Sunday, February 9, 2025
Could this be the year that the Malverne girls’ basketball team finally snaps its lengthy playoff drought?
With a 4-3 record in Conference A2 play and a 9-6 mark overall, the answer could be a resounding yes. The Mules have five games remaining starting with Saturday’s tilt at Island Trees, whom they beat at home by 22 on Dec. 14, followed by another encounter against winless Lawrence three days later.
Wins in both of those games would all but solidify a top four place in the standings and their first postseason berth since 2017. If they don’t, the season could come down to rematches against the top three teams in the conference in North Shore, Seaford, and Plainedge, which all contributed to Malverne’s four-game losing streak earlier this month.
“They’ve been locked in,” said head coach Amanda Masson the day before the Mules posted a crucial 44-24 win over fifth-place Friends Academy last Friday night that dropped the Quakers to 2-4 in divisional play. “They’ve been very dedicated. They’re working hard and our seniors are setting the standard.”
Those seniors are Ty’zanae Reed and Hazel Whitfield, who were both close to averaging 10 points a game this season entering the Friends encounter. Reed (9.2) is scoring about a point better than last winter and is always poised for a double-double and Whitfield (8.9) has the Mules’ only 20-point game of the campaign while more than doubling her point average from her junior season.
“She’s grown tremendously,” Masson said of Whitfield. “Hazel’s always a go-getter on defense and offense she just makes it easier. Now, she’s going to the basket stronger and becoming her own person.”
Malverne is also getting production from a couple of young future stars in eighth graders Nevaeh Lopez-Shigg, who is pacing the team with an 11.2 scoring average, and Autumn Williams (4.3), who posted a season-high 14 points against Island Trees. Masson said the pair is eerily like their senior teammates.
“We always say Taz and Hazel are like older versions of Navaeh and Autumn,” she said. “Just everything they do from outside the court and on the court. When I saw them when they were younger, that’s how they were, like Autumn and Navaeh. They’re more positive and they help bring their confidence up, making them feel comfortable to be able to go to the basket and not be penalized and not be too scared.”
The Mules’ success could also be attributed to a vastly improved defense that is averaging just over 33 points allowed this season after yielding just over 44 in 2023-24. Keyed by junior Makiya Harris, the defense has pitched a shutout in a quarter three times and allowed two points on another occasion.
“With the defense, we focus a lot on placement and being in the right place and the right position, just to make it easier,” Masson said.
Freshman “fireball” Dana Sobers has had a couple of seven-point games this season and has been compared to Harris with her defensive effectiveness against the opposition’s top scorers.
