Late rally lifts Mepham past Calhoun
Mepham’s girls’ basketball team is loaded with underclassmen, but that doesn’t mean the Lady Pirates take a backseat to anyone on the hardwood. They remained undefeated (11-0 overall, 8-0 in Conference AA-III) with a 51-49 victory over district-rival Calhoun last Friday night, battling back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit fueled by defense and timely scoring by eighth-grader Megan Anderson, sophomore Nicole Castaldo and junior Kristen O'Brien.
Anderson stepped in front of a Calhoun pass on the defensive end of the floor, and her high-arching, three-point bank shot on the back end of the possession broke a tie at 43-43 with 2:56 remaining. Castaldo, who scored a team-high 14 points, sealed the win with a baseline floater over the outstretched arm of Calhoun junior Jessica Ruggiero with 27 seconds to play.
“We find different ways to win,” Lady Pirates coach Jim Mulvey said. “We find a go-to player when it comes down to it.”
Despite the loss, the Lady Colts (8-3 overall, 5-3 in Conference AA-III) remained in strong position for a playoff spot. For the better part of three quarters, Calhoun had the Lady Pirates on the ropes. The Lady Colts combined strong defense and timely rebounding to pull out to a 33-22 lead early in the third quarter, with junior guard Dana Silvester’s three-pointer providing the exclamation point.
“Calhoun played great defense,” Mulvey said. “They played a tough man-to-man
the whole time. They ran great [plays] to counteract us.”
And just as the Lady Pirates began to chip away—Castaldo and sophomore Mary Galgano (12 points) drained consecutive three-pointers with Galgano later netting a steal and senior guard Jillian Picinich finishing with a layup that cut the lead to three points--the Lady Colts didn’t allow another point until the fourth quarter. Mepham went scoreless for the final 5:03 of the third, with a buzzer-beating layup by Calhoun junior Talia Charidah opening up a 39-32 lead.
