Three more games, three more wins for the Rye High School girls basketball team to close out 2024.
The Garnets defeated Lakeland on Dec. 17, then proceeded to win two more games in the last weekend of the calendar year to claim a tournament title in Mahopac. They enter 2025 with a record of 6-0 and, amazingly, each of those wins have been by double-digit margins.
Coach Margo Hackett’s squad closed out the Mahopac tournament on Dec. 28, defeating Mahopac High School, 58-44. They did so despite playing without senior sensation Molly Kennedy, who was among multiple players who fell sick during the tournament.
Junior Paige Tepedino led the way in scoring with 18 points. The second-leading scorer in the championship was eighth-grader Charlotte Storz, who came up big for the team by contributing 10 points, her first points scored at the varsity level.
The Garnet girls also received scoring contributions from Frankie Chiaravalle (nine points), Stella Maresca (eight points), Annie Toulouse (seven points), and Phoebe Greto (six points). It was the type of collective team effort that is becoming a theme for this year’s team.
In the semifinals the day before, the Garnets dispatched Putnam Valley, 46-35. The 11-point margin of victory is tied with their win earlier this season over Hendrick Hudson as their closest so far. Greto led the team in scoring in that match-up with 21 points. Kennedy contributed 12 points of her own while Tepedino scored six.
Tepedino was awarded Mahopac Tournament MVP for her play, while Greto was named to the All-Tournament team. The two juniors continue to stand out early in the season, while at the same time effortlessly operating within Hackett’s team-first strategy.
Prior to the start of the tournament, Rye’s dominant road win at Lakeland was a clinic on both ends of the floor, as the Garnets cruised to a 50-11 victory. The girls were also supposed to have played a game against Obama High School before the holiday break, but that game was postponed because Obama did not have enough players on the scheduled date.
The undefeated Garnets play at Ketcham High School (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) on Saturday, Jan. 11, before league play officially begins with a 4:30 p.m. game Jan. 14 at Sleepy Hollow.
