The Amsterdam Lady Rams varsity basketball team competed in their first Mecca Challenge at the Gauchos Gym in the Bronx, NY this past weekend and split two games with a pair of Class AA teams from New York City. According to Coach Eric Duemler, Amsterdam defeated John F Kennedy High School of the Bronx, NY 80-53 on Saturday afternoon, before dropping a 55-43 contest to the Lady Mustangs of Harry S. Truman High School of the Bronx, NY on Sunday morning. Amsterdam’s Nina Fedullo also took a big step towards breaking the school scoring record for Amsterdam girls basketball, and could set a new mark tonight when the Lady Rams host Brodalbin-Perth on “Senior Night” tonight at Amsterdam High School.
Saturday: Amsterdam 80 JFK (Bronx, NY) 53
According to Coach Duemler, the Lady Rams used a 25 point second quarter to build a 43-26 halftime lead and power past John F. Kennedy High School of the Bronx 80-53 in their first ever contest in the Mecca Challenge at the Gauchos Gym in the Bronx, NY on Saturday afternoon. Amsterdam made 27 of 50 shots from the floor including 6 of 7 from the three point arc, and put 10 players in the scoring column led by Nina Fedullo’s 37 point effort, a season high for the junior AHS forward.
The game high total gave Fedullo over 300 points for the season, and a step closer to the all time Amsterdam girls’ scoring record of 954 set by Amy Jo Stewart in 1989. Fedullo added eight rebounds and two assists in the victory. Giuliana Pritchard scored 17 points and added a team high 11 rebounds. Brady Santiago and Grace Catena added six points each for the Lady Rams. Autumn Duemler scored four points, and added five rebounds and three blocks. The effort left Duemler only 11 points shy of becoming the fifth member of the Lady Rams to score 100 points this season. Lucia Liverio, Kaitlyn Devine, Maria Lomanto, Rayven Roach, and Victoria Barone-Lopez each scored two points for Amsterdam. Devine added a team high seven assists.
Arta Krasniqi scored 24 points to lead the Lady Knights. Jenea Smythe added 12 points in the JFK effort.
Game notes:
Nina Fedullo was 4 for 4 in attempts from beyond the three point arc helping her season best effort.
Fedullo (37) and Pritchard (17) teamed up to outscore JFK by one, 54-53.
The Lady Rams point total (80) was a season high.
The game was played in an up tempo style with Amsterdam shooting 54 percent from the floor.
Sunday: Truman High School (NYC) 55 Amsterdam 43
Nina Fedullo led the Lady Rams with 17 points and 12 rebounds, an Brady Santiago scored 14 points, but Amsterdam fell to Harry S. Truman High School (NYC) 55-43 on Sunday morning at the Mecca Challenge. Fedullo has scored 333 points this season, her second straight season surpassing the 300 points mark. At 938 points overall, the junior forward needs only 17 points to break the all-time Lady Rams basketball scoring mark of 954 points set by Amy Jo Stewart in 1989. During the game, Fedullo passed Brittany Stahura (922 points) for second on the all time scoring list for AHS girls basketball.
Game notes:
Amsterdam trailed by only five at halftime, 30-25. Amsterdam Lady Rams junior Brady Santiago earned the Sportsmanship Award for the game. The 14 points by Santiago moved her closer to 200 points for the season. Fedullo scored 293 points as a freshman in 2013, and 312 in her sophomore season when Amsterdam won 16 straight games in 2014-2015. Fedullo’s high mark from that year was 35 against Scotia-Glenville in a game that Amsterdam won to claim its first Foothills Council South division title in its first year in the league. Fedullo’s 37 on Saturday was a new personal season high.
Amsterdam (13-5 overall, 11-1 Foothills Council) picked up its second win over a Class AA team this season, and is 7-0 against Class A competition heading into tonight’s Foothills Council regular season finale against the Lady Patriots of Broadalbin-Perth. It’s also ‘Senior Night’ at AHS and the Lady Rams will honor Autumn Duemler, Kaitlyn Devine, Rayven Roach, Jailene Irizarry, Gabriella Catena and Braelin Aldi before the game. Tip time for the varsity contest in scheduled for 7pm.
(Featured photo by Scott Mulford, from a previous game)
