It was a night of celebration for the Oceanside girls’ basketball team last Friday, as the Sailors beat Freeport, 49-43, and sophomore guard Brianna Amenta was awarded a plaque to commemorate her placement on the list of the top 100 players on Long Island.
Despite the warranted attention to Amenta, head coach Jared Stoler was impressed with how the entire roster stepped up to the occasion in the Conference AA-1 matchup.
“This performance was pretty extraordinary on all ends,” Stoler said after Oceanside improved to 4-5 in AA-1 and 6-7 overall. “While the ball is always in Brianna’s hands and she did great helping us out offensively, Julia Lane was a monster down low and she had six or seven blocks,” he added. “Everyone stepped up.”
Amenta led all scorers with 24 points, and she scored in a wide variety of ways, as she got to the rim well and also hit a pair of 3-pointers. Lane, a senior, did in fact have 7 blocks, as she was the perfect safety valve for the Sailors D when the top of their zone broke down.
The Sailors started the game out in control of the pace and the scoreboard, as they were 20-9 following the first half. They maintained this lead for nearly the entirety of the game until midway through the fourth quarter when Freeport stormed back and made it a one-possession game. The hemorrhaging of the lead seemed to ignite something for the Sailors, as they locked in and closed the game out, despite Amenta fouling out.