When a player like North Babylon’s Brianna Jones comes into town, there’s always a bit of an intimidation factor. The University of Louisville recruit averages 28 points per game. But one player doesn’t make a team.
Riverhead (9-3 league III) had the lead 47-43 with a little under three minutes to go in the game. The Bulldogs refused to go away. Jones made two consecutive shots to tie the game at 47.
After another North Babylon defensive stop, the ball went into Jones’ hands once again. She drove to the lane, got fouled and went to the free throw line for two shots. She sank both. North Babylon’s bench went crazy.
It was time for someone to step up for Riverhead. The game was hanging in the balance.
Sam Dunn received a pass and instantly drove to the rack, getting fouled in the process. She had a chance to tie the game. She did just that, sinking both attempts.
With the game tied at 49, everyone knew where the ball was going to go to. As the pass came inside, it was Dunn who came up with the rock. She quickly dribbled the ball down the court and tripped, losing possession in the process. An unstable player would get upset over what just happened and lose focus. Dunn did no such thing.
“You have to let it go,” Dunn said. “You’re not going to be able to change what just happened.”
What she could change was what would happen next. I guess you can say she got it Dunn because on the next possession, she came up with another steal. With a minute left in the game, Dunn was at the line for two.
She made one of two to give Riverhead the lead.
On the following possession, North Babylon (7-4 league III) came up empty and Faith Johnson-DeSilvia got to the line after being fouled. She had the pleasure of guarding Jones for most of the game despite being at least half a foot shorter than her.
“She talks a lot of smack but it didn’t faze me,” Johnson-DeSilvia said, who scored 11 points and dished seven of the most beautiful assists to wide open teammates after causing havoc penetrating to the basket.
“I was nervous getting to the line,” Johnson-DeSilvia said. “But I knew if I made the shots it would put us in a good position to win the game.”
She hit one of two to give the Blue Waves a 51-49 lead.
There was no surprise that Jones took the shot for the Bulldogs on the other end. Jones aggressively drove to the lane and a quick thinking Dunn slid underneath the basket, planted her feet and got in front. Jones barreled over her; it was the picture perfect charge but it wasn’t called.
“They’re not going to call the charge on Brianna in that situation,” Riverhead head coach Dave Spinella said. “But it still stopped her from scoring.”
No foul was called for either side and the ball fell off the rim. That’s when one of the shortest players on the court, Kate McCarney, jumped as high as she possibly could and came up with the rebound with just seconds left on the clock.
“For Kate to come up with that rebound is incredible,” Spinella said.
She was fouled, went to the free throw line and sank the first crucial free throw. The second clanked off the rim and dribbled out of bounds as the final seconds ticked off the clock for a 52-49 Blue Waves victory.
“I’m so proud of them,” Spinella said. “It’s insane the amount of progress we’ve made since November. We came up with huge turnovers, sank important free throws and never lost focus. What a game. To take two games from North Babylon, our rival, says so much and this is just the beginning.”
“We were getting blown out by these teams last year,” Johnson-DeSilvia said. “Now to be able to beat them shows how good we can be. It makes everyone play that much harder and play with complete confidence.”
Because of the snow storm, this was Riverhead’s third game in as many days.
“We were on our last legs out there,” Dunn said, who scored a team-high 21 points. “But every one of us gave everything left in our body for that win. We gave our heart and soul for this victory.”
Dezarae Brown also had a huge game, scoring 11 points and coming up with 11 rebounds, many of which were over a taller player in very important situations.
North Babylon’s Jones finished with 27 points.
Riverhead has two games remaining on their schedule. They’ll travel to undefeated Copaigue on Tuesday and finish the season at home against Centereach on Thursday.
“Copaigue will be a tough game,” Spinella said. “We beat them three out of the four quarters last time. If we play like we did today, we’ll have a chance to come out on top.
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