Girls Basketball: Dwyer, Tuckers bow out
For Carle Place, the third time was a charm. For Mattituck, not so much.
Not much went right for Mattituck Tuesday when it played Carle Place for a third straight year in a Southeast Region Class B girls basketball semifinal. The big difference this time was, unlike the previous two meetings, Carle Place won.
Playing each other a year to the day since last year’s game, Carle Place shot down Mattituck’s bid for a three-peat as a Long Island champion. Carle Place clamped down on Mattituck’s all-time leading scorer, Liz Dwyer, and rolled, 45-26, at Half Hollow Hills West High School.
The loss not only marks the end of Mattituck’s season, but perhaps the end of the golden era in the program’s history as well. The Tuckers say goodbye to five starting seniors, including Dwyer. Dwyer, Mattituck’s all-time leading scorer, was held to four points, leaving her with 1,821 career points over five seasons. The forward did not have a field goal against Carle Place.
Carle Place (17-6) secured its fourth Long Island title to go with LI crowns in 1991, 1992 and 2015. The Frogs will play Irvington in a regional final Saturday at Pace University.
Carle Place was fueled by Abigail Selhorn (13 points, 10 rebounds), Erin Leary (11 points, nine rebounds) and Abigail Lyons (10 points).
Mattituck (19-4), meanwhile, was held to a season-low point total. Jane DiGregorio was the Tuckers’ top scorer with six points.
Dwyer had a strong defensive game, particularly in the first half when she had six of her seven blocks.
All of DiGregorio’s points came during an 11-0 surge that gave Mattituck a 22-17 lead early in the third quarter. That lead didn’t last long, though. Carle Place bounced back in a big way. The Frogs closed the game on a paralyzing 28-4 run, nine of those points coming from Selhorn. Alexa Frein netted all seven of her points during that spell.
Mattituck missed its last 10 field-goal attempts. Struggling with their shot the whole way through, the Tuckers shot 21.7 percent (10-for-46) from the floor.
The game got off to a slow, sloppy start, with the teams combining for five turnovers before Selhorn converted a basket off a rebound for the game’s first points. The score was 6-4 Carle Place after one quarter and 17-15 Carle Place at the half.
By halftime, both sides had 11 turnovers each and shooting was an issue, with Carle Place going 5-for-26 from the field and Mattituck 6-for-25.
Leary led all scorers at the half with seven points.
An attractive game, it was not.
Photo caption: Mattituck senior forward Liz Dwyer was held to four points by Carle Place’s stifling defense. (Credit: Garret Meade)
