NCN Girls’ Basketball/Baseball Blog

All Class AA games have been moved to Saturday due to Yonkers schools being closed on Thursday. So Ossining, Carmel and John Jay will all have to wait one more day.

Here’s the North County matchups for the opening round of the sectional tournament on Friday.

Friday

Class A

5 p.m. No. 15 Beacon at No. 2 Lakeland
5 p.m. No. 13 Sleepy Hollow at No. 4 Peekskill
5 p.m. No. 10 Hen Hud at No. 7 Ardsley

Class B

5 p.m. No. 14 Dover at No. 3 Briarcliff
5 p.m.  No. 13 Hastings at No. 4 Kennedy
5 p.m. No. 11 Croton-Harmon at No. 6 Dobbs Ferry

Saturday

Class AA

Noon No. 17 Fox Lane-No. 16 Mamaroneck winner at No. 1 Ossining
Noon No. 15 Ketcham-No. 18 Gorton winner at No. 2 Carmel
4 p.m. No. 10 John Jay at No. 7 Our Lady of Lourdes

Freelancer Mike Sabini was on hand for Ossining’s 65-63 win over host Peekskill Feb. 9. Here are Mike’s thoughts on the game:

It was the final game of the regular season and fittingly the best game, at least around these parts.

Peekskill (15-3) was seemingly in control against Ossining (15-3) as it entered the fourth quarter with a 49-36 lead and with five minutes left had upped the lead to 17. It seemed Peekskill was going to clinch a share of the league crown with the visitors.

However, Ossining showed why it has such a great basketball tradition, storming back for a thrilling 65-63 victory that gave it sole possession of the league crown.

What Ossining Head Coach Dan Ricci thought was a key turning point was when with 4:11 left in the game, Hayley Awerdick was injured.

“I never give up on my kids, my kids work really hard,” Ricci said. “When Hayley got hurt, our players took offense to that because they felt she was pushed. They were pretty upset and started playing a little bit harder. We weren’t playing with intensity and I think that kind of woke us up.”

As for whether or not Awerdick will be able to play in the opening round of the sectionals Friday, that was not known.

“She has a torn ACL (suffered during the preseason), there’s really nothing else she can do with it, she’s in a lot of pain,” Ricci said. “If she’s not ready to go, we’ll sit her.”

Ready to go against Peekskill was Alex Venuto, who scored 17 of her game-high 33 points in the fourth quarter. Venuto made three 3-pointers in the final quarter, including a trey that pulled Ossining to within 61-60.

“Alex is a clutch kid,” Ricci said.

Saniya Chong, who tallied eight of her 15 points in the fourth stanza, then stole a Peekskill pass and fed Connie Andujar, who scored with 59 seconds left to put Ossining up 62-61 and they never trailed again.

Chong, Ossining’s freshman sensation, also garnered 11 rebounds, 11 steals and eight assists.

“I thought Saniya struggled but she really played well in the fourth quarter,” Ricci said.

Peekskill Head Coach Rodney Headley Jr., while disappointed about the loss, feels the effort against the potential No. 1 Class AA seed, can only bode well for his squad in the upcoming Class A tournament.

“If you can hang with a potential AA section winner, which Ossining is, you can do well in Class A,” Headley Jr. said. “They played their heart out. Asia got in foul trouble and that’s what killed us, losing her with five minutes to go in the game, that’s huge. The girls that came in, I give them credit, they held their own. We had a shot to send it into overtime (on a jumper that missed).“

Leading Peekskill was Jazmin Garcia with 23 points.

“Jazmin was the leading scorer in the last game at Ossining, so she has something to build on,” Headley Jr. said. “She just picked up where she left off.”

Peekskill’s Sheridan Taylor contributed 10 points, Kiana Letsinger and Jackson tallied nine each. Jackson’s points all came in the third quarter.

“I think they (his players) played with a lot of character,” Headley Jr. said. “Like I said, to play against the potential AA champion the way they did, means they got a lot of heart.”

Rankings as of noon, Tuesday

1) Ossining (14-3) — Ossining celebrated its Senior Day in style, crushing visiting Hendrick Hudson, 72-47, Friday.

Freshman sensation Saniya Chong led the way with 17 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and five steals.

Seniors Alex Venuto (14 points), Jalisa Taylor (nine), Aerion Ward (seven), Connie Andujar (six), Hayley Awerdick (six), Kai Lilley (two) and Angela Soldner (two) all contributed.

