Lady Owls swoop into semis

The beat goes on for the Lady Owls.

Third-seeded Lynbrook kept its dream of a championship alive with a 50-34 victory over No. 6 Elmont in a Nassau Class A quarterfinal playoff game on Feb. 16. Sophomore Brooke Gerstman scored 16 points and senior Shannon Doody added nine points and seven rebounds as the Lady Owls continued their quest for the program’s first county title since 1977-78. 

Coach Heather Savignano believes much of the difference was the intensity her girls brought to the floor in the second half. “All season long, our philosophy has been to come out strong in the third quarter,” Savignano said. “Teams tend to relax, and try to get back into the flow of the game. We feel like that’s the time to put the pressure on and take advantage. We had a great third quarter and took over.” 

The Lady Owls would have their hands full trying to contain Elmont senior Jasmine Cobbs, who came in averaging 15.7 points per game. Lynbrook, 14-5, won both times the teams met during the regular season, but Elmont was a tough opponent all season long.  

Neither team looked sharp in the opening quarter, but the Lady Spartans held an 8-6 lead. Elmont was coming off a convincing 63-41 win over Westbury in the opening round, while Lynbrook dominated Plainedge 71-40 to advance to the quarterfinals. Doody (19) and senior Jessy Rosen combined for 34 points in the win over Plainedge.

The Lady Owls started to take control late in the second quarter. Behind Gerstman’s perimeter game, and eighth grader Jen Fay on the interior, Lynbrook opened up a 19-15 lead at the half. Fay finished with eight points in just her third game after being called up from JV.

The third quarter was all Lynbrook. The Lady Owls played intense defense, and looked like the more inspired team as they went on a 14-2 run to take complete command of the game. Lynbrook had a 37-21 lead as the teams took the floor for the final eight minutes.  

The Lady Owls advanced to the Class A Final Four where they took on No. 2 Garden City, a team that beat them twice during the regular season, on Tuesday night, after press time. A spot in Saturday’s 2 p.m. title game would go to the winner.

Savignano was excited about the opportunity to take on the Lady Trojans again. “We’ve advanced further than we have in the past,” Savignano said. “We wanted another shot at Garden City and now we have to take advantage of the opportunity. We’re going to need to pressure the ball, and make things difficult for their big scorers. It’s going to come down to who plays with the most heart. The team that wants it more is going to win”