Mepham Girls Basketball Blows Away Long Beach

The Mepham girls basketball team hit the road and took on Long Beach Tuesday afternoon and pulled out a big conference win, 64-38.

Junior Kristen O’Brien, the leading scorer in Nassau County, led the Lady Pirates (8-0) over the Lady Marines (2-6) with 23 points, while eighth-grader Megan Anderson had a career-high 17 points. Sophomore Molly Martin led Long Beach with 10 points.

Long Beach jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first minute but Mepham knocked down five three-pointers in the opening quarter to go ahead 20-10. An early run by the Pirates in the second quarter increased their lead as they went into halftime with a commanding 40-22 advantage.

Mepham came out in the second half and initially struggled to get on the board, with their first basket coming on a three-pointer from Anderson nearly three minutes into the quarter. Long Beach went on an 11-0 run to cut the Mepham lead to 43-33. However, the visiting Pirates ended the third with a critical 7-0 run to gain back their ground.

The tough defense displayed by Mepham shined through in the final quarter as they gave up just five points with the game all but won. The final score turned out to be their largest lead of the game and tied for their biggest margin of victory this season (26 points).

Heroes: O’Brien showed what her team and opponents are used to seeing as Nassau’s leading scorer, pouring in a game-high 23 points, but Anderson came up just as big with her career-high 17 points, including three three-pointers.

“We knew we were getting a late start today and weren’t really feeling it coming here,” O’Brien said. “We had to get mentally prepared, so I gave them a speech about what we were working on in practice and that we had to come out and defend the three here.”

Turning Point: When Long Beach seemed to be mounting a comeback with their third quarter run to cut the lead to 10 points, Mepham closed out the quarter with seven of their own and never looked back in the final eight minutes of the game.

Quotable: “We got 40 points from an eighth-grader and Kristen, who leads the county in scoring,” Mepham head coach Jim Mulvey said. “I thought defensively, we played much better in the second half, trying to identify who the shooters were and get on them. I thought we shot well today, but defense for us is the key.”

Bottom Line: There is no question that Mepham is able to put points on the board early and often. They held their opponent to under the 40-point mark for the fourth time this season, and when that happens, this conference-leader is tough to beat.

Key Stat: Mepham knocked down 12 three-pointers to Long Beach’s seven. O’Brien and sophomore Mary Galgano each had four and Anderson added three, with one from senior Danielle Replogle.

Who’s Next: Mepham @ Carey, Jan. 13, 4:30 p.m.; Long Beach @ Valley Stream Central, Jan. 14, 6:30 p.m.

Box Score

Three-Pointers: M: O’Brien 4, Galgano 4, Anderson 3, Replogle 1; LB: McDonagh 2, O’Connell 2, Martin 2, Barani 1.