Lady Bulldogs Fall to Plainedge

Dominant second and third quarters by Plainedge helped it defeat the Hewlett girl’s basketball team on Tuesday night by a score of 74-44.

Hewlett was only trailing by three points after the first quarter due to Sam DiSalvo's jump-shot with five seconds left, cutting the score to 14-11. But the Red Devils outscored the Lady Bulldogs by a total of 43-18 in the second and third quarters to run away with the victory.

“I think this team is better than what we played like tonight,” Hewlett head coach Tommy Johnson said after the home game. “The girls came out flat and they never picked up the intensity. It’s all about our energy on defense and I was very disappointed with the girls. We never matched their energy. Everything they did worked and everything we did looked like we did not know what we were doing. We’re a better team than that.”

Plainedge started the second quarter on an 11-2 scoring run, capped off with an offensive rebound and lay-up by center Cantu Atali. Atali led Plainedge in scoring with a career-high 28 points and 18 rebounds, with 20 of the points recorded in the first half. Michelle Daubman contributed 23 points, including four 3-pointers for Plainedge.

“[Atali] has a complete game,” Johnson said. “She knows how to use a head fake, knows how to get good positioning, knows how to rebound, and she knows how to pass out of the paint. We tried a couple of different things on defense and she beat all of them. She brought everything she could to this game. She gave 100 percent.”

Down by 22 points midway through the third quarter, the Lady Bulldogs tried to make a comeback by scoring six straight points. Jenni Rogoff and DiSalvo both made jump shots. Rogoff got a steal and dribbled down the court for a layup, shrinking the Plainedge lead to 45-29.

But Plainedge responded to Hewlett’s momentum shift by finishing the quarter with 12 consecutive points. The Red Devils started their scoring run by creating two of the team’s 15 forced turnovers on defense.

“We had a little bit of momentum at this part of the game but then lost it,” Johnson said. “We had the right looks on offense, but the girls were making the wrong pass. Most of the girls were looking in the right direction, but they were not connecting. We botched up some plays that we have gone over so many times in practice and there is no excuse for that at the varsity level.”

Hewlett was led in scoring by DiSalvo, who finished with 16 points. Allie Venditti tallied 13 points, including three shots from 3-point range.

“Allie Venditti played like a senior today,” Johnson said. “She played as hard as she could from the beginning of the game to the end. Other than her, I did not feel that anybody else took a leadership role that is needed to get a victory.”

The Lady Bulldogs will look to bounce back on Tuesday when they travel to face Lynbrook with tip-off scheduled for 5:15 p.m.