Basketball

Close encounter

Sullivan West survives a hard-fought game against gutsy Liberty for first league win

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Judging from Sullivan West’s emergence from the first quarter with a 12-0 lead over Division IV rival Liberty on December 18, one might have presumed this game would be akin to all those played between the two teams over recent years, namely yet another Sullivan West romp over a team they’re used to trouncing.

Case in point: last year, Sullivan West beat Liberty 83-17 and 73-23.

But this is not only a new season, it may indeed be a new era. The rest of this game would soon give credence to that assertion.

After coming out flat, the Lady Indians showed great mettle against the Westies, who are at present in great flux trying to fit people into roles they are unaccustomed to filling. The result was a game that became tighter as it went along, and one in which the Lady Indians were still threatening with three minutes to go, putting Sullivan West into the kind of late-game pressure it expects from teams like O’Neill and Burke, but not from Liberty.

A late lift from Sullivan West junior Brianna Kline, who contributed eight fourth-quarter points, helped stave off what might have been a headline-grabbing upset had it occurred. Kline put an end to a 7-0 Liberty run with an alert tip, steal and conversion.

“She gave us a true lift,” said coach Ron Bernhardt later. “She’s not a true guard. She’s playing three spots for me,” he added.

As it turns out, neither coach was surprised by the near close shave. Liberty’s Tom Lagattuta knew that Sullivan West was having some personnel issues. With Rachel Houghtaling still ineligible and the recent absence of Vicky Argueta, who left the team for personal reasons but had just returned, Lagattuta knew that Bernhardt was trying to shuffle his players around. Bernhardt started junior Cindy Szeflinski, a newcomer to varsity, as Argueta had only just returned to action.

Meanwhile, Liberty came into this fray with a deeper bench than it has had in years, and while it has a group of young players, it also has veteran leadership in senior point guard Angela Giaccolone and a dominant post presence in senior Ceara Williams.

With less commanding presence in the Westies’ lineup to contest her, Williams became a menace in the paint. In the second half, Sullivan West had no answer for her. Williams scored seven in the third quarter and 11 in the fourth after an uncharacteristically quiet first half. She led the Lady Indians with 18 points on the night.

Adding in an athletic tall tree in junior guard Denisha Williamson could have created more match-up difficulties, and most certainly will once she gets more games under her belt. While not an offensive factor in this game and prone to turnovers, she did offer some help in dealing with Sullivan West’s leading scorer and low post dominating Katrina Graby. Sophomore Paige LaPolt rose to the occasion too, standing her ground in several tie ups with bigger Lady Westies. Her gamesmanship impressed Lagattuta immensely.

While certain symptoms are evidence of various illnesses in the medical arena, in basketball, turnovers reveal a lack of cohesion, a phrase Bernhardt used in his post-game recap to assess his team’s current state. While Liberty had 20 turnovers, some of which came from inexperience and some from the fine pressure put on by Sullivan West’s guards, the Lady Westies coughed it up 17 times against a team that doesn’t even approximate the kind of pressure they’ll see from Burke or O’Neill in early 2009.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks to get ready for that,” said Bernhardt, who can only hope that some things will resolve themselves before then. O’Neill dominated Liberty 49-23 on December 12, proving itself to be a more daunting foe for the Lady Indians than Sullivan West was this time out.

Liberty’s first-quarter struggles put it in the position of having to play catch up the rest of the game. As Lagattuta noted following the 46-36 loss, “We had a lot of catching up to do but I’m proud of my girls. They never gave up and they fought right to the end.”

Lindsey Murphy led Sullivan West in that first quarter with six of her eventual 12 points. Junior Kim Yewchuck provided two as did junior guard Lindsey Bauer and forward Graby in that first frame.

But in the second quarter, Liberty outscored Sullivan West 11-7. Holding their rivals to such a miniscule total was unprecedented for the Lady Indians. Giaccolone broke a nearly 11-minute drought by canning all three free throws granted to her on an attempted downtowner.

She followed that with an inbounds steal and a layup for five unanswered points, followed by a steal and a bucket by Angie Ramos. A steal and a bucket by Bauer ended the run. Liberty got baskets from Alyssa Corbett, Ramos and LaPolt to close with eight as they trailed 19-11 at the half.

Sullivan West’s paltry second-quarter output amounted to three points by Bauer and a bucket each from Argueta and Graby.

The Lady Bulldogs weren’t able to put Liberty away in the third quarter either as the teams played nearly even with Sullivan West holding a 13-11edge in the quarter. As Williams awoke in the post, she helped Liberty pull within six. Graby’s drives to the basket were a problem, though, for Liberty, as the big forward drew fouls. She scored seven of her team-high 13 in the period, which ended with Sullivan West leading 32-22 after Angie Ramos nailed a three for the Lady Indians as the quarter expired.

Things got dicey in the fourth quarter with Williams’ surge. Down by nine and back to the line for two more free throw attempts, the gritty senior threatened to lower the margin to a manageable seven, but she blanked on both attempts. Without the eight-point quarter from Kline, Sullivan West might have skittered down a slippery slope to a devastating loss.

Giaccalone slid through the lane for a late uncontested bucket, but the Bulldogs survived the scare as Murphy kept the margin secure with a put back of an Argueta miss to hold on for the 46-36 victory. Sullivan West improved to 3-1 (1-0 OCIAA), while Liberty fell to 1-4 (0-2 OCIAA. The Bulldogs were eight-for-13 from the free throw line, while the Lady Indians’ conversion of only nine of 21 proved to be the difference maker.

Lagattuta praised his team’s ability to battle. “But we didn’t win the game and that’s the bottom line.” The first-quarter hole his team dug for itself proved to be too deep.

“Some of the seniors are mentoring our younger players and that’s good for the program,” he said, referring to Giaccolone as “a warrior with a huge heart.”

Bernhardt summed things up this way: “We’re a work in progress. It all starts at the guard position.” Noting Liberty’s late resurgence, he added, “we’re very inexperienced and we’re making mistakes. You can only grow so fast. Credit Liberty, they played gutsy basketball and I had to apologize to my bench because I needed to keep my starters in. This was the closest they’ve played us in years.”

Sullivan West’s current lack of cohesion is in direct opposition to the team that went 19-1 in the summer, losing only to Class B giant Clinton and beating state Class AA champ Rush Henrietta. But Houghtaling was with them then and at present, she is not. That means going to war against Burke and O’Neill, at least the first time through, with the current roster.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said the coach.

He’s right about that. Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of photos from the game.