Holiday Basketball Tournament In Eastchester Breeds MVP's and Team Victories

With the annual holiday tournament behind both the Eastchester Girls and Boys varsity squads, the teams will now continue their march toward a state championship.

On Friday night, EHS Boys beat Hunter College HS of Manhattan 51 – 48.  Senior captain Dave Solano had 21 points and sophomore Jack Daly had 11.

The EHS Girls followed that up with a 28 – 17 win over Good Counsel.  Senior captain Gabrielle Pinto had 10 points and 17 rebounds, and freshman Olivia Heffernan had 7 points.

During Saturday night's Championship games, EHS Girls beat Briarcliff 46 – 41. 

Gabrielle Pinto had another double-double, with 15 points and 17 rebounds.  Sophomore Kyra Hassler had 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Junior Danielle Cacciola and Gabrielle Pinto were named to the All Tournament Team, and Pinto was also named Tournament MVP.

"The other three senior captains and I recognize the importance of keeping everyone confident, relaxed, and focused on playing as a team, which I think we did a good job of at the tournament," said Pinto who continued that, "great teamwork was definitely the key to winning it."

Pinto also says that this tournament is always highly anticipated by the team since it is the starting point for the season and that nerves can sometimes play a part.

"While everyone was a little nervous for the first game, our encouragement towards each other and the great job our coaches did in getting us prepared definitely calmed us down and made us feel ready," she said.

The EHS Boys then beat Walter Panas 69 – 66.  Jack Daly had 31 points and Dave Solano had 19.

Dave Solano and Jack Daly were named to the All Tournament Team, and Daly was also named Tournament MVP.

"I feel very confident about our upcoming season and I also believe that we will surprise a bunch of teams this year because we play good team basketball and defense which will translate into many wins," stated Daly.

"A lot of preparation goes into a tournament like this especially since it's our own tournament. We worked hard for 3 weeks everyday, and sweated our butts off just to get ready for this opening tournament and we wanted to win our own tournament very badly," he continued.