For the Tuckahoe girls’ basketball team, Saturday’s win might have been as impressive as it was historic. Hitting the floor at Yorktown High School with a chance to win the program’s first-ever Section I title, the Tiger girls shined, putting together a well-balanced performance to top Yonkers Montessori Academy 45-41 and capture the Class C championship.

Although the two teams traded leads throughout the early portion of the game with Tuckahoe entering the second half with a one-point lead, it was the Tigers who would find their footing in the third quarter, as they utilized renewed defensive pressure to shut out the Lady Eagles and score 13 straight baskets to jump out to what would be an insurmountable lead. In total, the Tigers were able to force 22 turnovers on the afternoon.

Junior Sophia Colassaco—who was named the game’s MVP with a team-high 18 points for Tuckahoe—said that the team’s effort in the third quarter was the difference-maker. 

“We were so locked in,” said Colassaco. “We knew that we had to step up, so we came together as a team and take the lead.”

Although Colassaco may have paced the Tigers offensively, a number of players stepped up at various points, as Olivia Mondrone, Adriana Rocco and Angelina Mazzuoccolo all finished with eight points as well. 

“That’s how it’s been for us all year,” said head coach Andrew Colasuonno. “We don’t have one dominant player, everybody contributes when the are playing our best.” 

The Tigers were also able tilt the scales by getting YMA’s top players in foul trouble, something that was part of the plan coming into Saturday’s contest. The two teams had met twice this season, including a Jan. 26 game that saw Tuckahoe escape with a 47-46 win. 

“We played them twice, so we came into today with the plan of putting them in foul trouble,” said senior co-captain Olivia Mondrone. “And then we came out and executed that plan.”

Mondrone—along with fellow co-captain Irene Maris—are the only two seniors on the Tuckahoe roster something that was not lost on the center during the postgame celebration. Over the course of Mondrone and Maris’ varsity careers, the team had improved significantly, but had previously been unable to capture a Gold Ball. In 2020, the Tigers advanced to the Class C finals only to fall to a powerful Haldane team, and last year—a season in which Tuckahoe was considered championship favorites—Covid-19 restrictions saw the Section I tournament scrapped in favor of regional play. 

“We had never won a section title in basketball and we’ve come so close in other sports,” Mondrone said. “And for this group, we’ve been playing together for so long, the chemistry was fantastic; this means everything.”

With sectionals behind them, the Tigers will play Section IX champion Millbrook in the state regional final on March 8, after press time.

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