Ladycats beat Blue Devils, Red Devils to improve to 5-0

by Dick Sterling

The Gouverneur Ladycat varsity basketball team remained unbeaten for the 2025-26 season with a couple of devilish wins against two very well-coached teams over the Christmas holiday break. The Ladycats tripped up the Ogdensburg Free Academy Lady Blue Devils on the eve of Christmas Eve, 44-30, and then managed to take care of the Hammond Lady Red Devils 48-41 on Saturday on the big floor at Jefferson Community College. With the pair of wins, one in the Northern Athletic Conference (NAC) Central Division and the other a crossover NAC game, the Ladycats improved to 5-0.

Last Tuesday the Ladycats hosted OFA with the Lady Devils getting off to a great start with sophomores Amya LaFlair and Lydia Power scoring the first six points of the game for the visiting team as OFA rolled to an early 6-3 lead, but the Ladycats regrouped and closed the quarter with tight defense and a 8-0 run, featuring four points each from Ashlyn Besaw and Audrey Ormasen, who did a good job of controlling the area under the basket. At the end of the first quarter the Ladycats held an 11-6 advantage.

OFA proved to be a worthy opponent early in the second quarter as Lucelia Guasconi, also a sophomore, scored the first four points of the quarter and after a Besaw short jumper the Lady Devils trimmed the Ladycat advantage to a single point at 13-12 with a Power putback. Raegan Devlin closed out the first half scoring with a long three-pointer as the Ladycats headed to the halftime break with a 16-12 advantage as both teams appeared to have trouble getting their shots to fall.

After the break the offensive rhythm seemed to pick up as junior Arianna Wood pulled off a rare four-point play, draining a three-pointer while getting knocked to the court by an OFA defender. Wood calmly swished the free throw to up the lead to 20-12. Tower scored four straight, but Electa Fitzgerald responded with a basket and a pair of free throws as the Ladycats continued to play well. The two teams played a fast-paced game with the Ladycats winning the quarter 14-9 to take a 30-21 advantage to the final eight minutes.

The Lady Blue Devils refused to go away as they managed to hold the lead to single digits as LaFlair, who recently scored 39 in a game, scored on a traditional 3-pointer and Ireland McNally scored four points, but the Ladycats closed with a 7-0 run, and a couple of key three-point bombs from Wood and Ragean Vrooman as they held on for a 44-30 victory.

Besaw scored 11 points to lead a balanced scoring effort from Gouverneur. Devlin and Wood scored eight points each and Electa Fitzgerald added six. Ragean Vrooman scored five, Ormasen finished with four and Elise Fitzgerald scored two. Power topped the Lady Blue Devils with ten points. LaFlair was held to seven, thanks to some great pressure defense from the Ladycats, and Guasconi finished with five points.

Gouverneur Head Coach Sean Devlin was happy with the effort. “We have been playing pretty well lately. Our girls have been working to get better and they understand what it takes to be successful. We have some tough games coming up, but right now we remain unbeaten and are sitting on top of the Central Division. The girls are having fun, and it is certainly showing,” said Coach Devlin.

On Saturday the Ladycats and Hammond Lady Red Devils, who have proven time and again, to be one of the best small school teams in New York State, hooked up for an early afternoon meeting on the big floor at Jefferson Community College. Hammond surprised the Ladycats by rolling to a fast 8-3 advantage, thanks to a couple of inside shots from Mikayla Jones, a pair of free throws from Addison Webster and a putback from Jocelyn Bush. Gouverneur countered with a three from Besaw, but Coach Devlin called for an early timeout to get his girls on track. Besaw scored two straight baskets and Wood converted back-to-back steals into four points on a pair of layups as Gouverneur eased to an 11-8 advantage after one quarter.

Besaw ran the Ladycat streak to 10-0 with an early basket in the second quarter before Bush broke the streak with an inside putback. Gabi Free scored her first basket of the game and Wood contributed the next five points as Gouverneur upped the lead to eight points and closed out the half with a 23-14 advantage.

The two teams traded baskets in the third quarter with the Ladycats outscoring Hammond 10-9 to maintain a 33-23 lead heading to the final quarter of play. The fourth quarter was certainly the most entertaining of the game as the fast-paced offense of each team shifted into high gear and 33 points were scored in the final eight minutes. The Lady Red Devils, as is often the case, made it interesting by scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter, and coupled with Webster’s three-pointer closing out the third, cut the Ladycat lead to 33-29 with 6:44 to play. Devlin countered with a key basket and Wood scored off a steal and contributed a pair of free throws to give Gouverneur a little breathing room as they eased out to a double-digit lead at 39-29. The two sides traded baskets the rest of the way as the Ladycats hung on for a 48-41 victory after Hammond outscored them 18-15 in a very exciting final quarter.

Wood finished with 19 points to lead the Ladycats. Besaw added 13 and Devlin and Electa Fitzgerald each contributed six. Free and Elise Fitzgerald both scored two. Mikayla Jones and Webster led a balanced Lady Red Devils scoresheet with nine points each. Bush scored eight, Scarlett Ritchie finished with seven and Makia Green added six. Josephine Hodgdon scored two.