Girls Basketball: Bears Thrash Pawling, Advance to Section I Semifinals

's Brianna Celaj buried back-to-back 3-pointers in the waning moments of the first half, supplying the Bears with a 32-28 lead, their largest during a dizzying pre-halftime showing against Pawling on Wednesday.

The visiting team was quick to answer, netting a deep jumper that had Briarcliff clinging to a slim 32-30 halftime lead.

At the 10-minute intermission, Briarcliff Coach Don Hamlin implored his players to loosen up.

"I felt that in the first half, we felt like we were afraid to lose," said Hamlin. "You can never play that way. I told the girls, 'get whatever cement is on your feet off, just loosen up and play basketball." 

These words resonated with the team.

"We kind of had that mentality where we're thinking 'if we lose, we're done," said senior guard Savina Reid, who scored 15 points in the Bears' 66-46 trouncing of Pawling in Wednesday's Sectional quarterfinals.

"I think it was just a matter of concentrating and locking up on defense,"  she added.

Reid played on Briarcliff's 2008 State Championship team as a freshman and was bent on prolonging what's been a stellar four-year career.

Briarcliff emerged from the locker rooms an entirely different team. The Bears ran off a ferocious, rapid-fire 25-8 spurt in the third quarter, swelling the spread to 55-38. It was a momentum-bolstering eight minutes that ignited the home crowd.

Savina Reid drilled a deep 3-pointer to cap an 11-2 spurt, supplying the Bears with a 43-34 edge.

Celaj slid into the teeth of Pawling's defense for a layup and Brianna Reid followed by popping a 3-pointer that allowed Briarcliff to seize a 46-34 bulge as 2:49 remained in the third quarter.

A team predicated on playing hounding defense, Briarcliff instigated a torrent of turnovers and converted them to transition buckets.

The Reid sisters leaked out in transition and padded the growing lead.

A baseline trey from Savina Reid pushed the lead to 51-27 and Briarcliff's scoring spree suddenly broke the game wide open.

"That run was much-needed," said Hamlin. "I mean we spent halftime trying to exorcise our demons." 

Another struggle for Briarcliff was overcoming Pawling's Margo Hackett.

Hackett, a -bound guard who has eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone, poured in a game-high 30 points.

Much of her damage was done through the first three quarters. In the fourth, Savina Reid did a clamp down on Hackett. She forced her to go left, staying in front of her and ultimately frustrating the high-scoring senior.

"She's a great player," said Reid of Hackett. "Our goal was just to keep her shots at a minimum. It goes to show how much respect we have for her game. Our defense on [Hackett] was huge, because if she's not getting her shots, she can drive to the basket and go baseline."  

But in the end, Pawling simply did not have enough scoring support for Hackett's 30-point barrage.

"We tried 2-3 different defenses on in her in the first half," explained Hamlin. "Then we went to a box-and-one and that seemed to do the job a bit better."

The Bears' balanced scoring and hot shooting in the second half—when they essentially buried Pawling under an onslaught of three-pointers—was vital.

Kasey Heyda scored a team-best 18 points, dominating the interior and providing putbacks. Celaj added 16 points for the Bears (17-3), who will play Bronxville in the Section I semifinals at the Westchester County Center.

"We're so psyched to get back to the County Center," said Reid. "A lot of people have doubts and we're looking to prove ourselves."