Kennedy Girls Win Pre-Season Thriller

Tuesday night's game began as a low-scoring affair for Bellmore JFK. Shots were not dropping early, and selection was limited. It looked like it was going to be a night of disappointment for the Lady Cougars.

And then came the third quarter.

The adaptation of the press turned out to pay dividends for Bellmore JFK as they were able to secure their first win of the pre-season with a 55-48 victory against Plainedge.

Early on, it was more off a seesaw affair at Plainedge High School. Neither Plainedge or Kennedy were scoring all that much, in large part because of solid defense on both sides of the court.  Also, when there is stifling defense, there are turnovers, and that would become more evident in the second half.

More on that later.

Cougars Coach Debra Cippola-Minafo was still testing out her players on Tuesday, and she said she wanted to see how different players were working together.

"We just want to see how different combinations work right now," Cippola-Minafo said. "We pressed and that made a big difference. It was really nice to see them play this well."

The first half was more like a battle for ball possession. Both teams continued to give it up, and it began to look like your typical pre-season game, but when the half time buzzer rang, it seemed like a light bulb turned on in Kennedy's collective heads.

After trailing 18-17 at the end of the first half, Kennedy started using the full-court press. It was a look that Plainedge hadn't  seen yet from the Cougars, and it showed. The Red Devils continued to turn the ball over, and suddenly the Cougars had a 31-24 lead. Most of those baskets were easy layups.

The Cougars continued to hold the lead into the fourth quarter, but the Red Devils would not go away. Plainedge continued to get down low, and they drew a lot of fouls. Plainedge made their foul shots and that kept them in this game, but it would not be enough on this night. 

Every time it seemed like Plainedge was going to get over the hump, the Cougars would nail a timely hoop. In fact, the lead was down to five with 2:16 remaining, but a huge basket by Carly Thea sealed the victory.

Allie Keller was the leading scorer for Cougars, and she praised defense as being the reason for Kennedy's win.

"We played really well," Keller said. "We played very good defense. We needed to adjust and stick tight on number 12 (Shannon Steubing) and we did that better in the second half."

Steubing was Plainedge's leading scorer on the night with 19 points.

Another Cougar with a solid performance was Morgan Kitton, although she got off to a bit of a rough start. Kitton picked up a quick two fouls early, and she was forced to sit down, but she played a big role in the second half resurgence by adding 10 points to the mix.

"Obviously for us, the press worked," Kitton said. "We need to continue to build on that. The key for us seems to be motivation."

Although the night was an overall success, there were parts of Kennedy's game that Coach Cipolla-Minafo would like to see improve.

"Our help side defense could definitely improve," Cipolla-Minafo said. "Also we need to work a bit on our ball movement. "

Kennedy's regular season opens up on Friday, December 18 when the Cougars travel to Freeport.