The Pine Bush girls’ basketball team was a bit of an unknown heading into this season, the first coming off the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last season, with only a February basketball season, Pine Bush didn’t field a JV team, so some players didn’t play for the school in 2019-20.

However, Pine Bush has won six of its first seven games after Saturday afternoon’s 46-23 win over the previously unbeaten Chester Hambletonians at Chester Academy.

“We’re pretty good,” said Jah-esa Stokes, who scored a game-high 20 points. “We have multiple freshmen on our team, one senior, two juniors and I think, three sophomores. Half of us have already played together on AAU, so it’s about three people on our team that haven’t played with us, but we know we play. We have all been together for a long time.”

Pine Bush jumped on Chester early, racking up the game’s first eight points before Christine Ravix got the Hambletonians on the board by hitting 1 of 2 foul shots. Stokes had a big quarter, scoring 11 of her 20 minutes.

Pine Bush generated a lot of its offense by getting out ahead of the Hambletonians and using their defensive ability.

“They’re very aggressive,” Pine Bush coach Michelle Bouffard said. “And they’re not timid. They’ll go to the basket. None of them will shy away from that, especially (Stokes). She’s the penetrator. She’ll go at you and she’s definitely not a timid player at all.”

If Pine Bush is going to beat you, they’re going to have to do it with defense and transition play because they don’t have a lot of height, but they were able to frustrate Chester’s offense with their press all game long.
“We play man half the time,” Stokes said. “So, some of the players on the opponents’ team, they telegraph their passes. So, we look into their eyes and see where they’re passing it so we can get in for that steal.”

They’re not a tall team, and they’re not a deep team either as Saturday, Pine Bush only suited up eight players with one on the bench due to injury. Even in a 20-point win, there were at least two starters on the floor at all times.

They’re also missing Amaya Segarra, who is out with an injury.

“They’re a good group,” Bouffard said. “There’s not many of them now that Amaya is out. We’re down another and she’s key. So, we’re hoping to make it through the season and not get shut down, and not having any more injuries. But watching them play is very fun.”

It’s been fun watching them get off to a good start, winning their first three, including a league contest over the Valley Central Vikings.

Their only hiccup so far was a 55-49 loss to at the Saugerties tournament on Dec. 11.

“We went from being undefeated to losing that game and we got down on ourselves,” Stokes said. “So, it’s important that we got to pick our heads up and just keep playing. We’ve got a whole season ahead of us.”
Pine Bush followed that loss with a 53-46 win over the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks in an Orange

County Interscholastic Athletic Association crossover game and have now won two straight since.

They’ll head into the Holiday Recess with games this week against Middletown and Kingston.

“This conference is scrappy,” Bouffard said. “We’ll wait and see, but the good is that these guys are they’re young. I’m going to have them for a long time. That makes me happy.”