Sportlight

Molly O’Hare eyes criminal justice career

By Bond Brungard
Posted 3/7/19

The season for Wallkill’s girl’s basketball team ended last week with a Section 9, Class A quarterfinal loss to Cornwall, and it was the final game for Molly O’Hare.

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Sportlight

Molly O’Hare eyes criminal justice career

Posted

The season for Wallkill’s girl’s basketball team ended last week with a Section 9, Class A quarterfinal loss to Cornwall, and it was the final game for Molly O’Hare.

O’Hare, a senior, watched her tenure with the Panthers come to a close after the seconds ticked away and ended with a 57-37 loss that eliminated the Panthers.

“She has done the work,” said A.J. Higby, Wallkill’s coach.

O’Hare joined the team four years ago, and she helped the Panthers reach the sectional playoffs this year after Wallkill ended the regular season with 10-10 record.

“Great kid,” said Higby.

After O’Hare graduates in June from Wallkill, she will head across the Hudson River to SUNY Dutchess and study criminal justice. She does not plan to play basketball in college, but she has enjoyed playing varsity basketball for four years for the Panthers.

“It’s been fun,” she said. “I have met (a lot of ) my best friends.”

O’Hare plans on attending a four-year college after she is finished at SUNY Dutchess. But while she played at Wallkill, her passion for the game continued to grow during her tenure there.

“I love the game,” she said. “I love the people I play with.”

O’Hare was a shooting guard, and she helped the Panthers with 7 points during a 47-39 loss to New Paltz in early January. As the Panthers worked to stay on pace for a sectional playoff berth weeks later, Wallkill faced New Paltz again and finished the game with a 43-39 victory. O’Hare scored 11 points in that game.

Wallkill needed as much offense as it could muster to land in the sectional quarterfinal, and O’Hare enjoyed playing guard to help ensure that was a possibility.

“I played post in AAU, and I really wasn’t comfortable there,” she said. “I prefer to be a guard.”