MacArthur rallies to top Mepham

Posted

MacArthur and Mepham have become familiar opponents on the girls’ basketball court this winter with the South Shore rivals squaring off for a third time this season last Saturday and second time in a one-week span.

A late spurt propelled MacArthur a crucial 40-32 win in the latest encounter that moved the Lady Generals to 4-3 in league play and on pace for a playoff spot. The home triumph occurred one week after MacArthur used another late rally for a 41-36 victory at Mepham, the three-time reigning Conference AA/A-III champions. The Lady Pirates captured the teams’ first meeting, 45-40, in a non-league game held at Nassau Coliseum on Dec. 23.

“They have won the conference the last three years so they have the target on their backs and are the big dogs,” MacArthur head coach Dave Radtke said of Mepham, which dropped to 7-3 in league play.  “If you want to win you have to beat the big dogs and they are the big dogs.”

MacArthur pulled off a conference sweep of Mepham with a game-ending 9-0 run that began with Amanda Peluso scoring off a rebound with just under two minutes left that gave the Lady Generals a 33-32 lead.  After a defensive stop, Dorianna Cardon drilled a clutch three-pointer to expand the lead to four.

“She can shoot the basketball,” said Radtke of Cardon, who scored seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter. “She’s one of our best three-point shooters.”

The Lady Generals iced the game from the foul line with seniors Gabby Volpe and Angela Cozza delivering clutch free throws. Volpe and Cozza led the MacArthur scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Mepham used a 12-6 third quarter run to take a 26-22 lead heading into the final period. Senior guard Julie Linekin finished with 10 points and hit a late field goal that knotted the score at 31-31.

‘They killed us on offensive rebounding,” Mepham head coach Jim Mulvey said. “They got second and third chances and then they banged some shots from outside.” 

Mepham took a hit to its inside game early in the season with the loss of senior power forward Julia Anderson to a torn ACL. Senior guard Mary Ann Bagonis, last year’s Conference Player of the Year winner, is working her way back from a similar ACL injury and fought through the pain to record four points in last Saturday’s game.

“We play real hard, but we are having a hard time scoring,” Mulvey said. “We have to limit our turnovers.” 

Mepham returns to the court this Friday against Valley Stream Central before traveling to Manhasset on Tuesday.  MacArthur is home for the next three games starting Wednesday evening, after presstime, versus Valley Stream Central before hosting Manhasset Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Long Beach on Monday for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff.

“We win two more games and we’re in the playoffs,” said Radtke on the importance of the Mepham victory moving his team above the .500 mark in conference. “We are now playing for a seed.”