Lady Cyclones Clinch Conference Crown With Win Over Lawrence, 50-37

An incomplete South Side Lady Cyclones team shook off a disappointing loss at Lynbrook Friday, and went on a furious second-half rally on the road Wednesday afternoon to beat Lawrence, 50-37.

With the win, the Lady Cyclones clinched the Conference A-II title, though things appeared to be in doubt after South Side played poorly in the second quarter and fell behind 20-19 to end the first half.

Coach Katie Dunn said she was upset with her team’s second-quarter play, but her team adjusted in the second half, outscoring Lawrence 31-17.

“We stopped running on offense, we got away from it, and it really slowed us down on both offense and defense,” she said after watching the Golden Tornadoes go on a 14-2 run to end the half. “We really attacked the offensive boards in the second half, that’s what we wanted to work on.”

Despite being without senior captain Lauren Lopresti for the second game after she fell ill on Friday, fellow captains Christina Merrifield and Megan Lonergan made up for her absence with monster games.

Lonergan finished with 16 points and five rebounds, overpowering the smaller Lawrence players for easy buckets in the paint. Merrifield attacked the glass, finishing with a double-double — 15 boards and 13 points.

“We missed Lauren again, she’s a captain and a leader for us, but she’ll be back for the playoffs,” Dunn said. “Tina did a great job today. Defensively she did what she needed to do, and she really dominated in the post.”

After watching his team jump to a one-point halftime lead — only the second time South Side had been down at the half this season – Golden Tornadoes coach George Klein said he knew his team had played a good half, but they couldn’t find a way to sustain it.

“We found our range in the second quarter, we made a run and hit some threes,” he said. “In the second half we had some foul trouble and missed some of the shots we were hitting in the first half. They're a good team, and their size was just too much for us.”

Caitlin Wallace added six points and five assists for South Side, and senior Brianna McNally added six of her own to go with four rebounds in the conference-clinching game. South Side will have one more tune-up at home against Sewanhaka on Friday before the playoffs start.

“We got the No.1 seed in Conference A-II, we clinched a conference championship,” Dunn said. “That was just one of our common goals as a team.  Our first team goal is accomplished, now we just have a few more to go.”