Baldwin's late surge not enough

When Baldwin junior Katie Greene's jumper from just inside the three-point line beat the shot clock with 3:02 to play in the Long Island Class AA girls’ basketball Championship/Southeast Regional Game last Friday night at Farmingdale State College, it appeared the Lady Bruins were gearing up for a late run against Sachem East.

Greene's shot cut a deficit that grew to as many as 12 down to just six, and following a Flaming Arrows turnover on the next possession Baldwin appeared to be on the verge of pulling even closer.

A three-pointer by junior Courtney Jackson, however, missed the mark and an aggressive Sachem East defense forced a pair of steals and a blocked shot on the Lady Bruins next three possessions, then scored the final seven points in a 57-44 victory. "We were expecting that," Baldwin coach Tom Catapano said of pushing the Suffolk County Class AA Champions to the limit in what ultimately became their 16th consecutive win.

Senior Shayna Gatling led Baldwin (16-5) with 19 points and caused major problems for the Flaming Arrows in transition. She scored the majority of her points on the fast break, whether it was grabbing a rebound and taking it coast-to-coast or as the result of crisp passes up the floor as the Lady Bruins broke through Sachem East's aggressive traps. During one stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters, Gatling scored 10 straight points, including one layup where she had the ball knocked loose twice on her drive through the lane. "She's a tremendous athlete and we're a very good team in transition," Catapano said.

Though the stat sheet shows that Flaming Arrows senior Kristen Doherty poured in a game-high 28 points and became the 10th leading scorer in Long Island girls basketball history in the process, few were the result of easy baskets. Hounded by sophomore point guard Alex Hampton and Jackson for much of the game once she crossed midcourt, few of Doherty's baskets were the result of wide-open looks. "She's a great player," Catapano said. "Our philosophy all week was to make things hard for her and for them."

Jackson helped cut Sachem East's halftime lead from 10 points to just 31-25 by sandwiching a pair of three-pointers around a Gatling layup in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Hampton finished with seven points, while Greene added six. "The best part is they're [almost] all coming back," Catapano said. "They're young and gritty. [This experience] helps tremendously."