Clutch comeback win for Hewlett basketball

To say Hewlett’s Sam DiSalvo likes taking the court against cross-town Conference A-II rival Lawrence is a major understatement.

Three weeks after pouring in a school-record 49 points in a home victory over the Lady Golden Tornadoes, the sophomore guard led a huge comeback that kept the Lady Bulldogs’ playoff hopes alive. DiSalvo scored 20 of her game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter last Friday as Hewlett overcame a 23-point deficit to win, 64-58.

“We didn’t come out with as much energy as they did, but coach [Tommy Johnson] kept motivating us and he knew we could do it,” said DiSalvo, who scored nine straight points to open the fourth quarter to cut Lawrence’s lead to a basket with 4:58 remaining. “When we started coming back, I looked at the scoreboard and saw we were only down five,” she added. “And we just kept going.”   

Junior Valerie DeNapoli scored seven of her 11 points in the fourth, and junior Gabby Casanova added 13 points for the Lady Bulldogs, who won for the third time this season and pulled even with Plainedge for the conference’s last postseason berth. Lawrence, which was eliminated from playoff contention, had four players score in double figures led by senior Gabi Golan’s 22 points. Freshman Dina Goldstein had 12 points, and junior Nicole Robinson and senior Natalie Leger added 11 before fouling out with 5:30 and 4:58 left, respectively.

“Down 21 at the half, we needed to win the third quarter by a decent margin to have a shot to do something in the fourth,” Johnson said. “Lawrence played a tremendous first half and probably still outplayed us for the game, but our girls never quit.”

Getting the ball in DiSalvo’s hands, Johnson said, was the difference. “We had success against them the first time by driving to the basket,” he said. “Today we came out bombing from the outside. We finally started to get aggressive in the third quarter and Sam took over.”

Leger had all 11 of her points in the first 10 minutes as Lawrence built a 24-14 lead early in the second. Golan (10) and Robinson combined for 18 second-quarter points, and the advantage swelled to 43-22 at halftime, but it was all Hewlett after Goldstein opened the second half with a basket to give the hosts their biggest lead. Senior Jenni Rogoff chipped in four points and led the second-half defense with DeNapoli.

“To know what it feels like to win after being down so much is a really good experience,” Johnson said. “If we can win our next game against Plainedge, we’re probably in the playoffs.”