Girls JV Basketball: Lady Mariners Fall to Shelter Island

Shelter Island took down the Lady Mariners Dec. 3 in a girls junior varsity basketball game marred by turnovers and missed shots.

The game was played as part of the Hampton Hoops Classic, a girls basketball tournament run at Southampton High School. The visiting Lady Indians won 40-22 on the strength of 14 points from Breanna Hallman.

Southampton got on the board first with a basket from Brittany Ryan, which was the lone score in the first four minutes of the game.  Shelter Island went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter, leading 9-2 after the first eight minutes.

The Lady Indians were playing a zone defense and from the start Southampton had trouble navigating. Ryan would be taken out by an injury, adding to Southampton's troubles.

"They were big inside," Lady Mariners coach Diane Guida said. "We got some shots from the outside but we have a lot of work to do with working on our outside shot. That was the biggest thing and we need to work on passing — quick passing — so we can shift it from one side to the other and move the defense."

Guida's team responded with a full-court press to open the second quarter and the defensive pressure sparked a run. Southampton opened the quarter with six straight points, cutting the lead to 9-8, forcing Shelter Island to call a timeout.

A jumpshot by Emily Quatroche, an eighth grader playing JV ball, gave Southampton the lead, 10-9, with 4:50 to play in the half, but Shelter Island would not go away.

Shelter Island figured out a way to beat the press and went on another 9-0 run, ignited by a fastbreak layup from Hallman, to finish the quarter. The Lady Indians took a 18-10 lead into halftime.

"Once we started flowing with the offense, I think that's when we started to go on our run," said Shelter Island coach Brian Doelger.

Ryan  injured her ankle in the first half, leaving the Lady Mariners shorthanded, a factor Guida credits for much of Shelter Island's run.

"We had the most experienced players out there with a lot of good energy and one of the key players hurt her ankle and was out for the rest of the second half of the game," Guida said. "We just tried lots of different combinations but we just couldn't get it back, the same momentum."

The third quarter opened with a three-pointer from Mariner Rochelle Baker but Shelter Island had an answer immediately. A layup by Hallman followed by four straight points from Kristie Moschetta pushed the Shelter Island lead to 26-13.

The Mariners took a timeout to try to regroup with 3:01 left in the third quarter, down 28-15. The strategy did not work though, as Lady Indian Melissa Ames hit a jumpshot one minute later to push the lead to 30-15 and the quarter eventually ended with Shelter Island doubling up Southampton 34-17.

For the fourth straight quarter, Southampton would score first, on a breakaway layup by Natece Willis, but there was not enough scoring to get the Mariners back into the game. With four minutes left Shelter Island led 38-21 and only three more points would be scored the rest of the way.

Shelter Island finished 40-22 in its first game of the season. The key to victory was "just getting rid of our nerves and playing with confidence," Doelger said.

"A big thing is inexperience," Guida said of the loss. "We have 15 [players]. Only four girls have played basketball before and we have 11 kids who are learning."

Quatroche led Southampton with nine points, followed by Rochelle Baker with five points. Willis added four points and Ryan and Sidney Katz each scored two points.