Carey remains in playoff picture

Already with a couple of come-from-behind victories, Long Beach was in rally mode again following a lackluster first half last Friday at Carey but fell just short in a key Conference AA-III girls’ basketball showdown, 33-30.

The Lady Seahawks, who went 11-for-15 from the foul line, held on when a desperation midcourt heave that would’ve forced overtime sailed past the rim. Freshman point guard Victoria Porcasi led a balanced attack with eight points and added five assists and four rebounds.

Long Beach, which rallied from a double-digit deficit Dec. 21 to take the first meeting, 39-30, outscored the hosts 11-4 in the fourth quarter of the rematch but couldn’t overcome turnovers and lack of rebounds. Junior Molly Martin had a game-high 10 points.

Both teams are 4-5 in conference play and tied for the last playoff spot with five games remaining.

“Sooner or later it was going to come back and bite us,” Lady Marines coach Lori DeVivio said of trailing at halftime. “We had trouble getting an offensive flow. They’re extremely quick and we had to go with a smaller lineup in the second half. We made a good run but it wasn’t enough.”

Unlike the first meeting when it fell behind by as many 13 points in the second quarter, Long Beach enjoyed a quick start. A Martin three-pointer gave it a 7-2 lead and forced an early timeout by Carey coach Teresa Schmidt, who said players were aware of the game’s importance. “We haven’t been to the playoffs in a long time,” she said. “I was interested to see how we’d bounce back from the loss to Great Neck South. We didn’t have a great practice yesterday, but the girls stepped up”

The Lady Seahawks responded to the timeout by scoring 12 straight, including traditional three-point plays by Porcasi and senior Liz Osowiecki, and never looked back. Sophomore Liz Rourke scored all four of Long Beach’s second-quarter points, sandwiching a couple of bank shots around a basket by Kasey Ilardi. Carey led 21-11 at halftime following a field goal by Erin Gilroy and a trey by Porcasi.

Carey (5-6 overall) then got offensive contributions from Hannah Mutum, Brett Robison and Angela Terrezza in an evenly played third quarter and maintained a double-digit lead heading into the fourth. Robison, an eighth-grader, turned a steal into a basket within a minute of entering the game midway through the third, and Terrezza beat the buzzer with a backboard-aided shot from behind the arc.

The long heave turned out to be the difference, since Sam Angst, Caitlin O’Connell and Brigitte Gilbert led a late rally that brought the Lady Marines (5-8 overall) within a possession of forcing Carey to play overtime for the second time in 10 days.