Blog Recap: Southold climbs out of late hole to win L.I. title in OT
The Southold girls basketball team clinched its first Class C Long Island Championship Wednesday night with a 32-26 overtime victory over Friends Academy at Farmingdale State College.
The First Settlers trailed nearly the entire game before rallying late in the fourth quarter. Junior Sydney Campbell (9 points) knocked down the front-end of a one-and-one with 5.7 seconds left to tie the game. She missed the second, but the Settlers still got one last shot after the Quakers turned it over. Melissa Rogers put up a tough shot that missed to send the game into overtime.
In the extra period Campbell hit the biggest shot of the game when she drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 29-24 Southold. It was the Settlers’ biggest lead of the game at that point.
Southold outscored Friends 8-2 in the four-minute overtime. In the first half the Settlers only scored 11 points, their lowest total in an opening half since December.
The Settlers advance to play top-ranked Coleman Catholic Saturday afternoon at Farmingdale in the Class C Regional Final. The winner advances to the state final four in Troy.
Both Southold and Friends struggled mightily on the offensive end throughout the game. Turnovers were more prominent than field goals.
Southold trailed by seven in the first half before cutting the deficit to 13-11 at halftime. Friends Academy opened its biggest lead of the game at 19-11 in the third quarter, but again the Settlers responded.
Southold (16-6) took its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter on a runner by Campbell that put the Settlers up 21-19 and capped a 10-0 run.
The Quakers (6-13) had plenty of chances to close out the game at the end of the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t knock down a free throw.
Senior Lauren Ficurilli led Southold with 10 points. Junior Nicole Busso grabbed 14 rebounds with 2 blocks and a steal.
Eighth-grader Lindsay O’Sullivan led Friends with 9 points. Sophomore Rose Mangiorotti grabbed 14 rebounds with 2 blocks and 3 steals.
Below is a live blog from Wednesday’s game:
