General Statement: MacArthur Girls Basketball Beats Mepham in Quarterfinals

When thinking of Wednesday night’s Class AA quarterfinal matchup between the No. 4 MacArthur Lady Generals and the No. 5 Mepham Lady Pirates, the phrase “pick on someone your own size” comes to mind.

The fourth-seeded Lady Generals used their tremendous size to dispatch of the Lady Pirates 52-43 in front of a large crowd at MacArthur High School.

MacArthur's lineup, which boasts four players that are at least 5-foot-10, scored a majority of its points by driving to the basket.

Senior Taylor Kenney scored 11 of her 18 points in the first half to help build an eight-point halftime lead for the Lady Generals. Sophomore Jena Cozza added 13 points and 13 rebounds to seal the deal for MacArthur down the stretch.

Mary Galgano led the way for Mepham with 10 points, while senior Jill Picinich scored nine points in her final game as a Lady Pirates. Kristen O'Brien finished with eight points.

“At times rebounding hurt us on foul shots and second shots,” Mepham head coach Jim Mulvey said. “[They’re] a real physical team. I thought they would guard us a little tighter. … Shots didn’t fall for us offensively.”

The Lady Pirates scored the first six points of the game and held an 8-4 lead before MacArthur went on a game-defining 19-2 run from the first to the second quarter.

Mepham trailed 25-17 at the half, but came out firing in the third quarter.

With the MacArthur lead still at eight, eighth-grader Megan Anderson nailed a three-pointer late in the third quarter to cut the lead to five. But the referees overturned the basket, saying that the ball had hit a wire that was hanging from the ceiling.

The Lady Generals got the ball back and scored on the very next play to bring a 10-point lead into the final frame.

Mepham battled in the fourth quarter and cut the lead down to six at one point, but could never pull ahead as MacArthur held on for the win.

“They’re young, they’re scrappy and they defended very well,” MacArthur head coach Cathleen Auer said of the Mepham squad. “I think my girls handled the pressure well. We had some seniors that didn’t want their season to end. We hit some foul shots in the clutch and Taylor took it to the basket … but they’re a very good team”

Score: MacArthur 52, Mepham 43

Records: Mepham 16-3; MacArthur 14-3

Heroes: MacArthur’s size proved to be a troublesome for Mepham all night, and the 5-foot-11 Kenney was at the “height” of the Lady Pirates’ problems with a game-high 18 points.

“She played liked Taylor should,” Auer said. “She’s a good player. She uses her teammates well, she gets to the basket, she rebounds – she does a lot for us. She’s really our leader and our go-to kid when the game is on the line.”

For Mepham, Picinich finished with nine points in her last game as a Lady Pirate and appropriately scored the team’s final basket of the season. The senior’s hustle was noticed by everyone in attendance, including Mulvey.

“I thought my senior, Jillian Picinich, played her butt off,” he said.

Turning Point: At first, it looked like Anderson’s three-pointer in the third quarter was the positive turning point for the Lady Pirates, but once the three was overturned, it was a game-changer in the worst way.

The call took all of the momentum away from Mepham and gave it to the Lady Generals, who didn’t look back.

“These kids stepped up. They did everything we asked them to do,” Mulvey said. “In my mind, it was a three-to-five-point game. To hit that big shot and have it taken away really hurt us.”

Quotable: “We’re a young team. We’ve played together over the summer for a long time, we know each other’s strengths, we know each other’s weaknesses and we just love playing together,” said O’Brien, who was the Mepham’s leading scorer during the regular season. “Basically, we went out there with the mentality of having fun and just playing basketball.”

Bottom Line: MacArthur was ready from the get-go and continuously drove to the basket throughout the game to stay on top of the Lady Pirates.

“We executed everything we went through in practice,” Kenney said. “We went over a whole bunch over the past week with our coach. We did pretty well with going through our plays.”

Up next for the Lady Generals are the top-seeded Baldwin Lady Bruins – the same team that handed MacArthur two of its three losses during the regular season.

“It’s going to be a tough one,” Kennedy said. “They beat us twice during the season, but we’re going to come at them strong.”

As for Mepham, the team has a lot to look forward to in the next few seasons. The Lady Pirates are only graduating two seniors and leading scorers O’Brien and sophomore Nicole Castaldo will return for next year.

“We’re a real young team and at the end of the game we had all underclassmen out on that court,” Mulvey said. “… It didn’t happen. One team’s going to walk off as the champion this year and everybody else is going to go home sad. It happened to us tonight.”

Who’s Next? March 2, (1) Baldwin Bruins vs. (4) MacArthur, Oyster Bay High School at 5 p.m.

Box Score