Calhoun holds off East Meadow

A new defensive wrinkle coupled with strong interior play helped Calhoun start a winning streak in Conference AA-II girls basketball last Friday. The Lady Colts (4-3 overall, 2-2 in conference games) held off East Meadow, 50-41, for their second win in three days. The defeat dropped the Lady Jets (2-5 overall) to 0-4 in Conference AA-II.

“We tried something new for the first time,” Calhoun coach Dave Radtke said of substituting five players at a time. “The second group is called the crazy group because they create havoc, but it was the best defense by our first group all season.”

East Meadow junior center Jen Gundrum converted a layup with 4:40 remaining to pull the Lady Jets within two points, but on the next possession, Lady Colts senior Carly Singer banked in a three-pointer to make it 42-37. The lead would get no smaller the rest of the way. Gundrum led East Meadow with a game-high 18 points and added seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, and senior guard Meghan Cleary scored 11. “Gundrum had one of her best games of the year for us,” East Meadow coach Bethany LeSueur said. “They really came out and tried to stop her. We had to get other [girls] involved.”

Calhoun senior forward Jessica Ruggiero scored a team-high 15 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had four steals, while junior forward Annemarie White added eight points and eight boards. Senior guard Dana Silvester scored 11 points, including a buzzer-beating layup at the end of the third quarter following a steal at halfcourt. White closed the first half with three offensive rebounds, a layup and a pair of free throws in the final 29 seconds. The Lady Colts offense originally started on the perimeter in the first half with senior guard Danielle Losee (nine points, two three-pointers) the focal point. But as the game wore on and the defensive pace picked up, the ball continuously found its way into the low post where Ruggiero and White were stationed. “They have pretty good [bigs] that can do more than just catch [the ball],” LeSueur said. “They can drop-step, shoot and have good post moves.”

For Calhoun’s defense, it was all about rhythm, or interrupting it when the Lady Jets were bringing the ball up the floor. The up-tempo pace pushed by Calhoun prevented East Meadow from settling in to its normal halfcourt offense where the athletic Gundrum could truly become a force in the paint.

“We rushed the girl that was dribbling the ball,” Radtke said. “It made for some quick shots and got them out of their offense.”

After a back-and-forth battle, the Lady Colts went ahead for good late in the third quarter when Ruggiero pulled down one of her eight offensive rebounds and put it back for a layup to make the score 33-32. After a steal by Silvester on the next possession, Ruggiero completed a three-point play, setting the stage for Silvester’s last-second layup that helped the Lady Colts close the third quarter on a seven-point run.