Alysia Roldan leads the Wildcats to first victory of the season

Castleton, NY- The Maple Hill Girls Varsity basketball team blew past Albany Leadership en route to their first win of the season.

It was Alysia Roldan who stole the show in the opening game of the 2016 season. The sophomore phenom took no time making a name for herself, dropping 22 points and pulling down what seemed like every rebound on her way to a double double (22 points, 12 rebounds). “When she wants to play, she can be a dominate force out there,” second year head coach Seth Hendricks said.

The scary part is that Roldan isn’t even 100%. “She’s got some problem with her legs right now. She’s got some shin splints holding her back, so she’s been going in spurts. But you saw it, those 2-3 minute spurts when she wants to play she is almost unstoppable, ” added Hendricks.

One of those spurts came in the second quarter, when Roldan scored eight points in just under four minutes, leading the Wildcats to a twenty point lead at the halfway point.

Considering what she did injured, Roldan proved tonight that she can be a dominating force in not only the Patroon Conference, but section II as well.

It wasn’t only Roldan who got it done for the Wildcats,  who got all but one girl in the scoring column tonight.

“It’s always feels good winning. But I wasn’t surprised that we won with the skills we share as a team. It definitely helps the team tremendously. She [Roldan] especially played great tonight but everyone contributed. Kenzie and Alyssa had some good threes along with Taylor with a nice layup. It all adds up,” said senior captain Tori Olsen.

Despite the dominating win, coach Hendricks still made it a point to the team that there is still room for improvement for the Lady Wildcats, specifically on the defensive side of things. “Obviously you saw the game, our biggest problem is rebounding the ball. Offensively, I think we are pretty comfortable, but we have to work on defense and rebounding.”

The Wildcats will have two straight days of practice to try and work out things on the defensive side of the ball, before traveling south for a matchup with the Titans of Taconic Hills.

-Connor Hall (@518SportsChall)