East Takes Down West In Coaches Vs. Cancer Game

Hills West and Hills East battled it out in a Coaches vs. Cancer varsity girls basketball game Tuesday night to help raise money for cancer, and after it was all said and done and East finished off a 45-29 victory, the teams gathered together on the court as one to cap off an exciting night at .

The Colts (0-5), played well in the first quarter and managed to take a 10-9 lead into the second before the Thunderbirds (2-3) pulled ahead. Bria Green finished the first half with nine points capped off by a layup that touched every part of the rim before passing through the net as the final points of the first half to put East up 23-14.

"I think we started to really show the intensity against Hampton Bays and the third quarter was huge for us in that game and in this one as well," East coach Yvan Garcia said. "We had a pretty decent first half but the third quarter the girls came out and played with that intensity like they wanted to win and they earned it, they really did."

Gabbie Malhotra opened the third quarter for East with a three to extend their lead to 12 and they would score seven more in a row before Danice Vasa's layup dropped for West's first points in the second half. East's Ashley Walker got hot in the second half and started draining threes and drawing fouls, which was a key to victory as the Thunderbirds were able to close out the 45-29 victory over their crosstown "rival."

"The kids like to play each other," West head coach Bill Zatulskis said. "We haven't played each other a lot over the past few years and me and Yvan are trying to renew that rivalry so it helps the community to get involved with girls basketball and I think it's a great rivalry. It's something that we're going to continue to try to cultivate in the future."

Walker led the Birds with 14 points and Green finished with 11 after fouling out in the second half. Sydney Sodine led the Colts with eight points, all on free throws, while Diana Kontos finished with six. The Colts turned up the pressure with a full court defense late in the game, but it was too little too late at that point as they lost their fifth straight game in what a transitional period for the team. The Colts are dealing with the loss of a senior guard to a torn ACL and a new point guard learning the offense who was just recently cleared to play.

"The last four minutes of that game they could've played with anybody on Long Island," Zatulskis said. "They weren't playing that way the first three quarters of that game. There wasn't that intensity and we hadn't practiced since the 23rd so that hurt us and our shooting was not very good. Our full court pressure is the best thing we do right now and we really have to generate more offense off of that and make some better decisions."

On the other side, the Thunderbirds started the season 0-3 but after Tuesday's win moved to 2-3. They will turn their attention to Sachem North in the New Year on Tuesday, Jan. 4 at 6p.m and will try to get back to .500 and get a clean slate for the season.

"We talked about the possibility of being 3-3 after an 0-3 start," Garcia said. "We still have the opportunity to be at .500 and have a fresh start and that's something I've been telling the girls and they've really bought into it. They've been putting everything on the line."

What mattered most in the end was that it was a successful fundraiser with hundreds of dollars raised for cancer, thanks to a bake sale and gift basket raffle.

"The Suffolk Women's Basketball Coaches Association has been involved with this the last three or four years and each year we've raised more and more money for cancer and I think it's a great cause," Zatulskis said. "We had some people step up from our booster clubs to create these great baskets to raffle and we raised money with t-shirts and it's a wonderful thing."