Lady Spartans fall to Lynbrook

The season ended a little earlier than expected for the Elmont Lady Spartans.

Third-seeded Lynbrook kept its dream of a county championship alive with a 50-34 victory over No. 6 Elmont in a quarterfinal playoff game on Feb. 16. Sophomore Brooke Gerstman scored 16 points and senior Shannon Doody scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds as the Lady Owls continued their quest for the program’s first county title since 1977-78. Elmont got 12 points from senior Jasmine Cobbs.

The problem that plagued the Lady Spartans all season came back to bite them in this one. Finding scoring at critical moments of games was difficult for Elmont, which finished 6-13. Coach Tom Magno liked the effort his team gave, but knew scoring would be tough to come by. “We counted on Cobbs to do too much of the scoring,” Magno said. “There were games where others would step up and have a big night, but we never had the consistency we needed, especially at crunch time.”

The Lady Owls would have their hands full trying to contain Cobbs, who came in averaging 15.7 points per game. Lynbrook, 14-5, won both times the teams met during the regular season, but Elmont was a tough opponent in Nassau Conference ABC-I. Cobbs scored 14 during Lynbrook’s 55-48 come-from-behind victory in January.  

Neither of the teams looked sharp in the opening quarter of the playoff matchup, but the Lady Spartans held an 8-6 lead. Lynbrook was coming off a 71-40 win over Plainedge in the opening round, while Elmont trounced Westbury 63-41 to advance. Reauna Dorner (15) and Alex Clark combined to score 27 points in the win over Westbury. Staci Barrett pulled down seven rebounds to help the Lady Spartans advance.

The Lady Owls started to take control late in the second quarter. Behind Gerstman’s perimeter game, and eighth-grader Jen Fay on the interior, Lynbrook opened up a 19-15 lead at the break. Fay finished with eight points in just her third game after being called up from JV.

The third quarter was all Lynbrook. The Lady Owls played  intense defense and looked like the more inspired team as they went on a 14-2 run to take command. Elmont trailed 37-21 lead as the teams took the floor for the final eight minutes.  

Lynbrook coach Heather Savignano believes much of the difference was the intensity her girls brought to the floor in the second half. “All season long, our philosophy has been to come out strong in the third quarter,” Savignano said. “Teams tend to relax, and try to get back into the flow of the game. We feel like that the time to put the pressure on and take advantage. We had a great third quarter and took over.”

Lynbrook advanced to meet top-seeded Garden City in the semifinals.