Long Beach Girls Comeback Bid Falls Short

The scoreboard at the end read 52-41 for the home team at Calhoun, but Long Beach put on an impressive never-say-die second half of basketball Tuesday night, ignoring a double digit deficit with a harrying full court press that at least made some on the other side of the court a bit nervous.

Having been dominated on the boards and missing shots for the entire first half, the Long Beach girls notched seven steals, caused numerous turnovers, and made Calhoun's full court press game look porous.

"Believe it or not that's a loss I'm happy about," Long Beach coach Lori DeVivio said afterward. "We played well. Our game plan was well executed in the first half but the shots weren't falling."

The early going was a one-sided affair, as Calhoun (2-1 conference, 4-1 overall) out-rebounded the Mariners 21-6 in the first half, and disrupted Long Beach's offensive game in the second quarter to cause 2 for 13 shooting from the floor.

Still, there were signs of things to come in the early going. When outside shooters Brigitte Gilbert (12 points) and Hart McDonough (12 points) were able to get a decent look, the ball was falling. And Molly Martin (13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals) made her presence felt on the court in a way that prefigured her second half outburst.

"Molly put in an all around blue collar effort, working hard on the floor," DeVivio said. "She averages 31 minutes a game on the floor and she was around that today."

Joining Martin in the blue collar fireworks was senior leader RaeAnna Georgopolous, who brought the stands to its feet with a diving save attempt over the baseline that saw her sprawled against canvas but with a grin on her face.

"Running into the wall like that 0—0 those are the types of plays that make us happy," DeVivio said.

Both teams played aggressively, with Calhoun notching 9 steals overall — seven in the first half — before Long Beach (2-1 conference, 2-4 overall) showed what they could do by overplaying the passing lanes and pressing their opponents.

"Long Beach was tough," Calhoun coach Dave Radtke said. "They didn't give up."

Megan O'Sullivan led the Colts with 17 points, 14 rebounds, 2 steals, and knew the job of her squad was to stop Long Beach offensive standouts Martin and McDonough.

"We came out with an idea on defense that we needed to focus on their two big shooters," Calhoun's center said. "Once we did that other people had to touch the ball."

But the Calhoun game plan fell apart—and their hold on a comfortable lead seemed suddenly vulnerable —as Long Beach started using their defensive pressure to create opportunities for Martin, McDonagh and Gilbert before Calhoun could get set up.

The fourth quarter's first four minutes were particularly fruitful. Good perimeter ball movement put the ball in Georgopolous' hands for a swish, and then Martin followed suit. When Calhoun responded, Martin hauled in a steal at the 5:35 mark and found McDonagh streaking to the bucket for an easy two.

Unfortunately for the Long Beach girls, with opportunity came danger. The high-pressure defense also began ticking off team fouls, and at the 3:41 mark, down by 12, they were in it. At that point, Calhoun marched to the foul line and— with an 80 percent freethrow shooting effort, put the lid on the Mariner's comeback attempt.

"We made the adjustment in an attempt to claw our way back into it," DiVivio said. "We took a risk that our press would get us into foul trouble, and we were willing to take that risk."

Long Beach hosts Bellmore-JFK (0-3, 2-4 overall) at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 7.