Top Sports Stories 2017: Long Island champs repeat
If Mattituck wondered what kind of a high school girls basketball team it was going to take to knock the Tuckers out of the playoffs, it could have looked in the mirror. It was a team like Mattituck — only better.
That team was Irvington.
With its superior speed and excellent ball movement, the Section I champion from Westchester County gave Mattituck a taste of its own medicine. For a second straight year, Mattituck’s playoff run was halted in a Southeast Region Class B final as Irvington cruised to a 62-37 victory.
“They took our game and kind of spun it on us,” Mattituck’s only senior, Corinne Reda, said. “They threw it right back at us and we didn’t like how it felt.”
Irvington clamped down on Mattituck’s star player, Liz Dwyer, who was held to 14 points.
“They were us, but a little faster and better shooters,” Mattituck’s Jane DiGregorio said.
The loss ended a tremendous season for Mattituck (20-4), which shared the League VIII championship with Port Jefferson, defeated Bishop McGann-Mercy for the Suffolk County title and held off Carle Place for its second straight Long Island crown.
Mattituck played all five of its playoff games without its first-string point guard, Mackenzie Daly, who sat out with a knee injury.
After the season-ending loss, Reda, with a tear streaming down her cheek, said: “I didn’t want to feel like this. I’m so proud of how much we did, but I just wish we could have accomplished more.”
Photo caption: Mattituck senior Corinne Reda, left, and senior Liz Dwyer hold the championship plaque. (Credit: Garret Meade)
