Girls basketball

Lander-less Lady Dawgs ice gun shootin’ Lady Raiders

Teams knotted at the half in three-point battle but Dawgs’ defense rises to the occasion

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY - Sarah Lander begged, pleaded and cajoled coach Ron Bernhardt to let her play in the Lady Bulldogs’ Division IV opener against James I. O’Neill on December 15, as the stalwart star laced up her sneakers over her still badly swollen ankle injured a few days prior in practice.

But although her coach let her go through the pre-game warm ups, he wisely kept her from playing the game. It’s a long season, and Bernhardt’s talented young pups are going to need Lander’s steadiness in the big wars to come.

Without Lander in the flow, it remained to be seen how Sullivan West would fare against an O’Neill team they had not had time to scout.

The Raiders were returning veterans Katie Lewis, Meghan Mumford and Kim Dodge. Although the Sullivan West coaches were aware of the addition of grad Elisabeth Cannon’s younger sister Caroline and a nightly high scorer named Tiana Taylor, they knew a lot less about O’Neill than they would have liked. No doubt the Bulldog coaches were somewhat taken aback by O’Neill’s deftness from three-point land in the first half.

The Lady Raiders took advantage of the space afforded to them by Sullivan West’s shifts from its press to its half-court defense.

Lewis had a trio of treys, including a pair in the first quarter and another in the second frame. Additional damage from long range included three-pointers from Taylor and Cannon.

With such marksmanship, the Lady Raiders might well have been on their way to a road win against their Division IV rival were it not for the fine game turned in by Sullivan West’s Donna Kelly. Her quartet of three-pointers in the first half kept the Bulldogs even at 13-all at the close of the first quarter and knotted with the Raiders at 25-all by halftime.

A first-quarter three-pointer from Erin Bernhardt and four points from post-presence Rachel Houghtaling bolstered Kelly’s effort.

In the first half, the Lady Bulldogs fared poorly against the Raiders’ two-three zone defense. Were it not for accurate perimeter shooting, Sullivan West’s misses inside and its spate of turnovers might have proved to be its early undoing.

Nervous at the way things had unfolded in the first half but determined to keep Lander out of the mix, Bernhardt had his team switch to a man defense. Consequently, with no time to get open looks at the basket, O’Neill’s shooters went ice cold. When they did get off shots, they were way off the mark.

In addition, Sullivan West took control of the glass, denying O’Neill the second- and third-chance opportunities that netted the Lady Raiders points in the early going.

The Lady Dawgs shut O’Neill out by going on a 10-0 run in the third quarter, with four points from Houghtaling and two each from Katrina Graby, Kelly and Jenn Pitz.

O’Neill’s drought persisted until 6:55 of the fourth quarter when Taylor finally got one to go through the cylinder.

In that final frame, Sullivan West (4-0, 1-0 OCIAA) outscored O’Neill (1-4, 0-1 OCIAA) 18-11, giving Sullivan West a 28-11 advantage in the second half, which led to the 17-point margin of victory.

Kelly led all scorers with 18 points. Houghtaling had 10 and Jenn Pitz had seven for the Lady Bulldogs. Lewis led the Raiders with nine and Cannon had five.

O’Neill got to the free-throw line for six attempts, with two of those coming off reckless fouls committed by the Bulldogs’ young post players, who will have to learn to rein in their enthusiasm. The Lady Raiders hit four-of-six from the stripe. Sullivan West hit 14-of-22 from the line.

O’Neill coach Tom Mrazek summed up his team’s second-half woes thusly: “We went cold. They made a good adjustment on defense and came out on our shooters. That opened up the middle but we didn’t take advantage of that.

“Our girls stepped it up early, but we have to learn to put two good halves together,” the coach added. “I’m glad I got everybody in the game, though.”

Bernhardt attributed his team’s resurgence in great part to sliding help on defense. He gave O’Neill shooters a lot of credit. “They made some great shots in the first half.”

Overall, Bernhardt was extremely pleased. “To win a game that was tied at the half by 17 without Lander is impressive,” Bernhardt said. “Early on, our offense lacked fluidity against their zone and we didn’t rebound well. But give these girls credit; they didn’t collapse. They held together. We’re young and it’s going to take time for this team to solidify, but they showed poise, despite making some mistakes in the post. Add to that the difficulties that Erin [Bernhardt] has had coming back from two ACLs (anterior cruciate ligament tears) and now bothered by a vexing rash caused by her knee brace.”

“Donna Kelly carried us and did a great job guarding Cannon. O’Neill has a bunch of kids who can play,” he concluded.

That’s for sure, and so does Burke. This was just the first salvo in the Class B wars that should prove to be explosive and riveting before all is said and done.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.