East Meadow extends playoff run

Scoring 10 straight points late in the first quarter last Friday night propelled East Meadow to a playoff-clinching 54-43 victory at Port Washington in a Nassau Conference AA-2 girls’ basketball game.

Junior point guard Rhoda Williams scored nine of her 14 points in the opening eight minutes and senior center Danielle Hippner had 13 of her 20 in the second half as the Lady Jets never trailed on the way to upping their conference record to 5-3. Kate Shanahan (17) and Natalie DeMeo (14) scored in double figures for Port Washington, which fell to 2-5 in AA-2.

“It’s our sixth season in a row making the playoffs,” East Meadow head coach Peter Olenik said. “We didn’t make it in my first season but we haven’t missed it since. It feels good. Now we’ll try to get the best seed we can get and try to make some noise.”

The Lady Jets had their inside-outside game working most of the night, with Williams and fellow junior Julie Tanenblatt (seven points) leading the backcourt and Hippner and fellow senior Stephanie Sparkowski (14 rebounds) dominating down low. While Olenik was pleased, he also wants to see turnovers kept to a minimum.

“We have to know when not to force the ball inside and when to try to drive to the basket instead,” Olenik said. “When Danielle is being double-teamed, that means there’s an opening somewhere else.”

Williams took advantage of just that midway through the first quarter after Lilly Conway and Shanahan hit consecutive baskets to tie the game at 7. Williams scored three straight field goals, hitting a runner in the lane, a baseline jumper and a driving layup while drawing a foul. She missed the free throw, but then sank 2 of 2 to open the second as East Meadow increased its lead to 19-8.

The Lady Vikings enjoyed their best push early in the second and had four different players score — Conway, DeMeo, Emily Bersin and Shanahan — as the margin was chopped to 21-15. East Meadow responded, however, with a seven-point spurt to close the half and took a 28-15 lead into the locker room. Tanenblatt sandwiched a three-pointer around a pair of Hippner baskets to regain momentum.

The lead peaked midway through the third at 41-21 following six straight points by Hippner, who averages 17 per game. Williams and sophomore Lindsay Solenski both hit threes, while seventh-grader Allison Twible came off the bench to spark the backcourt.

“The first time we played Port Washington, they took 14 threes,” said Olenik, referring to East Meadow’s 53-41 win on Jan. 7. “We switched to a 3-2 defense tonight to contain their shooters.”

It was the third win in four games for the Lady Jets, who made easy work of Westbury and Hicksville recently. Twible scored 11 against Westbury, and Williams paved the way over Hicksville with 15 points.

The regular season concludes this week with games against six-time defending county champion Baldwin and Westbury. East Meadow will open the playoffs on the road Feb. 19.