Girls Basketball: Tuckers’ first win comes at Clippers’ expense
TUCKERS 53, CLIPPERS 25
The Mattituck High School girls basketball team had a number of things to feel good about regarding its home opener. The Tuckers enjoyed good scoring balance. They dominated the boards and played hounding defense. Their two leading players, Liz Dwyer and Katie Hoeg, turned in their typically solid games.
So, coach Steve Van Dood, what was the biggest thing the Tuckers took away from their non-league game against Southold/Greenport on Monday night?
“The win,” he said.
The first win of the season has good therapeutic value, and the Tuckers (1-2) seemed happy to have nailed it down with their 53-25 defeat of the Clippers (0-3).
All 12 Mattituck players played, and the scoring was spread out among 10 of them. Dwyer, a freshman forward, poured in 18 points with the help of 10-for-12 shooting from the foul line. She also grabbed 8 rebounds. Hoeg, a junior guard, provided 13 points, 7 steals, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.
Southold/Greenport is a young team — real young. The Clippers started three sophomores (Toni Esposito, Angelica Klavas and Madison Tabor) and two freshmen (Ali Cardi and Grace Syron). That sort of youth is more reflective of a junior varsity team.
Mattituck is a fairly young team itself, but the Tuckers still have much more experience than the Clippers, and it showed. They outrebounded the Clippers, 35-17, limiting them to only 3 offensive boards.
Scoring was an issue for the Clippers. They received 14 points from Tabor, but none of her teammates had more than 3 points. The Clippers shot 3 of 18 from the floor in the second half and missed all six of their field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter as the Tuckers tallied the game’s final 12 points.
The Tuckers never trailed, opening the game with a pair of free throws by Lisa Angell and baskets by Dwyer and Courtney Murphy.
In the second quarter, Hoeg followed up her conventional 3-point play with a steal and a layup, capping an 11-2 run to stretch Mattituck’s lead to 30-15.
