AMSTERDAM, NY- The Amsterdam Holiday College Showcase is routinely an event where college coaches can come together in one setting and see 8 great games in one day. This Saturday was absolutely no different as while the weather outside was cold, the action on the hardwood was red hot in the suburb of Albany.

A pair of games stood out as games to watch and follow on Friday, and with NYCHoops.net making the trip north for the excellent day of play here are how things went down from a very impressive days’ worth of action.

Cairns goes for 43 in Toga win over Amherst

When you have someone like Rhode Island bound guard Dolly Cairns '20 on your team the way the Blue Streaks do you always have to give them an advantage. For several years now it has seemed whenever Cairns has wanted to score, she has been able to, but Friday she was on a whole different level.

Scoring a career high 43 points, Cairns was efficient and dominant from start to finish as she helped keep her Saratoga Springs team unbeaten on the year with a solid 18-point win over one of Section 6's best in Amherst.

From the get-go you had an idea this was going to be a special game for Cairns as she had 12 in the opening quarter including draining a pair of threes’ to open up an early advantage over Amherst. Be it creating off the dribble for herself or coming around screens and finding room to shoot, each time Carins touched the ball good things were happening.

That only continued in the second quarter as well as Cairns would have 20 points in the opening half, and while her scoring output was good it was the fact that a pair of talented youngsters were stepping up alongside of her that was playing a huge role as well.

Lauren Patnode '23 had 10 in the first half with Natasha Chudy '23 adding 9 as Saratoga Springs led the Tigers at the half 43-29 in a game that may have been focused on what Cairns was doing offensively, but for head coach Robin Chudy she was equally as impressed with the other things her team was doing.

Getting the contributions, they were getting from Patnode and Chudy were important, but for her it was the defensive play from guard Abby Ray '21 on Amherst star Ella Wanzer '21 that was equally as big to helping her Blue Streaks team to the lead.

"Abby is our best defender by far and while we knew Ella was very, very talented she were confident that she would be very solid against her," Chudy said of Ray's ability to defend Wanzer on the outside. "She's very aggressive, she doesn't give up, and she works so hard that she really is a top-notch defender and it shows when you watch her."

Locking Wanzer down in the opening half to just 5 points proved that fact as the Binghamton commit struggled to get any true open looks as the Blue Streaks were taking advantage with the 14-point advantage at the break.

Coming out in the second half Amherst went to a box and one to start forcing the younger Chudy to once again step up on the offensive side as she had the first 6 points of the third as the lead for Saratoga grew to 20 with 5:44 to go in the quarter.

With others contributing it meant more freedom for Cairns again who at one point late in the third into the opening couple minutes of the fourth had 12 straight points for the Blue Streaks. It didn't matter where she was on the floor either as it seemed whatever shot she put up, it was going in.

Taking a lead of as many as 31 early in the final quarter the last questions be answered became how many points Cairns would ultimately finish with. It was a career high for her as she would finish with 43 points as it was complete and dominant showing for one of New York's best as she would lead Saratoga to an impressive 85-67 victory over Amherst.

It may have been a career high but for Cairns it was all about the win. She said she didn't really have any sort of idea of how many points she had when she came out of the game with 2:28 to go, more focused and happier that her Blue Streaks team was getting the win.

"I knew I scored a lot but I wasn't really keeping track so I didn't know," Cairns said with a bit of a smile. "One of our assistant coaches told me as I walked off the court and I guess it's cool but we got the win and that means more to me."

What meant even more to Cairns was the fact that Chudy had 15 points, Patnode added 12, while Katie Claeson '21 had 9 as the fact that it was a total team effort regardless of her overall point total was what she wanted to see.

After a tough first three quarters where she scored just 7 points, Wanzer came alive in the fourth where she scored 16 to finish with 23 in the defeat to lead the Tigers.

Getting a victory over an Amherst team that is looked at as one of the best in the Western New York region is another notch in Saratoga's belt as they look toward a Saturday matchup against Brooklyn Law & Tech from the PSAL in New York City in Amsterdam. These are the kind of challenges Chudy says she wants for her team at this point in the season, with Cairns believing games like this will have them ready for hopefully a Section 2 title run.

"Winning the sectional title is our bigger goal and we are just doing whatever we can to win knowing though that we have to take it one game at a time to get there," Cairns explained. "Today was a good step and hopefully we can keep it going."

