After coughing up the basketball 21 times in dropping their conference opener, the Elmont girls were on the positive side of the turnover ratio by a large margin and got a game-high 22 points from senior Amaya Richberg to defeat Valley Stream Central, 44-23, on Dec. 20.
“We spent all of yesterday’s practice working on offense, so I was really happy with how well we played defensively,” Elmont head coach Tom Magno said. “Janay [Legagneur] is an All-County player and we did a great job containing her. We also protected the ball much better this game and forced turnovers.”
Playing without starting point guard Farrah Pitt for a second straight game due to concussion protocol, Legagneur and the Lady Eagles never found a rhythm in what was their A-2 opener. They were held to single digits in all four quarters and head coach Malyssa Thorngren estimated they committed over 30 turnovers.
“There were so many things we did poorly,” Thorngren said. “You’re not going to win a lot of games when you make only six shots. From the time our bus was an hour late to get us here, the day went downhill. It was anomaly to our season so far and hopefully it stays that way.”
Central (3-2 overall) won its first three non-conference games out of the gate and also played a talented South Side team tough — without Pitt — before losing by eight. “I was very happy with what we were doing,” Thorngren said. “Elmont just had us from the start.”