Clarke handles West Hempstead

Senior forward Gabriella Martins scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half to lead Clarke to a 42-32 victory over visiting West Hempstead on Dec. 12 in the Conference A5 girls’ basketball opener for both teams. Senior guard Jessica Gibaldi added 13 points for Clarke, which improved to 2-2 overall.

West Hempstead (1-4) was led by Kayla Cleare’s game-high 22 points. Cleare, who is averaging 18 points per game, scored West Hempstead’s first 13 points.  

Clarke head coach Shaun Fean was happy with his team’s performance. “Once we showed a little patience and used ball fakes, we started to get good looks,” Fean said. “Our stuff was working. We try to play frantically on defense, and sometimes it carries over to the way on offense. When we run our sets, reverse the ball, and stay poised, we’re fine.”

After trailing by a point at the half, Clarke picked it up on defense, forced numerous turnovers that led to baskets, and went on an 8-1 run to take 25-19 lead. With Clarke keeping Cleare off the scoreboard until the waning moments of the third quarter, West Hempstead had trouble finding the bottom of the net.

West Hempstead head coach Chris Van Kovics, who had just seven healthy players dressed for the game, knows how important Cleare’s offense is to his team. “If Kayla doesn’t give us the points we need, things will be tough,” Van Kovics said. “We struggle to run offense. We don’t have a lot of people who can score. That’s our biggest issue right now. They just ran their sets better than us.”

Despite not being able to generate offense, West Hempstead’s defense kept the game close. Late in the third quarter, back-to-back buckets by sophomore Lisette Palomo and Cleare got West Hempstead within 25-24.  

The final quarter was all Clarke. A long three by junior Brianna Ventola, her only field goal of the game, got the team started on an 8-0 run that gave Clarke a 38-27 lead with a little over two minutes to play. West Hempstead never challenged down the stretch. Clarke junior guard Hannah Zirkel, who leads the team with 13.3 points per game, scored all seven of her points in the opening half.

The victory broke a two-game losing streak for Clarke. After opening the season with a convincing 46-27 win over East Meadow, the Rams lost back-to-back games to Port Washington and Bethpage in the Port Washington Tournament.

Fean likes the way his team bounced back from a pair of losses. “So far, things are good,” Fean said. “We came out of the gates playing very well against East Meadow, but then we took a step back. We had a few good days of practice leading up to this game. I was happy we had four days to work out the kinks. It’s been a little up and down, so this is a step in the right direction.”

The teams meet again at West Hempstead on Jan. 16.