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Mostly Cloudy Lady Rocks nip Lady Mules
A late fourth quarter surge, sparked by a rather strange basket by team captain Tiffani Parente, helped East Rockaway come away with a 42-37 road win against Malverne in a Nassau Conference B-C girls’ basketball game on Jan. 7. Junior Kim McCann, one of the Lady Rocks’ other captains, scored six of her 18 points in the final two minutes of the game to help seal the victory.
The game was tight the entire way, and with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter it was knotted up at 32. That’s when Parente, standing just inside the three-point line, attempted to lob the ball to a teammate down low, but instead saw the ball go off the fingertips of one of the Lady Mules, and bounce into the hoop.
“(The basket) set a spark,” Parente said. “We definitely needed a spark, because we started off the game slow. But, once we get a spark, we’re unstoppable.”
The fortunate shot certainly seemed to jolt the East Rockaway offense, as the Lady Rocks scored eight points in the final four minutes. McCann nailed a mid-ranger jumper, and two layups in that span.
“We had some big buckets,” East Rockaway head coach Karin Leary said. “McCann inside, really took control of the paint.”
McCann was the leading scorer in the game, making eight baskets on the night. Senior Jackie Olewnicki finished with six points for the Lady Rocks, and Ally Cilluffo and Caitlyn O’Mara each drained a three pointer.
For Malverne, junior guard Alexis Lopez was aggressive on offense from the start. She finished with 17 points, and converted on a pair of three-point attempts.
Lopez was a force on offense for much of the game. But, late in the fourth quarter Parente defended her closely, and was able to prevent the Lady Mules’ leading scorer from getting the good offensive looks she had found earlier.
“Parente did a nice job on Lopez,” Leary said. “She did a nice job to frustrate her, and make it harder for her.”
The Mules did get solid secondary scoring out of two of the eight graders on their team. Alexis Lake finished with six points, while Destiny Samuels finished with five.
Malverne head coach Micheal Pelan said the close loss was a good learning experience for his young team, which had three eighth-graders in its starting lineup. He also said he was proud of the effort they put forth.
“They competed, they never gave up,” Pelan said. “They kept playing hard, kept trying to move the ball and attack, and I have no qualms with that.”
With the win East Rockaway picked up its first conference win of the season, and moved to 4-2 overall. Malverne fell to 1-2 in conference play, and 3-4 overall.
The two teams will meet again later in the month, as they faceoff on Jan. 24 in East Rockaway.
