Lady Pirates ousted by Massapequa

Injuries were a major component of Mepham's season on the hardwood for much of the 2009-10 season. But several of the Lady Pirates key contributors returned at the end of the regular season and helped push the team into the Nassau Class AA playoffs. The extended ride came to an end in the quarterfinals, however, with a 66-40 loss at No. 3 Massapequa on Feb. 17.

Sixth-seeded Mepham (6-13 overall) fell behind by nine points barely three minutes into the game and was never able to recover. "We ran into a tough Massapequa school," coach Jim Mulvey said.

Senior Alex Leung, who led the Lady Pirates with 16 points, sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a Massapequa layup midway through the third quarter but was mostly kept under wraps by a swarming Lady Chiefs defense. Leung and sophomore Kristen O'Brien (five points), Mepham's two biggest scoring threats, were given little space to operate either on the perimeter or drives to the basket. "They were right on her [Leung] knowing that if she drove by [there was] help," Mulvey said.

Freshmen Mary Galgano and Nicole Castaldo each scored eight points and helped provide some scoring balance in the wake of Massapequa's defensive effort. "They grew up and said 'okay we have to be scorers here,' " Mulvey said. "They stepped up and they will be better for it in the future."

Every time Mepham seemed poised to make a run and cut its deficit to 10 points, Massapequa's multi-pronged scoring attack answered. The Lady Chiefs placed four players in double figures, drained eight threes and outscored the Lady Pirates in all four quarters.

Mepham advanced to the quarterfinals by blowing past No. 11 Freeport, 45-31, in a first-round game on Feb. 12. Leung (20 points) and O'Brien (14) outscored the Lady Red Devils on their own and spurred a 42-20 scoring run over the final three quarters that erased what had been an early eight-point deficit. "We changed from a zone [defense] and went to man-to-man," Mulvey said of overcoming the early hole. "We picked up the intensity on defense and started making some shots."

Leung drained a game-high four three-pointers, while O'Brien added a pair and also converted six free throws. "She's a very unselfish player," Mulvey said of O'Brien. "She gets to the free-throw line, shoots three-pointers. She does a little bit of everything."

O'Brien racked up a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) in the regular-season finale, a 50-38 win over Oceanside on Feb. 9 that clinched the sixth seed. Much like the first-round win over Freeport, Mepham started slow and trailed by seven after the first quarter. It was one of the few games in which the Lady Pirates had a nearly healthy starting five, and they outscored the Lady Sailors, 20-5, in the fourth quarter.