The Pine Bush Bushmen kept rolling last week, preserving their unbeaten streak with an 82-44 win over the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I girls’ basketball game on Thursday at Pine Bush High School.

“I knew the game was going to be a little easier, but we still had to play hard like we do every other team,” Pine Bush’s Leticia Watson said. “We have to play hard with every single team that we play, and not play down. It’s just going to make us better at the end.”

Watson and Ketura Rutty led the Bushmen with 24 points each, and Jah-esa Stokes added 12 points.

It took more than a full minute for the Bushmen to get on the board, and by that time the Goldbacks’ T.T. Burden had hit two free throws to give her team a 2-0 lead.

It was the only time the Bushmen trailed as Stokes knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:46 left in the first quarter, and then Rutty converted a three-point play to give the Bushmen a 6-2 run.

That started a 10-0 Pine Bush run that put the Bushmen in control.

“We came out of the gate slow,” Pine Bush coach Michelle Bouffard said. “Eventually we picked it up. Unfortunately, that can’t happen against everybody. I always say, ‘good teams play the same every game, no matter who you play.’”

For the Bushmen, it hasn’t always been a matter of who they’ve played, but it’s been a matter of when they’ve played. Thursday night’s game was their first since a 57-31 victory over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders on January 3.

They were scheduled to visit the Kingston Tigers on Jan. 9 but that game was postponed by a car accident that caused the death of two Kingston High School students before the weather postponed the rest of the area schedule.

They weren’t scheduled to play again until Tuesday when they were scheduled to visit the Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors. Then they’re scheduled to visit the Marlboro Dukes on Wednesday.

“It’s either no games or games back to back,” Bouffard said. “We’ll see. We’ve just got to keep plugging away one game at a time.”

The win over Monroe-Woodbury was a high point for the Bushmen so far this season, as the Crusaders have been the team to beat over the past several seasons.

“The past couple of years we’ve had trouble with them,” Watson said. “This year, it felt like a big relief beating them. It felt good. It gave us a little fire in our butts.”

The large margin of error gave the Bushmen a chance play everyone in the game, which is no easy task considering how large their team is, with 16 players on the roster.

“We all work equally hard at practice,” Watson said. “Seeing everybody show that off feels really good.”

After their next two non-league games, the Bushmen will visit the Goldbacks on Monday, and will run through the division for the second time in February.

“I honestly think we’re doing really good,” Watson said. “We’ve got to keep the foot on the pedal, and keep going.”