Wantagh pulls away from South Side

Behind junior center Alex Parlato’s sixth consecutive double-double, and a season-high 11 points — all in the third quarter — from junior Kiernan Rathgaber, Wantagh secured a 48-32 victory at South Side to clinch the Nassau Conference A-I girls’ basketball title on Feb. 4.

The 6-foot-3 Parlato had 16 points — four in each quarter — and pulled down 16 rebounds and blocked six shots, and sophomore Nikki Sliwak added 10 points, as the Lady Warriors upped their record to 12-0 in conference play and 14-1 overall with two games remaining in the regular season. The Lady Cyclones (7-4, 9-5), who never led, got 10 points apiece from senior Jess Hawley and junior Victoria Mercado.

“These kids are winners, and they’re a family,” Wantagh head coach Stan Bujacich said. “Their chemistry shows on the court.”

Wantagh, which trailed by three at halftime in the first meeting Jan. 9 before pulling out a 43-31 victory at home behind Parlato’s 12 points and 10 rebounds, came out firing on all cylinders in the rematch and built an 11-point advantage after eight minutes as four different players scored in the opening stanza.

“They played very, very well,” South Side head coach Katelyn Dunn said. “They moved the ball much better than they did the first time we played.

“We had a nice second quarter to get back in it, but we couldn’t keep the momentum going,” she added.

After junior Laura Mallon’s basket to open the second quarter gave Wantagh a 17-4 lead, the Lady Cyclones turned up their defensive intensity and got back in the game by scoring 14 of the next 15 points. “Our offense feeds off our defense, and it took a while for our defense to get going,” Dunn said. “By no means were we going to get easy buckets against this team.”

Hawley had seven points, including a trey, and junior Sarah Mullooly drained a three-pointer during a spurt that brought South Side within 19-18. Wantagh’s lead was 22-19 at halftime, and Bujacich said he used the intermission to talk about taking care of the basketball. “We didn’t lose composure and that’s a big step,” he said. “Come playoff time, we really need to keep turnovers down.”

The Lady Warriors not only protected the ball in the third quarter, they shot the lights out. Rathgaber, who had three points in the first meeting and none in the first half of the rematch, went 5-for-6 from the field in a quarter that ended with the visitors leading 41-25. “Parlato scoring 16 we’d take all day,” Dunn said. “But they had a lot of contributors.”

Bujacich said last season’s early playoff exit — the Lady Warriors were seeded No. 2 in the 16-team tournament and lost in the quarterfinals to Sewanhaka — has been extra motivation. “They want to get to the county final and win it,” he said.

South Side remained in third place in A-I, but Dunn said there’s still work to do to lock down a playoff spot. “I won’t feel comfortable unless we win two of the last three,” she noted.