Seaford rolls into quarterfinals

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Seaford steamrolled into the Nassau County Class A girls’ basketball quarterfinals with a dominating first-round playoff win against Jericho on Feb. 16.

The fourth-seeded Lady Vikings captured the program’s first postseason game in three years with a 61-33 win at home. Seaford improved to 18-2 and will look to continue its magical winter with a quarterfinal matchup at home against fifth-seeded Island Trees.

“They played very well,” Seaford head coach Bob Vachris said. “We got off to a real good start.”

Seaford took command early with a 21-3 lead against the 20th-seeded Jayhawks after the first quarter and was up 38-11 at halftime. Jericho upset Lynbrook, 61-54, in a preliminary round game the day before and Vachris said having fresh legs proved to be advantageous for the Lady Vikings.

“That was a big advantage for them” said Vachris of his team having extra rest. “Our pressure defense never let them get going.”

The Lady Vikings were led by Maddie O’Hagan’s 22 points and a double-double from Jaclyn Grzelaczyk, who registered 16 points and 13 rebounds. Senior point guard Ally Palermo also reached double digits with 12 points while junior guard Julia Siler dished out 11 assists. Vachris said having multiple scoring threats has played big role in the team’s success this season.

“Other teams have to play us straight up with so many scoring options,” Vachris said. “That’s been the difference all year.”

Vachris also credits a strong defensive effort led by Palermo, who held Jericho’s top player Jade Stoler to just five points. The eighth grade point guard standout had averaged 12 points heading into the first round playoff game and tallied 17 with five assists in Jericho’s victory against Lynbrook the day before.

“She took their best player out of the game and they didn’t have another option,” Vachris said of Palermo, who is senior captain and will be playing lacrosse at Northwestern next year. “I consider her to be the best defensive guard in the county.”

Seaford will look for its first semifinal berth since 2014 when it takes on neighborhood foe and former conference rival Island Trees at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, after presstime. Island Trees (15-2) finished just behind second-seeded North Shore in Conference A-IV and blew out crosstown rival MacArthur 48-24 in the first round.

Seaford and Island Trees, who are now in different conferences, last met in the 2015-16 regular season finale when the Vikings were edged, 36-35, on a last second shot for the league title. The teams are very familiar with one another as in addition to the schools being located just three miles from each other, Seaford assistant coach Shannon Curley’s niece. Cathryn Kramer is the starting center for Island Trees.

“The teams both returned everybody from last year so the faces are the same,” Vachris said. “Both teams are about the same size so it will all come down to rebounding.”