Glen Cove enters home stretch

After dropping three games in a row in mid-to-late December, the Glen Cove girls’ basketball team regrouped and went on to win four of its next six. During that stretch, stark improvement was shown and ‘a new gear’ was found, according to first-year head coach Navro Allen.

“They’re starting to believe in themselves,” Allen said. “The kids are still young, but they’re starting to believe that they are as good as I tell them they are. That could be a scary thing for other teams.”

To kick off that successful stretch, Trinity Hudson piled up 24 points in a 58-42 winning effort at home against Malverne. Destiny Howell added 15 points, before matching her backcourt mate in the ensuing matchup, mirroring Hudson’s 18 points in a thunderous 53-26 victory over Roosevelt on the road. Roosevelt was held to 8 points each quarter until the final frame, where it could only manage two points.

“The team is making a huge jump both offensively and defensively,” Allen said. “The next big jump we need to make is execution while the pressure is on.”

Kennedy did just that Jan. 10, putting pressure on the young Glen Cove team after climbing back from a 13-7 deficit in the first quarter to make it 32-19 at the half. The Wildcat’s diverse scoring approach with double digit contributions from four players on the night proved too much for the Lady Big Red. Hudson and Howell combined for 33 of their team’s 42 points.

After dropping one more to Plainedge a few days later, Glen Cove would bounce back, winning two straight against Roslyn and Hewlett respectively. Howell and Hudson returned to form after a tough performance against Plainedge, and responded in a big way. Howell (26 points, 8 rebounds) and Hudson (22 points, 13 rebounds) led this reenergized Glen Cove team to a 60-56 key victory on the road.

“Everybody has made a jump in skill level,” Allen said. After mentioning Hudson and Howell and how they continue to improve, he lauded the efforts of Aaliyah Stone. “She has made a tremendous jump from the start of the season until now,” Allen said. He also mentioned Brianna Guillen and Jaynise Espinal as extremely hard workers who have improved greatly.

Although dropping its last game to conference-leading Sewanhaka (13-1 overall, 8-0 in A-II), the story changed from their first meeting this year. On Dec. 21, Sewanhaka pulled ahead early and never looked back, earning a huge 41-point victory over Glen Cove. This time around, Sewanhaka pulled ahead by 22 midway through the third quarter, before the Lady Big Red cutting the deficit to 5 with just a few minutes left to play. Sewanhaka head coach Alex Soupios quickly called for a shift from the zone press to a man press, solidifying the victory in a much closer matchup.

In their three latest losses, Glen Cove went up against a trio of opponents with a combined 3 conference defeats, but played valiantly as a better overall team.

“We want to become a great basketball team,” Allen said. “We want to upset people and we want to do things other people told us we can’t.”

With four games left in the regular season, and two wins needed for a playoff berth, Allen believes his team deserves that nod. “I want to get them to the playoffs,” Allen said. “They’ve worked so hard and come so far this year, they deserve that.”