Colts Furious Rally Falls Frustratingly Short Against Middlesex

Middletown, NY – The SUNY Orange women's basketball team is young. The team has only one healthy sophomore on the roster and at times it shows. For the first-year students on the team, there are many teachable moments that will help build them up for the future. The lesson against a tough Middlesex squad was, do not wait until the second half to flip on the switch. The team was down 13-4 after one quarter and behind 35-14 at halftime. The second half turned the script upside down as the Colts scored 47 points and cut the Middlesex lead to 3 with under minute to go. The margin was just too great to overcome as the Colts fell 66-61. 

Orange ended with three players scoring in double figures with sophomore, Liliana Ramirez (Middletown, NY) leading the way with 19 points and 21 rebounds. Jaylen Soltani had 18 points and Victoria Harrison dropped 15. Taniyah Montgomery did not let a rare off night shooting stop her from helping the team. She tallied 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. Eva Bloom, off the bench, helped with 11 rebounds. 

It is said that there are no moral victories, but last night's loss should help the team prepare for the final week of the regular season where they will face Sullivan and Ulster next week before moving on to post season play. 

There were two sophomores who were honored in last nights sophomore night. #1 Amiyah Nguyen and #3 Liliana Ramirez were the only two sophomores on the team and they knew how to make an impact this season. 

#1 Amiyah Nguyen was off to a fantastic season with the Colts before it unfortuately came to an end when she suffered a season ending injury in hte game against Raritan Valley Community College on Dec 19th. Amiyah played in 11 of the 20 games this year,of those 11 games Amiyah started in every one and played her heart out every time on the court, she averaged 13.3 PTS/G, 3.7 REB/G and 3.3 A/G for the 2023-24 season.

#3 Liliana Ramirez played and started in all 20 games this year and was the key contributor to the game. Ramirez finished the regular season by averaging a double-double with 14.3 PTS/G and 11.3 REB/G while finishing with the most total baskets made, most rebounds, most steals and tied for most blocks on the team.