Senior Gabby Sartori fights her way to the rim against Shoreham’s Abby Korzekwinski scoring two of her team high 22 points Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Freshman Guard Carlie Cutinella dumps a pass off to an open shooter for the Wildcats Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
GraceAnn Leonard, an 8th grader for Shoreham-Wading River, shoots from the paint Jan 22. Photo by Bill Landon
GraceAnn Leonard, an 8th grader for Shoreham-Wading River, gets a shot off against Mount Sinai senior forward Holly McNair Jan 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai senior forward Holly McNair drives to the rim for two of her six points Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Senior Gabby Sartori fights her way to the rim scoring two of her team high 22 points Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Sohpomore forward Makayla Hartcorn battles for a rebound for the Mustangs Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Shoreham forward Abby Korzekwinski goes up for the score Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai senior Brooke Cergol drives the baseline Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Senior Gabby Sartori elbows her way to the rim scoring two of her team high 22 points Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai senior Margaret Kopcienski shoots from the top of the key Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai senior Brooke Cergol fights her way to the basket for two of her 12 points Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai freshman guard Casey Campo shoots from down low Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai freshman guard Kylie Budke lays up for two points Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Shoreham-Wading River senior forward Melissa Marchese scores on a put back for the Wildcats Jan 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Melissa Marchese battles Mount Sinai senior Gabby Sartori for a loose ball under the boards Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Shoreham senior Michelle Corona looks for an open shooter Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Co-Captain Michelle Corona battles down low against Gabby Sartori scoring two of her nine points for the Wildcats Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
Sophomore guard Molly LaForge shoots from the corner Jan. 22. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Despite a late game surge by the Wildcats, Mount Sinai’s girls basketball team was able to make a stand holding off visiting Shoreham-Wading River in a League V contest Jan. 22 for a 50-39 victory. Mount Sinai senior Gabby Sartori banked seven field goals and eight free throws to lead her team with 22 points. Senior Brooke Cergol followed up netting a 3-pointer, four field goals and one from the stripe putting up a total of 12. Atop the leaderboard for the Wildcats was senior Melissa Marchese who swished five and made three from the line for 13 points.
The win puts the Mustangs at 9-3 league 11-3 overall with six games remaining. This puts them solidly in the playoff mix. The loss drops the Wildcats to 6-6 league 6-8 overall and will need several wins in their remaining six games to secure postseason berth.
The Wildcats have three of those games in the next eight days as the regular season winds down. Mount Sinai retakes the court Jan. 26 hosting Bayport-Blue Point and again two days later Jan. 28 facing Westhampton at home. Game times are 10:00 a.m. and 6:15 p.m., respectively.
Mt. Sinai junior guard Ryan McNeely lets a three pointer fly in the Mustang’s season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai junior guard Ryan McNeely scores from the paint in the Mustang’s season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jeff senior Ryan Holmes battles his way to the rim in their season opener against Mt. Sinai Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jeff senior Ryan Holmes dumps a pass off in the paint in their season opener against Mt. Sinai Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai senior guard Nick Hurowitz goes back up for a second attempt in the Mustang’s season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai junior guard Justin Picarello draws a crowd in the Mustang’s season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jeff 8th grader Drew Feinstein scores from the baseline against Mt. Sinai in their season opener Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
The big man Mt. Sinai senior forward Dominick Milani battles in the paint in the Mustang’s season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jeff senior point guard Bryce Lewis drives the lane against Mt. Sinai’s Nike Pintabona in their season opener Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jeff senior point guard Bryce Lewis drives the lane against Mt. Sinai’s Nike Pintabona in their season opener Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai junior Andrew Korakis crashes the boards in the Mustang’s season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai senior guard Alex Rudolph makes the easy layup in their season opener against Port Jeff Nov. 29th. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Mount Sinai opened its nonleague season opener at home easily dispatching the visiting Royals 91-47 Nov. 29. Topping the scoring charts for the Mustangs was Nick Hurowitz with 24, Alex Rudolph netted 19 and Andrew Korakis banked 16. Leading the scoring for Port Jefferson was Bryce Lewis who notched 15 followed by teammate John Bachman with 12. The Mustangs are back in action Dec. 11 where they take on Sayville at home for their first league game; tipoff is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. The Royals retake the court in another nonleague matchup Dec. 6 where they’ll take on Smithtown Christian. Action starts at 6:00 p.m.
Lauren Hansen drives around a Commack defender. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The Patriots are in it to win it.
Taylor Tripptree leaps up to the rim for the score. Photo by Bill Landon
Looking for redemption Feb. 3, the Ward Melville girls’ basketball team outscored Commack at home, 62-47, to remain in contention for a share of the League I title.
The first time the two top-seeded teams faced off, on Jan. 10, Ward Melville led Commack heading into the fourth quarter, but lost the game by four points, 59-55. Senior Taylor Tripptree said she knew her Patriots needed to end the game strong in order to pull away with the win.
“In our last game against them our defense fell short in the fourth quarter,” she said. “So this time around we made sure to stay on them and not give up, because the fourth quarter is Commack’s game.”
And defense was the name of the game.
Four minutes in, the game was tied just 2-2 before Tripptree tripled to take a 5-2 advantage. After sophomore Lauren Hansen hit a three-pointer of her own and senior Kiera Ramaliu also posted a trifecta, Tripptree hit a buzzer-beating field goal to put her team ahead 13-8 at the end of eight minutes.
Kiera Ramaliu at the free-throw line. Photo by Bill Landon
The Patriots’ defense flexed its muscles in the second and third quarter, holding Commack to 6 and 7 points, respectively, while outscoring the Cougars 26-13 over the span.
“They got some shots, but we got the rebounds,” Hansen said.
Leading 39-21 heading into the final quarter, Ward Melville put on the full-court press to not give Commack the quarter that previously led to their demise.
Although Commack held the advantage in the final stanza, Ward Melville also put up big numbers, with the away team outscoring the Patriots 26-23 in the final eight minutes. Sophomore Bre Cohn hit a pair of back-to-back three-pointers, Hansen hit her second trey of the game and added a field goal and free-throw point, Ramaliu swished a field goal and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, and Tripptree banked two from the charity stripe to put the game out of reach.
Hansen led Ward Melville with 17 points, Tripptree had 14 and Ramaliu added 11.
“We were winning in the fourth quarter in that first game, but we didn’t play great defense,” Ward Melville head coach Bruce Haller said. “Today, I heard them say, ‘this is the quarter. This is their quarter. This was the quarter where they beat us last time,’ and they all knew it. I didn’t have to emphasize it, so they stepped up their defense.”
Hannah Lorenzen moves through traffic. Photo by Bill Landon
Senior Hannah Lorenzen said her team worked harder every day in practice for the defeat over Commack.
“It feels good that all of our hard work paid off,” she said. “It was our defense and our rebounding — in practice we focused on boxing out and not allowing them to have second and third shots.”
With the win, the Ward Melville and Commack are 11-1 with two games left in the regular season.
“You like to challenge yourself against the best — they’re ranked No. 1 in Suffolk County,” Haller said of Commack. “The kids just stepped up and did what they had to do. They played great defense and I think that was the difference in the game.”