“We probably had the best-balanced scoring we have had all year,” Head Coach Dan Ricci said.

The talented senior class will be difficult to replace.

“We have a big senior class and they will all be missed,” Ricci said. “It is a special group of kids.

Ricci was very pleased with the defensive effort, holding the Sailors to only 17 points at halftime.

If Ossining defeats Peekskill on Feb. 9 they’ll finish undefeated in their league, and most likely will garner the No. 1 seed in the Class AA sectionals, Ricci said. If they lose, they should be the No. 2 seed.

Will Ossining’s road to the County Center be as heart-stopping as it was last season? Will they be able to upset Mount Vernon? Only time will tell.

2) Lakeland (16-1) — Here’s something you don’t need to be a genius to realize: If Lakeland is going to win the Class A gold ball they need Tori Jarosz on the floor.

The senior star, who suffered an ankle injury Jan. 8 against Mahopac, has learned to fight through the pain.

“Once the adrenaline starts kicking in, that’s when I don’t feel it and I just come out intense,” Jarosz said. “By the fourth quarter, I’m just really breaking down. When I get off the court the first thing I do is I grab a bag of ice and just relax.”

Jarosz, who said she is about 75 percent right now, has been sitting out and resting her ankle in some recent games.

“If we need her, she’s playing,” Head Coach Steve Fallo said. “If we don’t need her in certain games, she’s not playing.”

Well, they certainly will need her in every game in sectionals. Lakeland will probably land a No. 1 or 2 seed. The Hornets’ top challenger is Pearl River, who they routed in the semifinals last year.

“They’re older, they’re better,” Fallo said of Pearl River. “But the bottom line is, so are we. The team this year, they played without Tori for several games and look what they’ve done. You can’t count out anybody else (in Class A). There are too many good teams.”

3) Carmel (14-4) — Carmel held Tori Jarosz in check for one half of basketball. They just need to sustain that defensive effort for four quarters if they’re going to make a deep run in the Class AA sectionals.

Can they get to the County Center? Sure. Will they? Who knows.

At moments, the Rams show flashes of brilliance, but at other times they look like a different team.

The outside shooting was downright ugly against Lakeland. If the Rams shoot like that in sectionals, they could be one and done. Brittany Horne needs to stay inside and fight for offensive rebounds, instead of launching long jumpers.

4) Briarcliff (15-3) — The Bears closed out the regular season with three wins over Keio, Westlake and Pleasantville.

Briarcliff led a 14-4 Westlake squad, 31-11, at halftime on Friday. Brianna Reid led the Bears with 15 points. If they can keep up that effort in sectionals, you may be seeing them in the Class B finals.

5A) Kennedy Catholic (14-3) — Kennedy Catholic doesn’t play an exciting brand of basketball, but they sure get the job done.

How do they do it? Hard-nosed defense. They wear on teams and are certainly much bigger than any squad they’ll face in sectionals.

Kennedy desperately needs point guard Amanda Viteretti (wrist injury) back in the lineup ASAP. Without her, their offense looked lost at times against North Salem on Monday. She will be back on Feb. 12 for the opening round of sectionals, Head Coach Al Morales said.

Morales said the Gaels will probably receive a No. 3 or 4 seed in sectionals. That means they’ll be home in the opening round and in the quarterfinals, if they make it.

“That’s a big plus playing at home,” Morales said.

And could be the Gaels’ ticket to the County Center.

5B) Peekskill (15-2) — Will this be the year Peekskill finally gets out of the first round? I’d bet the farm on it.

Asia Jackson paced the Red Devils with 23 points in a 64-37 win over Newburgh on Saturday. Jackson will turn some heads in sectionals.

How about a Lakeland-Peekskill semifinal matchup at the County Center? Now that would be an interesting game. Hopefully the seeding gods are on our side.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Red Devils need to get out of the first round and through a probable tough quarterfinal matchup. Both games should be at home, however, where Peekskill thrives.

Knocking on the door: Can Hendrick Hudson (13-5) win an opening round game for the second season in a row? The Sailors should secure a decent seed and a home game, so I like their chances of moving on to the quarters. A blowout loss to Ossining to end their regular season is not very encouraging, however.

1) Ossining (12-3) — I couldn’t believe my eyes during Ossining’s first-half performance against Putnam Valley on Monday. Ossining was launching 3-pointers left and right, which isn’t too far from the norm — but they just couldn’t miss.

