It was a good night for the younger members of the Wallkill Panthers to get some experience.

The Panthers used their entire bench as they coasted to a 67-27 Mid Hudson Athletic League win over the Rondout Valley Ganders on Thursday at Wallkill Senior High School.

“The kids did what I asked them to do,” Wallkill coach A.J. Higby said. “They really took their time. There was no rush and they just played good basketball. It was solid basketball. You don’t need to sit there and score 100,000 points on them. That was not what I needed to do.”

What he needed to do was get the team’s inexperienced players into the game and give them meaningful minutes. It meant the five usual starters were split up into two groups that played half of each quarter.
Zoe Mesuch, who recently became the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer for both boys and girls, scored a game-high 21 points, but spent most of the time passing the ball off.

“They need some time,” Higby said. “It just shows the class of my kids. Look at Zoe Mesuch. She gave up every shot under the sun. She took a few tonight. She made them. OK. They needed to do that. They know that’s what they needed to do, and they played well.”

Sophomore Mia Domingues knocked down six 3-point baskets on her way to 18 points.
Her performance didn’t surprise Higby, who knew she could shoot the basketball. She does it in practice all the time. But Thursday’s blowout provided an opportunity to shine under the spotlight.

“We do all the same stuff in practice,” Higby said. “We have a pretty good scrimmage in practice. Here though, everybody’s here watching them, what do you do? If she didn’t make a couple of those, I would be very surprised. She knocks them down in practice all the time. There’s the difference.”

The Panthers improved to 7-3, 4-1 MHHAL and after being off for eight days may have another opportunity to give their starters some rest and reserves some extra time when they visit the winless New Paltz Huguenots on Friday.

“There’s a couple of good games where they’re going to get that experience,” Higby said. “Down the road, I’m going to need them. Let’s not kid ourselves. There’s only nine of them on the team. They’re going to play.”