Lady Mariners Sink Pierson in Hampton Hoops Classic

The Lady Mariners ran away with a 58-23 victory over Pierson in the Hampton Hoops Classic Dec.3. Southampton sophomore Paris Hodges outscored all of the Lady Whalers combined for the game, finishing with 24 points.

"Paris, like all of the girls, had no offseason," said Southampton head coach Rich Wingfield of his star. "These girls have been working since last February because they wanted to really, really, really make a difference."

From the start, Southampton dominated, forcing the Lady Whalers into multiple turnovers with a full-court press defense with traps and double-teams. Hodges had scored six points before Pierson got on the board and Southampton extended the lead to 11-3 with 3:10 to go in the first quarter, forcing Pierson to call a timeout.

Lady Mariner Nicole McGinnis hit a runner in the lane with two seconds left in the quarter to give Southampton a 16-5 lead after the first eight minutes.

Kesi Goree finished a traditional three-point play to give Southampton a 21-7 lead in the second quarter. Minutes later a deep jumper by Hodges extended the lead to 26-9. Pierson used two free throws to cut the lead to 30-12 with 3:25 to play in the half and would add three more points to get within 15. A three-pointer by Leandra McGinnis gave Southampton an 18-point lead once again and that is where the half ended, at 33-15.

Southampton opened the second half on a 9-0 run, to make the score 44-15. The teams traded baskets to make it 46-17 before Pierson ended the quarter on a small 4-0 run to make the score 46-21 with just one quarter to play.

Hodges opened the fourth quarter with a jump shot to make the lead 48-21. Wingfield emptied his bench, subbing out all five starts with 5:23 remaining in the game and Southampton leading 53-21. Leandra McGinnis scored five straight points to make the score 58-21 and finish the scoring for Southampton. Pierson would add two more points before reaching its final total of 23.

Southampton advances to the finals of the Hampton Hoops Classic while Pierson will play in the consolation game.

"The excitement for us is that it's our tournament," Wingfield said of the Hampton Hoops Classic, which his team is hosting. "This is the first time we've ever had a girls tournament. So we are just genuinely excited by the fact that we had a great overtime game tonight [Westhampton Beach over East Hampton], we had some good JV games tonight. What it does for us, is it allows us to do what we've always hoped. We can put the spotlight on basketball in the East End with the young ladies. We've always had it at some point or another with the young men, but what we're doing is trying to say we have some good ballplayers out here on the eastern end of Suffolk."

The Lady Mariners used a full-court press for over three quarters of the game and Pierson had no solution for it. Southampton matched that aggressiveness on offense, constantly driving to the basket from the wings and earning high quality shots.

"If you are going to play a pressure defense, you should play a pressure offense," Wingfield said. "I didn't invent that, John Calipari did at Memphis with Derrick Rose. So what you see on our team, because we have five players who can handle the ball, we have 10 players who can handle the ball, we have 10 players who can press, we have 10 players that can run and jump."

Wingfield wanted to let his team play and allow the game to flow, which the Lady Mariners team did, running and gunning Pierson out of the gym.

"What we learned was that only 20 percent of any plays in any game are scored off of set plays," Wingfield said. "80 percent of the plays are run out of read-and-react, so we want to constantly create a game of read-and-react."

Hodges led all scorers with 24 points, while Goree added eight. Leandra McGinnis scored 10 points, while her sister, Nicole McCinnis, scored three. Cassidy Guida had five points, followed by her sister, Carly Guida, who scored four points. Hodges' sister, Noel Hodges scored three points in the game.