Alex Venuto was lights out, burying seven 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 29 points in the 79-40 win.

If Ossining continues to play like that, there’s nobody in Section 1 that can beat them, not even Mount Vernon.

Come see the backcourt trio of Venuto, Hayley Awerdick and Saniya Chong play before it’s too late. This trio is the best Section 1 has to offer. Just ask Head Coach Dan Ricci. He said, when they’re all healthy, it’s the best backcourt he’s had in his 19 years at Ossining. And he’s had some pretty exceptional players pass through over the years.

A positive sign is that Chong looks to have found herself at the foul line. She finally got rid of the Anthony Mason one-handed approach, which wasn’t working. In Monday’s win, Chong looked more like Mark Price than Shaq, going 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.

2) Lakeland (13-1) — Looking at Monday’s box score, I noticed that Tori Jarosz had zero points against Mahopac. Was she held out of the game to rest up? I talked to Head Coach Steve Fallo and that was the case. The Hornets also plan on resting Jarosz against Yorktown (she may play spotty minutes) on Feb. 3 before their marquee matchup with Carmel on Feb. 5.

Jarosz, who is bound for Vanderbilt, going up against Carmel’s Brittany Horne, a junior that will in all likelihood play Division 1 basketball, is a matchup you shouldn’t miss.

To compliment Jarosz’s inside prowess, Vicky Kowalski and Kristin Pappalardo will need to continue to stroke it from the outside to win that elusive gold ball.

“When we have Vicky and Kristin shoot from the outside with Tori inside, that’s a pretty formidable offensive trio,” Head Coach Steve Fallo said. “With shooting from the perimeter, you can be hot one night, and sometimes the next night you struggle. We need all three to play well when we get into the tournament.”

3) Carmel (12-3) — Carmel is itching to prove this week that its win over Lakeland was no fluke. A victory over a Hornets squad with Tori Jarosz in the middle would be a big-time confidence booster heading into sectionals.

I’ll say one thing about the Rams: they win the game they’re supposed to win, disposing of Yorktown, Mahopac and Walter Panas in their previous three games. Two of their three losses have come to the two squads that met in the AA finals last season in Ossining and Mount Vernon.

The defense has certainly picked up, only allowing an average of 30 points per game over the last three contests. Brittany Horne led the Rams over the stretch, averaging close to 17 ppg.

4) Briarcliff (12-3) — Briarcliff held a five-point halftime lead over Pearl River on Friday after a strong first half. They handled the Pearl River press for the most part and didn’t show any signs of a repeat of the Brewster game, where they had a fourth quarter meltdown.

But then the second half rolled around and the Bears looked like a completely different team. They buckled under pressure and couldn’t convert a free-throw.

Briarcliff will have to get rid of this Jekyll and Hyde act if they want to make a deep run in sectionals. The Bears should be looking at a seed somewhere between No. 3 and 5, according to Head Coach Don Hamlin.

Let’s be honest, Briarcliff doesn’t play in the strongest of leagues. So these grueling non-league games with teams like Pearl River, Brewster, Lakeland, and Rye, are vital in preparing the Bears for the playoffs. But like Hamlin said, they need to take the next step and win these types of games against top-notch competition.

And what better time than sectionals to do it?

5A) Kennedy Catholic (11-3) — The sectionals are looming and the Gaels are about ready to make some noise. They’ll definitely have a home playoff game in the first round, and possibly even in the quarterfinals. That’ll provide quite a boost in their chances of reaching the County Center.

5B) Peekskill (14-2) — I was a little surprised when I walked into the Peekskill High gym and saw they only held a single digit lead over Croton-Harmon in the third quarter on Monday.

Peekskill only held a five-point halftime lead. And Head Coach Rodney Headley, Jr. was not too pleased.

The Red Devils best get their act together quickly because there’ll be no easy games in sectionals. They have way too much talent to end up with another first-round loss. Last year, I was surprised at their loss to Hendrick Hudson. This season, a quarterfinal trip is a must.

What about a County Center trip? An above average possibility.

Knocking on the door: Hendrick Hudson (12-4) split a pair last week, defeating Yorktown but falling to John Jay-East Fishkill. Meghan Jacobs and Fiona Callagy led the way against the Huskers, scoring 14 and 12 points, respectively. Chelsea Glashoff netted 15 points in the loss to the Patriots.