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Girls Basketball: Demirciyan becomes second Greenport girl to reach scoring milestone

Adrine Demirciyan was anxious to join a rather exclusive club, but basketball follows it’s own timetable.

Needing just six points Monday evening to become only the second Greenport girl to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career, it seemed a good bet that she would put those up in the first quarter of Greenport/Southold’s game against Mattituck. That didn’t happen. In fact, Demirciyan got off to a cold start in the Suffolk County League VII game at Greenport High School’s Richard “Dude” Manwaring Gymnasium, making only one of her first eight shots, a three-pointer.

“She was panicking a little bit,” Greenport assistant coach Madison Tabor said. “She was like, ‘Nothing’s falling.’ I was like, ‘You need three points. It’s going to happen. You’re not gonna go the rest of the game without scoring three points. Like take a deep breath.’ ”

And then it happened.

Shortly after making a layup off a Lilly Corwin steal, Demirciyan maneuvered near the left baseline, just inside the three-point arc, and launched one of the more memorable shots of her five-year varsity career. “Someone set me a screen on the left elbow,” she said. “I kind of went like between the legs, behind the back, step back and I hit it.”

The ball dropped in with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left in the second quarter for her 1,000th and 1,001st career points. Wearing a thrilled look on her face, she raced to embrace her teammates.

“Honestly, like all I saw was all the years of hard work and all the late nights, early mornings and all that stuff,” Demirciyan said after the 42-36 Greenport win. “That basket just represented me. I don’t know. That, just getting a thousand points, means so much to me and it means so much to my career as a whole in high school, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team, 100 percent.”

The only other Greenport girl to score 1,000 points was Tabor, who graduated from the school in 2017.

“She was so excited,” Tabor said. “I was so happy for her. I mean, I remember exactly the feeling. It was one of the best days ever.”

With Mattituck’s Mia Khan on the floor, Greenport/Southold’s Lilly Corwin gets a hand on the ball while Mattituck’s Abby Woods and Greenport’s Hayley Skrezec reach for the ball. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)

The first player Demirciyan ran to was Corwin. “I told her when she scores [her 1,000th point] I’m jumping on her, so she better catch me,” said Corwin.

The game was stopped, the milestone was announced over the public-address system and Greenport athletic director Brian Toussaint presented Demirciyan with a commemorative basketball to mark the occasion. Then Demirciyan was joined on the court by her parents, Darsy and Herman, former Greenport coach Skip Gehring and others for photos. And there were even hugs from the Mattituck players.

Demirciyan found her shooting touch to rally Greenport (4-1, 2-0), which trailed by as many as 10 points in the first quarter and was down, 34-28, entering the fourth. She scored 14 of Greenport’s final 19 points to close out the victory. The senior guard, a commit to NCAA Division II East Stroudsburg University (Pa.), finished with 25 points on 11-for-30 shooting, 3-for-13 from three-point distance. She didn’t go to the foul line once. She also had 14 rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“I would say we were struggling to find some rhythm, some offensive flow, any shots to go down,” Greenport coach Chris Golden said. “So, you know what? She took it upon herself. You know, some people would maybe say she did a little too much. You know what? At the end of the day, she kept us in the game.”

Mattituck (1-6, 0-1) misfired on its last 14 field-goal attempts. The Tuckers, missing regular starters Emily Nicholson (knee) and Katie Schuch (illness), received 15 points from Abby Woods and nine apiece from Lilly Fogarty and Aaliyah Shorter (five assists). Sage Foster brought the Tuckers 15 rebounds.

After the game there were more congratulations for Demirciyan, who received the loudest cheers during the pregame introductions. She received flowers and posed for more photos.

Demirciyan is fast approaching another mark. With 1,019 points, she is just 17 shy of tying Tabor’s school record. That could come as soon as Thursday’s home game against Shoreham-Wading River.

“Oh yeah,” Tabor said, “she’s going to blow me out of the water, but that’s OK.”

Said Demirciyan: “The only reason I’ve come this far is because of all the support I’ve gotten from my family, my friends and my coaches, especially Mr. Gehring. I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am without all the support I’ve gotten throughout the years and I consider myself really lucky to have all these people on my side.”