Thursday, March 20, 2025
With MacArthur’s catalyst, junior forward Meghan Campbell, saddled with two early fouls in Tuesday’s Nassau Class AA girls’ basketball quarterfinal playoff matchup against visiting Mepham, head coach Dave Radtke kept a close eye on the scoreboard and the clock.
“I just wanted to get to halftime either tied or in a one-possession game,” Radtke said. “I thought if we could do that, we’d be in pretty good shape.”
Thanks in large part to eighth grader Angelina Lopez, the Generals did more than just hang around. She scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter and they led by five at halftime of a 43-40 victory that wasn’t secured until the Pirates barely missed a potential game-tying trey as time expired.
“It was tough watching most of the first half, but everyone stepped up especially Angelina,” said Campbell, who played just 3:09 of 16 first-half minutes and finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds. “It was a tough game as we expected,” she added.
Junior Caitlin Kilian, who had a clutch 3 and a key steal in the fourth quarter, added 9 points for fourth-seeded MacArthur (17-4), which also got 9 points from junior Gabrielle Nicolini and advanced to face top-seeded Baldwin in the semifinals March 3 at Farmingdale College at 6 p.m.
“It’s the first time in program history we’re in the semifinals in consecutive seasons,” Radtke said. “It took everyone we put on the floor today. We always have tight games with Mepham, but this is the first time we’ve met in the playoffs.”
Mepham senior Makayla Daube led all scorers with 14 points. Classmates Sophia Beck and Grace Skulavik added 9 apiece for the fifth-seeded Pirates (16-6), who blew out Jericho in the first round.
“We ran practices with MacArthur this season and it’s always a great matchup,” Mepham head coach Jim Mulvey said. “This was a typical 4 versus 5 [seed] battle. We played well in spurts and hey we had two good looks to get it to overtime.
“I thought they did a nice job weathering the storm when Campbell was in foul trouble and that was probably the difference,” he added.
Campbell started the second half but the Pirates rallied with a 16-point third quarter to pull even at 32 entering the fourth. Skulavik and Beck had six points apiece in the third.
Daube put Mepham ahead 33-32 with 7:!4 remaining and at the same time drew a fourth foul on Campbell. But Campbell scored the next five points, including a 3 with 6:02 to go and the Generals never trailed again.
“We’re such a deep team,” Campbell said. “Even if you take out one piece, we’re more than fine.”
