Lady Rocks rally past Malverne

Freshman Brooke DeGiulio, right, had 16 points and keyed East Rockaway's 43-41 comeback victory at Malverne last Friday with a strong fourth quarter.

Keith O'Reilly/Herald

Trailing at Malverne by 11 points late in the first half of last Friday’s matchup between Nassau ABC girls’ basketball rivals in search of their first conference victory, East Rockaway rallied behind freshman Brooke DeGiulio to squeak out a 43-41 decision.

DeGiulio scored six of her career-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead basket with 5:26 remaining, and added 10 rebounds as the Lady Rocks snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 7-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Sophomore Rachel Graves added eight points, and junior Alessia Drevnyak had 10 rebounds and 10 blocks. 

Malverne (3-10) got 13 points from sophomore Alexis Lake, who fouled out with 3:44 left, and 12 points from junior Keyeria Dawson.

“It was a big comeback,” East Rockaway head coach Karin Leary said. “Brooke really came up huge offensively and defensively. She’s a smart player who knows the game very well.

“We needed this one and the girls showed they wanted it,” she added. “The second half was our best emotional half of the season.”

The Lady Mules, who opened the campaign with three consecutive victories under first-year head coach Lorenzo Jenkins, led after each of the first three quarters. “We’re a young team with a small roster, and we lost focus in the second half,” he said. “When you miss as many layups as we did, it’s tough to win. That’s been a problem all season, but we’ll get back to the grind and continue to work to get better.”

Malverne dominated the first half and steadily built a lead that topped off at 25-14 with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter. In the opening quarter, the hosts got four points from Dawson and sophomore Diana Jean, and a traditional three-point play from Renee Best, their lone senior, to take a 13-7 advantage.

Lake, who averages a team-high 12.5 points per game and had 24 points in a non-league loss to Hicksville, scored all but two of her points in the first half and the Lady Mules held a nine-point cushion at intermission.