Defensive Lapses Doom Panthers in Loss to Kings Park

The Miller Place varsity girls basketball team battled Kings Park closely Tuesday evening, until one too many lapses on defense caught up to the Panthers in a 69-53 loss in league play.

A layup by Deanna Molinelli halfway through the third quarter gave the Panthers (1-2, 5-4) their first lead of the game at 36-34, but it was short lived as King Park (3-0, 7-2) nailed a wide open three just seconds later to take back the lead. The Panthers never recovered and couldn't stop Kings Park's offense, letting the game slip away.

"Our defense was terrible," said head coach Liz Borsetti. "We didn't sustain. We'd play defense well for 45 seconds then play poorly. It was defense and rebounding, and they have good shooters, so if you don't defend, this is what happens."

Trailing by 14 after the first quarter, the Panthers picked it up and capped off a great second quarter with an 8-0 run in the final minutes to head into halftime trailing by two, 27-25. After being shutout in the first, Brea Greene scored seven points in the second and capped their run with a layup seconds before the half ended. Greene finished with 17 points in the game.

Center Marlaina Sherman and Molinelli each added six in the second. Molinelli finished with 14 on seven field goals while Sherman had 12 on six field goals. Greene was the only Panther able to get to the line more than once, shooting five for eight from the charity stripe. The Panthers struggled in stopping Kings Park's top scorers, Marion Kawecki and Meghan Eckel. Kawecki was able to put up 23 while Eckel added 18 as the two combined for 41 of their team's 69 points.

"We have to make some adjustments on our defense number one and number two, boxing out," Borsetti said. "Considering that we were down by two in the first half, we shouldn't have given up what we did in the second half. But we'll go back to the drawing board and continue with our game on Thursday."

The Panthers look to rebound on Thursday at home against rival Rocky Point, another league foe. The Panthers would climb back to .500 in League V play with a win.

"[We're looking for] better defense obviously," Borsetti said. "A little more talking on defense and working together, there's too much individual play, we have to play a little bit more like a team."