team morale and helps us play against teams we're going to face sectional wise and gets us ready for the end of the season," said Cirilla. "It's a very good midseason game to show what we need to work on and show what we're really good at and I think that came out and showed tonight."

"We knew it was going to be a dogfight with them coming in here," said head coach Jeffrey Van Hoesen. "I thought it was a very good win coming off of the holiday break and we moved the ball well. That's really what we're going to take from this game is ball movement, getting everybody involved. That's key for us to be successful."