East Meadow girls basketball's dream season continues with first Long Island championship
Myrdiva Jean-Pierre #21, second from left, and Allie Twible #32 celebrate with their East Meadow teammates after the Jets' 51-46 win over Westhampton in the Class AA girls basketball Long Island Championship at Farmingdale State College on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Credit: James Escher
It wasn’t going to be as easy as 1, 2, 3.
East Meadow, which entered the playoffs as the No. 7 seed before defeating each of the top three teams en route to claiming its first county title, found itself in a tightly contested game against Westhampton in the Long Island Class AA girls basketball final on Sunday.
The score was tied three times and neither team led by more than eight points until Allie Twible made a layup off a full-court pass from Angelina Cronin with 5:42 left to give the Jets a nine-point lead in East Meadow’s 51-46 win over Westhampton at Farmingdale State.
East Meadow clinched its first Long Island championship in program history.
“The determination we had was to just play our game. We like to run and use the full court and knock down threes,” said Twible, who scored 18 points. “We had nothing to lose but everything to win, so we just kept our feet on the gas.”
“To even dream about being in the Long Island championship was just that — a dream,” coach Peter Olenik said. “This was a very tough team and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy."
Freshman guard Kate Sweet was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws to tie the score at 22 for Westhampton (21-3) with 3:09 left in the half. But East Meadow went on an 11-4 run, capped by a Twible layup at the buzzer to enter the second half with a 33-26 lead.
The Westhampton defense, led by sophomore guard Sandra Clarke (nine points), held East Meadow to just three points in the third quarter to cut its deficit to 36-33 entering the fourth. Sweet balanced the attack with 11 of her 18 points in the second half, including a three-pointer at the final buzzer. Jasmine Taylor added 10 points for Westhampton. Cronin finished with 14 points for East Meadow.
East Meadow (20-5) is looking forward to the chance to continue its historic run upstate in the state Class AA semifinal game, where it will face Section I’s Albertus Magnus at Hudson Valley CC on Friday at 8:45 p.m.
“I never expected to be here or even the county championship, it’s surreal,” Twible said. “We’re living the Cinderella story.”
