The Marlboro Dukes hung with the Wallkill Panthers for the first half, and even led at halftime.

But things fell apart in the third quarter as the Panthers outscored the Dukes by 13 points, as they handed the Dukes a 62-51 loss in a Mid Hudson Athletic League girls’ basketball game on Thursday at Wallkill High School.

“I’m super proud of the girls,” Marlboro coach Matt Murphy said. “They all played really hard. We only had six going through the bench, and they played all game, and you can see the fatigue. I feel that killed us toward the end there.”

The Dukes were strong to start, even after the Panthers took a 6-0 lead early in the game, but the Dukes fought back and eventually tied the game at 11-11 on a layup by Gabby Murphy.

Then they took a two-point lead on a putback by Hannah Polumbo.

Polumbo scored a team-high 16 points and Murphy added 14. Lily Sullivan added 11.

Zoe Mesuch led the Panthers with a game-high 26 points in a game, where she became Wallkill’s all-time leading scorer for girls’ basketball. However, the Dukes limited her to 10 points in the first half, all in the first quarter.

The two teams were tied 15-15 and the Dukes took a one-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

“You try to contain her; you try to shut her down a bit,” coach Murphy said. “But she’s a great player, and it’s always been her. It seems like it’s always just a matter of time. She gets in her groove, and she can light it up quick.”

Gabby Murphy opened the third quarter with a jumper to give the Dukes a three-point lead, but Alex Dembinsky knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 31-31.

She finished with 12 points and her twin sister, Samantha Dembinsky, added 11.

Then, with 4:16 left to go in the third quarter, Amy Crowley hit a layup to give the Panthers a 37-35 lead.

They would never trail again.
Sullivan traded a basket with Wallkill’s Aoife Brady, before Mesuch went to work, scoring eight straight points to the end of the third quarter.

The Dukes, however, found themselves trailing by 12 points at the end of the third quarter, but found some offense to start the fourth. Sullivan opened with a jumper and then Polumbo hit one of her own to cut Wallkill’s lead to 49-41.

Then Sullivan pulled the Dukes to within five points with a 3-pointer with 6:28 remaining in the game.

Then, Mesuch took over the game, going on an 8-0 run all by herself to give the Panthers a 57-44 lead.

“Honestly, more than anything, I think we beat ourselves,” coach Murphy said. “It’s just the fatigue of it set in. Obviously, they’re a great team. They’re patient. They run and execute, and they go to their spots, and they did that.”

It was the first loss of the season for the Dukes, who will visit Monroe-Woodbury on Wednesday. They’re scheduled to return to MHAL play on Friday against the FDR Presidents.

“This was our first really bigger challenge of the season and I think it’s a great building block to where we want to go,” Murphy said. “This is a team that we played where they are experienced in these kinds of games. They’re patient. They can stay composed, how to get to their spots and who to look for when they’re cutting, and it showed.”