Lady Colts Basketball Fades Late Against Mepham

For one half of basketball action at Mepham High School Tuesday night, it looked like the girls from Calhoun had a winning strategy on their hands.

Focusing on putting a lid on the Lady Pirates' talented junior Kristen O'Brien, the Colts jumped out to a 13 point lead early in the first Conference AA-III game for both teams. 

But the game slipped from their grasp in the second half as the Pirates found other players who could put the ball in the hoop–and a lopsided first half turned into a nip and tuck battle, which ended with a late Mepham surge and a 52-46 victory for the Pirates.

"After being named MVP at the Hicksville tournament, O'Brien's a marked woman," Mepham coach Jim Mulvey said. "Everyone's going to come out hard on her."

"Our goal was to shut down O'Brien, but he's got some shooters," admitted Calhoun coach Dave Radtke. "His other players stepped up."

Not that O'Brien didn't score–she had 13 points and nine rebounds on the day. But it was left to Mepham sophomore Nicole Castaldo (22 points, 18 of them in the second half), and eighth grader Megan Anderson (eight points–including two treys) –to carry the load. Senior Jillian Picinich also chipped in six points for the Lady Pirates.

"They were so focused on Kristen that I was able to find seams and get under the basket to box out," Castaldo said.

Not at first, however. Calhoun (2-1) looked overwhelming early, with point guard Ellie Rosenblum distributing the ball with authority, and a perimeter game finding plenty of scoring opportunities for Meghan O'Sullivan from the top of the key and from three-point range.

O'Sullivan (23 points on the day) was popping with authority, scoring 11 of Calhoun's first 18 points before Mepham could get their bearings.

"We tried different things," Rosenblum said, "doubling on screens, trying to box out and get the rebounds, and it was working."

The second quarter was more of the same, with Jessica Ruggiero (10 pts) finding the net with frequency.

But with foul trouble mounting for the Lady Colts, Mepham was able to stabilize the margin–and in a sign of things to come, finished off the last minute of the half with three three-pointers in a row (Anderson for two and one for Samantha Hishmeh) to get things to within four at 27-23.

"The foul trouble in the first half hurt us," coach Radtke said. "We couldn't do some things we wanted to do, and their defense was good."

To compound matters, the Lady Pirates implemented a high intensity full court press in the second half. That spelled trouble for Calhoun and before the Colts were able to adjust, Mepham had pulled even at 36-36 on the hot hand of Castaldo and a pair of free throws for O'Brien.

On the ensuing play, Picinich turned a steal on defense into an end-to-end play, scoring the bucket and putting the Lady Pirates up to stay.

Mepham (3-0) outscored Calhoun 14-10 the rest of the way, weathered a late run sparked by an intense offensive effort from Danielle Losee (four points), to claim the victory.

"Nobody wants to give an inch in this game," Radtke said afterwards. "We played well in spots, but they played better. We'll get 'em next time."