Syosset Girls Basketball Opens Season With a Bang

The Syosset girls basketball team opened their season in commanding fashion, topping the Plainview JFK Hawks 48 – 32 at Friday night in the first round of the Syosset Invitational Tournament. 

The win advances Syosset to Saturday's championship game against MacArthur High School. 

As lopsided as the score was, it still doesn't indicate how dominant Syosset (1-0) was in the first three quarters. The Braves jumped out to a quick 10 – 4 first-quarter lead and never relinquished that stranglehold. Plainview wouldn't hit the six-point mark until midway through the second quarter.

"The kids up top were real active," Syosset coach Doug Schumacher said of the Braves defense. "We were quick to get out on the ball. They [Plainview JFK] didn't get open shots, they got contested shots."

Syosset's 2 – 3 zone was indeed suffocating.  The few times the Lady Hawks got the ball inside resulted in turnovers and highly-contested and missed lay ups. 

Offensively, Syosset missed a few lay-ups early, but quickly corrected the problem and scored 28 points in the first half, giving them a comfortable 17-point lead at the break.

Plainview JFK mounted a mini-comeback in the fourth quarter, hitting three triples to cut the Braves lead to 15, but it was too late as the Hawks waited too long to get hot from the outside.

"We did a lot of nice things," said Schumacher of the performance. "We need to make fewer mistakes tomorrow (Saturday against MacArthur) and bring the same energy that we brought tonight."

Hero: Maturo – The junior dominated the third quarter, scoring 10 of Syosset's 12 points in the period. Her interior presence was too much for the Hawks to handle. The offensive game plan in the third quarter became simplistic – throw the ball down low for a Maturo lay up. When that wasn't the call, she would put back a rebound, towering over Lady Hawk defenders.

Turning Point: Any chance Plainview JFK had to keep the game within reach went away early in the second quarter. After the Lady Hawks scored to cut the Braves' lead to 11, Syosset rattled in four straight points and led by 15. It wasn't a big run, but it was the first time Syosset would have to answer Plainview JFK. It would also be the last.

Quotable: "We brought a lot of energy," said Schumacher. "Which is what we were hoping because in our scrimmages, we didn't bring much. We did a lot of nice things and we made a lot of mistakes."

Bottom Line: The most impressive part of Friday night's victory was the Syosset defense. If they can prevent teams from scoring in the paint, they're not going to lose a lot of games. Generally, making teams work for points by forcing them to settle for unwanted outside shots leads to an abundance of defensive rebounds. Syosset didn't allow many second chance points, a large factor in the lopsided win.

Key Stat: Maturo scored the first six points of the third quarter.

Who's Next: Saturday vs. MacArthur @ Syosset High School, 3:15pm.

 

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