Sports

Girls Basketball: One last chance for Clippers to reach playoffs

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Southold/Greenport's Kathleen Tuthill, flanked by Port Jefferson's Caroline Biondo and Courtney Lewis (10), tries to find the ball during Friday night's game.
GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Southold/Greenport’s Kathleen Tuthill, flanked by Port Jefferson’s Caroline Biondo and Courtney Lewis (10), tries to find the ball during Friday night’s game.

ROYALS 68, CLIPPERS 48

The Southold/Greenport high school girls basketball team will have to wait until Thursday for their next and last chance to clinch a playoff berth.

The Clippers missed an opportunity to secure a spot in the Suffolk County Class C Tournament, dropping a 68-48 decision to Port Jefferson at home in a League VII game on Friday night.

Southold/Greenport (4-12, 4-5) will have one more chance to reach the postseason for the sixth straight year when it hosts The Stony Brook School on Thursday night. Port Jefferson (6-8, 6-3), which had only seven players dressed, already had clinched a spot in the playoffs.

The Royals grabbed a 15-4 lead in the opening 2 minutes 36 seconds as the hosts battled back to a 34-27 halftime deficit. Cold shooting doomed Southold/Greenport in the third quarter, a period in which Port Jefferson outscored the Clippers, 22-9, to pull away.

Shannon Smith led the Clippers with 15 points, followed by freshman guard Madison Tabor, who finished with 10 points.

Three freshmen led the way for the Royals — Courtney Lewis with 22 points, followed by Corrine Scannell with 14 points and Jillian Colucci with 12.