Shooting drought dooms Oceanside
After scoring on its opening possession of the second half to lead by seven points, Oceanside lost its shooting touch both from the field and foul line, and suffered a 42-35 home defeat to Syosset in a Nassau Conference AA-I girls’ basketball game last Thursday evening.
The Lady Sailors managed only five field goals and a pair of free throws in what was their lowest-scoring half — 12 points — of the season and slipped to 1-2 in conference play and 5-3 overall. They missed 20 field goals and eight free throws after halftime, while Syosset’s Katelyn Lesse and Victoria Ciavarella caught fire.
Lesse scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half, and Ciavarella scored six of her 10 in the fourth quarter. Senior Allie Brooks netted a game-high 15 for Oceanside, which held its biggest lead at 25-18 after her early third-quarter basket.
“It’s not the first game we had a dry spell cost us,” Lady Sailors coach Jason Manning said. “The margin for error in this conference is so small. Defensively, I love the energy we brought. It doesn’t take more than a few breakdowns for the other team to pounce.”
What made Oceanside’s second-half possessions more problematic was its inability to rebound. Lauren Maturo controlled the boards for Syosset, which began its surge early in the third quarter with back-to-back threes by Lesse. Early in the fourth, Lesse followed another three with a steal and layup to put the visitors ahead 32-29.
“Those five quick points was where the game turned,” Manning said. “We were leading the whole game, but then we started to rush some shots. We were able to get to the line, but we struggled from there too. We just need to be a little more consistent. The effort is always there.”
Brooks had eight points in the first quarter and sophomore Woodlynn Daniel hit for six of her 12 in the second as Oceanside built a 23-17 halftime advantage. It was the sixth time in eight games the Lady Sailors led at intermission.
“We’re going to be fighting like this every night,” Manning said. “The thing that we’re stressing the most is converting shots from around the basket. We’ve been missing a lot of bunnies, and those come back to hurt us.”
Oceanside hadn’t played in more than two weeks. In its previous games, plenty of shot fell in a 62-27 victory over Hempstead on Dec. 20. Ten players scored, and the Lady Sailors produced double digits in points in each quarter. Daniel had 21 points and 13 rebounds, Brooks had 20 points, senior Tina Pumo added six points and six assists, and sophomore Emily Doherty chipped in four points.
Each of the seven teams in Conference AA-I has been saddled with a loss already, including perennial county contender Massapequa. With only the top four teams set to qualify for the playoffs, the Lady Sailors have a pivotal stretch upcoming with games against Massapequa, Farmingdale, and Uniondale.