Dawkins leads Law & Tech past Bethlehem

Speaking of Sararoga's Saturday foe, Brooklyn Law & Tech were in cruise control mode for one half of play as the full court 2-2-1 press applied by the Jets forced turnover after turnover as the PSAL team from New York City came up to the Albany suburbs and took a 41-13 lead at the half.

Things flipped quickly though as a once lead as big as 30 was cut down to just 7 with 6:47 left in the game as the Eagles started to break the press and find open shots from the outside, but at the end of the day Kaila Dawkins '21 proved to be too much inside as the Law & Tech forward had 24 point and 14 rebounds to help the Jets pull away for good late in a 63-43 victory.

If you just took the first half this was as dominant a performance as there was all day at the Amsterdam Holiday College Showcase as Dawkins dominated inside to the tune of 15 points, Brieanna Maple '22 came off the bench to drain 4-5 three attempts and had 14 points, while the Law & Tech defense created 15 opening half turnovers with Bethlehem seemingly shell shocked out of the gate.

There was near nothing that the Eagles could do to stop, or even contain the Jets as Maren Louridas '22 had 9 of Bethlehem's 13 opening half points but it was a 41-13 hole that the local Section 2 squad found themselves in at the break against a more physical Brooklyn Law & Tech team that just kept coming at that over and over again.

Even up by 28 there was a bit of concern at the break for Jets head coach Michael Lloyd as he didn't want his team getting complacent, understanding that Bethlehem is a team that can get going quickly, wanting his Law & Tech group to keep their foot on the gas and not let go.

"I didn't think we were 30 points better than them and I was worried they would find their rhythm there by making shots," Lloyd admitted. "I told them at the half this team can shoot and can get back in this game if we let them."

Lloyd's biggest concern became a reality as early in the third Bethlehem did a much better job of breaking the Law & Tech press which allowed for good looks from the outside which were connected on by Louridas and Julia Harvey '21 with that duo leading the charge to outscore the Jets 24-6 in the third quarter to see the 28 points halftime lead pushed down to 10 going to the fourth.

Another Louridas three would see the lead dwindled all the way down to 47-40 just over a minute into the final stanza, but that's when the poise finally settled in for Lloyd's Jets team as instead of the full court press they went into a zone and that did the trick.

The new look gave the Eagles issues as three turnovers on three straight possessions led to a pair of transition layups and a wide open three from Barbara Bruno '21 to put Brooklyn Law & Tech on a 7-0 run and give them back control and a double digit lead.

After fighting so hard to come back the ability for one more Bethlehem run just wasn't there as the Jets would finish the game on a 16-3 run to pull away for good as Law & Tech made the three hour trip from NYC and handled their business with a 63-43 win over the Eagles.

Dawkins would lead all scorers with 24 for Law & Tech with Maple adding 18 as well for the winners, with Louridas scoring over half of Bethlehem's points finishing with 22 of her Eagles 43 points in the defeat.

Maybe not as easy as Lloyd and his Jets team were expecting when they went into the locker room for halftime, Brooklyn Law & Tech showed a good amount of resolved to hang tough when things were going their way in the second half, with Lloyd knowing a performance like this can help them moving forward as they strive this season for a PSAL Class A City Championship.

"Basketball is a game of runs. We made a run and then they made there's so it was about withstanding that so we can stay on top and get the win which I'm very happy we did," Lloyd said.

Shenendehowa 85-Somers 33

Meghan Huerter '21 (Shen)- 18 points

Danielle DiCinto '20 (Som)- 11 points

Amsterdam 68- New Hartford 59

Andie Gannon '21 (A)- 29 points and 11 rebounds

Kaia Henderson '22 (NH)- 27 points

Penfield 51- Curtis 46

Nyara Simmons '20 (P)- 17 points

Zaria Lewis '23 (C)- 19 points

Cambridge 65- Hanover (NH) 58

Lilly Phillips '21 (C)- 23 points

Maddie McCorkle '20 (H)- 15 points

Holy Redeemer (PA) 68- Albany 63

Sam Yencha '20 (HR)- 24 points

Ahniysha Jackson '20 (A)- 30 points

Troy 88- Pittsfield (MA) 57

Jenalyse Alarcon '21 (T)- 24 points

Emery Sime '21 (P)- 15 points