43.0°,
Partly Cloudy Elmont stays hot, tops Carey
After winning just one of its first five games, the Elmont girls’ basketball team has flipped the narrative on its season, now having won its last five games following a 57-37 victory over Carey last Saturday in a Nassau Conference AA-2 matchup.
“It felt great on the court,” Elmont’s junior guard Kaitlyn Paulino said. “We started off great, working as a team and passing the ball. There were times when we made mistakes, but we picked it up. It was a great win.”
Paulino finished the game with 14 points, sharing the team lead with junior forward Charlotte Hines.
“Those girls have been two of the hardest workers,” Spartans head coach Pete Lawson said. “I feel like it’s just a matter of time until they break out once they start believing they can do more instead of just getting back. They have carried us.”
While Hines spread her contributions throughout the game, Paulino didn’t come alive until later. Twelve of her points came in the second half when Elmont needed them most.
With 11 points, Paz finished as Carey’s only player to reach double-figures.
“She is the ultimate team player,” Carey head coach Anthony Turco said. “She wants it so much that it looks like she’s out of control, but she’s not. She wants it so much for everybody because she knows the effort that we put forward in practice and during the game. They’re working hard, and they’re not seeing the results.”
While Elmont (2-2 in AA-2) focused its attention on containing Paz, she found her open teammates to help close the gap.
Junior Alessandra Varuzzi hit her jumpers from mid-range as well as her shots from the stripe, cutting the deficit to one as part of a seven-point performance. Seniors Vanessa Peluso and Michelle Zheng each had six of their own for Carey.
Eventually, though, Elmont resettled itself when Kyla Moore hit a layup for her team’s first points of the quarter.
“The energy got down in the second,” Lawson said. “The girls weren’t communicating and weren’t concerned about what their assignment was. Halftime was great because we got a chance to regroup and reaffirm what we needed to do defensively.”
The Spartans locked things down from there as they repeatedly forced Carey into committing turnovers to go on a 17-0 run in the middle of the third.
“Credit to them,” Turco said. “That’s the bottom line. They wanted it more, and it showed. That’s the only difference. They out-hustled us to the ball, and they outworked us because they wanted it more.”
The rematch will take place at Elmont Feb. 2 at 4:30 p.m.
Carey, now 2-8 overall, will look to get back on track and into the conference win colulmn against New Hyde Park. Elmont puts its winning streak on the line against struggling Great Neck North.
