Lady Pirates Basketball Turns Back Calhoun Challenge

The Mepham Lady Pirates put the rest of Nassau County basketball on notice Tuesday night: if you double team Kirsten O'Brien, we have other kids who can score on you.

It was a lesson the Lady Colts of Calhoun learned the hard way.

For one half of basketball action at Mepham, it looked like the girls from Calhoun had a winning strategy on their hands. Focusing on putting a lid on the Lady Pirates' O'Brien, Calhoun jumped out to a 13-point lead.

But the game slipped from their grasp in the second half as the Lady Pirates found other players who could put the ball in the hoop – and a lopsided first half turned into a nip and tuck battle, which ended with a late Mepham surge and a 52-46 victory for the Lady Pirates.

The Lady Pirates, who also won the Hicksville tournament over the weekend, improved to 3-0 with the win.

"Our goal was to shut down O'Brien, but he's got some shooters," Calhoun head coach Dave Radtke admitted.

"After being named MVP at the Hicksville Tournament, O'Brien's a marked woman," Mepham head coach Jim Mulvey said. "Everyone's going to come out hard on her. But our other players stepped up."

Not that O'Brien didn't score – despite being double-teamed for most of the game, she finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. But it was left to Mepham sophomore Nicole Castaldo  and and eighth-grader Megan Anderson to carry the load.

Castaldo finished with 22 points, 18 coming in the second half, and Anderson finished with eight points, including two treys. Senior Jillian Picinich also chipped in six points for the Lady Pirates.

"They were so focused on Kristen that I was able to find seams and get under the basket to box out," said Castaldo.

Not at first, however. Calhoun looked dominant early, with a perimeter game that created plenty of scoring opportunities for Meghan O'Sullivan from the top of the key and from three point range. O'Sullivan, who finished with 23 points on the day, was popping with authority, scoring 11 of Calhoun's first 18 points before Mepham could get their bearings.

The second quarter was more of the same, with Jessica Ruggiero, 10 points, finding the net with frequency.

But with foul trouble mounting for the Lady Colts, Mepham was able to stabilize the margin, and in a sign of things to come, finished off the last minute of the half with three three-pointers in a row – two from Anderson and one from Samantha Hishmeh – to get things to within four at 27-23.

"I wasn't used to being double-teamed," O'Brien said. "And the pressure got to me. But I basically stepped up my defensive game, and let the other players hurt them on offense."

"The foul trouble in the first half hurt us," Radtke said of the Lady Colts' effort. "We couldn't do some things we wanted to do, and their defense was good."

To compound matters, the Lady Pirates implemented a high-intensity full court press in the second half. It immediately spelled trouble for Calhoun and before the Lady Colts were able to adjust, Mepham had pulled even at 36-36 on the hot hand of Castaldo and a pair of free throws for O'Brien.

On the ensuing play, Picinich turned a steal on defense into an end-to-end play, scoring the bucket and putting the Lady Pirates up to stay.

Mepham outscored Calhoun 14-10 the rest of the way and weathered a late run sparked by an intense offensive surge to claim the victory.

"It was an exciting game for me," Castaldo  said after her career outing. "But I'm more proud for our team. We're doing good so far this year."