Lynbrook reaches 10 victories

The Lynbrook girls’ basketball continued its impressive play last Friday, as the Owls beat visiting Plainedge, 61-46.

Lynbrook was able to pull away following a neck-and-neck first half. Head coach Stephen LoCicero was impressed with how well his unit was able to respond to the specific matchups the game presented.

“We’ve had a dip in the third occasionally this year, but as a team today we figured it out,” LoCicero said. “We pulled our press back to the half court and I think the girls really responded well to understanding the nature of the game so that was a great game for us.”

Entering the half, the Owls maintained a 3-point lead, but were able to open the floodgates in the third quarter, as they won the quarter with a 19-8 margin. From there, the Owls were able to lock in defensively, and mitigate the perimeter shooting that kept Plainedge in the game in the first half. For reference, Plainedge guard Julia Foppiano made 4 three pointers in the first half, but only one over the final 16 minutes. She finished with a game-high 20 points.

The Owls ball movement was impressive, as there weren’t many junctures of over-dribbling or stagnation. Senior Kaelynn O’Brien was the leading scorer for the Owls, as she finished with 15 points on the evening. She hit two three-pointers and got to the line 8 times. Senior Kyla Nembach was equally as potent, as she was the second-leading scorer for the hosts with 13 points, scoring in similar ways from the perimeter as O’Brien. Junior Caityblu Cavassa was a steady presence on the interior, finishing with 8 points and 12 rebounds. LoCicero was ecstatic with how fluid and unselfish his group played in this game, and how cognizant they were in what each of their roles were.

“I think every single girl who got on the floor tonight did their job tonight,” LoCicero said. “They did a great job of playing within themselves. It was kind of like that old ‘do your job’ idea, and they did exactly what they were supposed to do.”

Freshman Cate Jennings and Brooke Mazzei each chipped in with 9 points apiece. As LoCicero said: “the young girls in Cate and Brooke played awesome tonight.”

Lynbrook holds a 10-4 record, and a 5-3 record within conference A-4. That’s good enough for third place in the conference, although it sits only a game back of Floral Park. The Owls need to finish either .500 or better in A-4 or no worse than fourth place to qualify for the playoffs.

The Owls have four games remaining in the regular season. They will look to continue their push for the playoffs when they face Floral Park and Bethpage this week. They were held to a season-low 31 points by Floral Park in the first meeting. Lynbrook defeated Bethpage 54-32 the first time around behind 20 points from O’Brien, 11 from Nembach, 10 from Jennings and 9 from Mazzei.