Unbeaten Mepham outlasts Calhoun

After holding Calhoun to just 10 first-half points and opening up a five-point lead, Mepham head coach Jim Mulvey’s talk at intermission was a simple one: Stay the course on defense.

The Lady Pirates’ offense came around in the third quarter and they held on for the 33-26 victory in a Conference AA-III girls’ basketball matchup on Jan. 20. It was the third time in four games Mepham (13-1 overall, 7-0 in Conference AA-III) held an opponent below 35 points. “Defense doesn’t get old and it doesn’t take nights off,” Mulvey said. “We told them to just keep playing hard defense and they’ll be fine.”

The Lady Pirates stretched their winning streak to 12, and put the game away with a 10-0 run to start the third quarter. Senior Taylor O’Brien capped the outburst with a three-pointer following a pair of free throws by sophomore Kara Castaldo, a three-pointer by sophomore Maryann Bagonis and a bucket by sophomore Julia Anderson in the first 4:30 of the frame.

Bagonis scored a game-high 13 points, while senior Maeve Testa pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. “She did a good job off the pick-and-roll and also hit a couple of stepbacks,” Mulvey said of Bagonis.

The Lady Colts’ (8-7 overall, 5-3 in Conference AA-III) biggest push on the scoreboard came in late in the fourth quarter when they trimmed a 16-point bulge to just seven by scoring the last nine points. Sophomore Katie Healy’s layup just before the final buzzer provided the last two points in the run. Sophomore Honora Campbell grabbed an offensive rebound and went right back up for a layup, while Healy added a basket in transition that started off a steal on the defensive side of the floor by junior Dana Brown. Senior Kim Pike, who scored eight points, pulled down six rebound and added three steals and a block, had a layup during the Lady Colts’ final scoring run.

“The girls played with such heart, grit and intensity,” Calhoun head coach Pete Magnuson said. “We made it tough for them. The girls did a lot of talking on defense, played good team defense and [provided] good help [on defense].”

Indeed, both teams played some of their best defense of the season. Both offenses were held under double digits in all but one quarter — the Lady Pirates scored 12 in the third — as the defenses collapsed in the paint and limited opportunities for easy baskets in transition. “We played tough defense without putting Calhoun on the free-throw line,” Mulvey said, noting the Lady Colts had just five attempts.

“[We] play with such toughness and aggressiveness that as a coach you can’t ask for anything more,” Magnuson said.

The Lady Pirates, who held a 1.5-game edge over MacArthur in AA-III after the win over Calhoun, host Herricks in the Hoops for a Cure this Friday at 6:30 p.m., as the teams raise funds for the fight against cancer. Mepham won the first meeting between the teams, 51-30, on Jan. 5

The Lady Colts are on the road Friday at Long Beach (4:30 p.m.) and look to sweep the season series after a 50-26 home victory over the Lady Marines on Jan. 5.