South Side drops playoff opener

A slow start and a concerning injury proved too much for ninth-seeded South Side to overcome in its 63-46 loss at No. 8 Division in a Nassau Class A girls’ basketball first-round playoff game last Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Cyclones allowed the first nine points of the game and needed more than five minutes to get on the scoreboard. They battled back to get within a basket in the second quarter before losing junior forward Laura McNally, who scored in double figures in five of the last six regular-season games, to a concussion.

The Lady Dragons scored 18 of the next 24 points to lead 33-19 at halftime on the way to punching their ticket to a quarterfinal matchup with defending county champion North Shore, the No. 1 seed. Jessica Fressle led Division with 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Erin McCauley added 13 points and Madison Gillis and Erica Bleimeyer had nine apiece. South Side (12-6 overall) got a game-high 18 from senior Victoria Mercado.

“We came into the game looking to control their top two scorers,” Lady Cyclones head coach Katelynn Dunn said of Fressle and McCauley. “They hurt us, and they also had other kids step up and score.

“I was proud of the way the girls kept battling,” she added. “We had some success pushing the tempo trying to make a comeback, but a couple of times we got fairly close we missed some shots.”

McNally, who became the team’s main presence in the post after junior Maria Karanasos went down in January with a hand injury, was taken to Winthrop Hospital in Mineola and underwent a CAT scan that came back normal, according to Dunn. The injury occurred midway through the second quarter on a collision underneath South Side’s basket, with McNally defending in the paint. “Laura’s such a tough kid and would never want to come off the floor unless she had to,” Dunn said. “She didn’t have memory of the collision happening. We’re thankful the scan came back OK and now she’ll be following up with doctors.”

Fressle’s two free throws following the injury ignited a 12-2 run for Division, which went 22 of 30 from the line compared to South Side’s 5-for-10. Fressle and Gillis had six successful free throws apiece. “We hadn’t fouled that much in a game all season,” Dunn said.

Coming out of halftime, Dunn said the plan was to push the ball up the floor and keep Division from setting up its defense. “We started the third quarter strong and forced them to take a couple of timeouts,” Dunn said. “But things began to get away from us later in the quarter.”

Mercado, senior Sarah Mullooly (nine points) and junior Kelly O’Sullivan helped the Lady Cyclones open the second half on an 11-2 run, cutting the deficit to five. But the Lady Dragons responded with a 14-5 spurt and took a 14-point cushion into the fourth.