Opened and Closed: Big Start and Finish Propel Lady Cougars Past Long Beach Basketball

Friday night’s Conference AA-III matchup between the Long Beach Lady Marines and the Kennedy Lady Cougars at Kennedy High School was a roller coaster of a game that could have gone either way. But a strong fourth quarter saw the Lady Cougars prevail, 57-45.

Kennedy led by as many as 14 in the first half behind strong shooting for the team’s senior trio of Morgan Kitton, Allie Keller and Carly Thea.

But the Lady Cougars’ 12-point halftime lead quickly evaporated as the incredibly young Lady Marines went on a 14-1 run to start the second half. Freshman Mary McDonagh led the way in the third quarter with two big three-pointers, while the team’s lone senior, Raeanna Georgopolous had six points of her own. McDonagh finished with a team-high 12 points and Georgopolous went 5-for-6 from the line to finish with nine points.

“We got a little hot. The main adjustment was at halftime,” Long Beach head coach Lori DeVivio said. “We made a halftime adjustment defensively and I challenged our girls in the locker room, especially our shooters, to start shooting the basketball and to start shooting it better.”

The tides turned for the Lady Marines in the fourth quarter as Kennedy went on a 16-6 tear to start the final frame. Junior Heather Hulkower had eight points in the fourth, while Kitton added nine. Hulkower finished with 10 points and three rebounds and Kitton had a game-high 18 points 13 rebounds.

“I saw a lot of teamwork going on,” Hulkower said. “We knew that we had to get the ball around and pass it, and we just found the openings.”

Score: Kennedy 57, Long Beach 45

Records: Kennedy 6-5 (8-6); Long Beach 3-7 (3-10)

Heroes: Losing aside, the Lady Marines had a ton of hot shooters in the second half, and at the forefront of that shooting was McDonagh. The freshman had a game-high three three-pointers and gave Long Beach its first lead of the night with just more than a minute left in the third quarter.

“She’s sensational,” DeVivio said of MacDonagh’s efforts. “She’s every coach’s dream player. She gives you every single effort in practice, she’ll play four different positions on the floor and she does have a hot shooting hand.”

Fresh off a 13-rebound game against Valley Stream Central on Tuesday, Hulkower dropped 10 points on Friday night and gave her team a huge boost in the fourth quarter. Equally as impressive was Kitton, who followed a 19-point, 10-rebound performance on Tuesday with 18 points and 13 rebounds on Friday.

“Heather hit some very big shots. She kept us alive. She definitely hit some very good shots for us,” Kennedy head coach Debra Cipolla-Minafo said. “Morgan is going so strong to the hole in both of these last two games. She’s really coming a long way and getting up there. She’s finishing everything.”

Turning Point: It appeared that the turning point was halftime, but the Lady Cougars turned things around in the fourth quarter on some clutch shooting from Hulkower and the team’s senior leaders.

“We started off really well, then we went a little downhill,” Hulkower said. “But we definitely picked it up. Our coaches told us that we had to play as a team and we did a good job.”

Quotable: “They got pushed around by this team last time at our house pretty badly and it’s unfortunate because they’re just younger and they’re smaller physically, so I told them, ‘just take some personal pride,’” DeVivio said. “… Really being overmatched the way we were and putting in the effort that we did is very inspiring.”

Bottom Line: For a loss, it certainly seemed like a win for a young Long Beach team that has just one senior and four juniors.

“Some of my better shooters were ice cold in the first half and they got hot in the second half and that was a big turn around for us against a really, really good team,” DeVivio said. “Kennedy is an excellent basketball team, so for us to actually take the lead is very inspiring as a young team here in Long Beach.”

With the win Kennedy moves up to fourth place in Conference AA-III and is in good shape heading into next week’s game against the last place Carey Lady Seahawks. Despite the win, Cipolla-Minafo was a little concerned about her team’s effort coming out of the gate in the second half. “I think we’re just an up-tempo team and if we don’t run up-tempo, we don’t run,” she said. “So if we’re not running and gunning and passing, then we’re not scoring.”

Who's Next? Feb. 7, Long Beach at Great Neck South, 4:30 p.m.; Feb. 8, Kennedy at Carey, 4:30 p.m.

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