Girls Basketball: Tuckers roll with Dwyer’s 28, DiGregorio’s 18
Call her the queen of layups.
If Jane DiGregorio makes playing basketball look as easy as a layup, it’s because she’s so good at them.
Liz Dwyer won the opening tip-off, directing the ball forward for DiGregorio, who converted a layup four seconds in.
Moments later, DiGregorio bounced in a bunny. Then, a Dwyer steal led to a DiGregorio layup. Before the quarter was over, DiGregorio made a steal and a layup, and then another layup and then another.
A pattern had been established. By halftime, DiGregorio had 16 points, 14 of them coming from layups. The junior guard was on her way to a career-high 18 points as Mattituck rolled to its sixth straight win, 64-15, over visiting Smithtown Christian in a Suffolk County League VII game on Monday night.
Dwyer didn’t do too badly herself, putting up 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the field (with three three-pointers) and 5-for-6 accuracy from the foul line. The junior raised her career total to 1,085 points.
It was DiGregorio who set the tone with her five steals and layups. She made her first eight shots and finished shooting 9-for-11 from the field. DiGregorio entered the game averaging 9.3 points per game, second on the team to Dwyer’s 22.9.
Coach Michael Kaminicki’s Smithtown Christian team had its hands full against the defending Long Island Class B champions. As it is, the Knights are made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores (Sarah Spreckles, a junior, is the team’s oldest player).
Mattituck’s experience showed as the Tuckers (6-1, 4-0) raced to a 35-8 lead before Smithtown Christian (0-4, 0-3) finally hit double figures on a runner by Heidi Schneider with one minute, 6 seconds left in the second quarter.
Mattituck ended the half on back-to-back threes by Ashley Burns and Chelsea Marlborough. That kick-started a 22-0 run that extended into the third quarter when Dwyer canned consecutive treys for a 57-10 lead.
The Knights shot 0-for-18 during one stretch from late in the second quarter into the fourth.
Spreckles came down with 14 rebounds and Dorothy Pierre was Smithtown Christian’s top scorer with six points.
Photo Caption: Mattituck’s Julie Seifert and Smithtown Christian’s Samantha Glut during Monday night’s game. (Credit: Garret Meade)
