North Shore holds off Sewanhaka

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For the second straight season, Sewanhaka gave North Shore all it could handle in the Class A girls’ basketball playoffs. But, once again, the Lady Indians fell short of their dream of playing for a county championship. 

Led by junior Gabriella Zaffiro’s 19 points, No. 2 North Shore, a team that has been a constant in the Class A semifinals for much of the past decade, held off a hellacious rally by the Indians and moved on the county title game with a 70-65 victory at the Pratt Recreation Center on the campus of LIU Post last Saturday night. Senior Destiny Hurt led No. 3 Sewanhaka with 19 points.

North Shore, which led by as many as 19 points early in the fourth quarter, was cruising with a 65-49 lead with just over two minutes to play, when the Lady Indians caught fire. Junior guard Cherish Francis, who scored a career-high 18 points, capped off a 16-2 run with a three-pointer from the right corner to cut the lead to 67-65 with 11.2 seconds to play. 

The Lady Vikings, who were held without a field goal for the final 2:52, put the game on ice from the foul line. North Shore (21-1) will take on No. 1 Elmont (21-1) for the county championship this Saturday at 11 a.m. at Hofstra. The Lady Indians finished with a record of 19-3.

Sewanhaka head coach Alex Soupios was more than impressed with the effort he received from his team. “Give North Shore credit for making big shots when they needed to,” Soupios said. “Their ball movement was great. They’re a well-coached team. My girls showed how much heart they have tonight. We turned up the energy a bit and forced turnovers. We defended and rebounded much better in the second half. I’m so proud of these girls. We just needed another 90 seconds.”

While neither team was firing on all cylinders in the opening half, the Lady Vikings, who had five players reach double figures, used its size and pinpoint passing to grab a 27-15 lead midway through the second quarter. However, each time it looked like the roof was ready to cave in on Sewanhaka, it fought back. Led by Hurt and Francis, the Tribe went on a run of their own and cut the lead to 30-22. 

Sharpshooting from Jessica Scuderi (13 points), and strong play in the paint from Ashleigh Sheerin, Paige Barwick, and Selena Fortich led the Lady Vikings to a, seemingly, commanding 54-35 lead early in the final quarter, but huge baskets from Francis and sophomore Carly Bolivar (11 points) brought the Sewanhaka crowd to life.

North Shore head coach Keith Freund knows how difficult it is to reach the finals. “When you get to this point you have to work for everything you get,” Freund said. “I thought we played well and got contributions from everyone. We made some offensive adjustments at halftime that got us some baskets, but Sewanhaka kept coming. We needed those free throws at the end.”