Pearl River Sports Working Through the Holiday

Pearl River Schools may be closed for Martin Luther King Day today, but the Pirates' athletic teams will be busy.

The boys and girls track and field teams get an early start, 8:30 a.m., in the Suffern Invitational at RCC. The Pirates will return to RCC 4:30 p.m. Friday to compete with Albertus Magnus, Nanuet, Nyack, Spring Valley and Tappan Zee in the Conference 4B championships.

The Pearl River girls basketball team will play 1 p.m. today at Ursuline in the first game of a challenging week.

"They have (Alyssa) Lawrence inside," Pearl River Head Coach Lorraine Moylan said. "They have balanced scoring. They are a tough defending team. They have been playing a tough schedule. They are very good competition for us."

The week gets more challenging for the Pirates after that. Pearl River will play at home against undefeated Tappan Zee 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, then at Albertus Magnus 4:15 p.m. Friday. All three teams are ranked among the top 10 in the state by the New York State Sportswriters' Association, with Pearl River No. 2, Tappan Zee No. 5 and Albertus Magnus No. 9. 

"The kids are really excited about it," Moylan said. "I love playing tough competition. That's the great thing about sports, to play tough competition."

The Pearl River boys basketball team will also take to the road today for a 3 p.m. game at Suffern. The Pirates opened their season at home Dec. 9 with a 60-46 victory over the Mounties behind a 23-point effort by senior Austin O'Toole. 

They return home for two more this week, 4 p.m. Wednesday against Martin Luther King and 7 p.m. Friday against Albertus Magnus. The Falcons will look to improve to 10-1 4 p.m. today against Xavier in the finals of the Albertus Magnus Martin Luther King Holiday Tournament.