Dobbs Ferry Falls Short in Class B Title Game

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Turnovers played a big part in the Eagles loss in championship game. (photo by Justin Luftig)

March 10, 2025

By Tom Pedulla—

Abigail Dann, Ella Moon and Alexa Vicchio, the three senior starters for Dobbs Ferry, remained in the County Center locker room a few minutes after their teammates left.

They were not quite ready to accept the end of their high school basketball careers. They needed just a little more time to hug one another and to cry. The second-seeded Eagles had come so far, reaching the Section 1 Class B championship game, only to fall short.

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Turnovers, missed shots and missed opportunities of all varieties had led to a 56-45 loss to top-seeded Yonkers Montessori Academy March 9 and the abrupt end to what had been a dream season.

Dobbs Ferry Coach Kasey Grisanti credited the newly crowned winners but wished her team had handled the ball better. “We couldn’t break the press. We kept turning the ball over,” she noted. “We just didn’t have an answer. Turnovers are really what killed us.”

The Eagles had advanced to the title game with a hard-fought 63-58 victory against Blind Brook. They lost for only the eighth time in 23 games.

Although the Gold Ball proved to be elusive, Grisanti said, “I’m beyond proud of these girls. They truly gave it everything they had to get to where we are. Kudos to them. They did everything. They worked their butts off to get here. I’m so proud of them and sad we couldn’t come out on top.”

The Eagles had their chances. They started quickly, moving out to an 8-6 edge in the opening quarter. But Yonkers Montessori features a very athletic roster with imposing size in the frontcourt and fought back to lead 24-17 at halftime and 39-30 through three quarters.

“We started off hot and then our energy kind of died down a little bit,” Grisanti said.

Dobbs Ferry did not go quietly. Trailing 41-30 early in the fourth quarter, Dann spearheaded a run of six unanswered points with two foul shots and capped the run with another free throw that sliced the deficit to 41-36 with 5:30 remaining and brought the student cheering section to its feet.

Even during that torrid stretch, however, the Eagles missed a pair of three-point shots and committed two turnovers, one when they were unable to inbound the ball. Those kinds of mistakes doomed them and they could not draw any closer.

Moon and Dann finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Both made the All-Tournament team.

“I’m really proud of us. We’ve never won a playoff game before in the four years that I’ve been on this team. The fact that we got here means everything to me,” Moon said. “To me, it shows how hard we worked. I’m really grateful to my teammates and my coaches.”

Vicchio also emphasized how far the Eagles had come. “Even looking back now, we definitely had a good season. We got to where we wanted to be,” she said. “We just didn’t finish as we would have liked to.”

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