Burke sparks South Side girls over Wantagh

Colleen Burke was pulled aside at halftime and told she needed to spur a charge to begin the second half. South Side already had played a terrific second quarter, when it held Wantagh without a field goal.

Burke, a senior guard, scored nine of her 15 points in the third quarter to help host South Side coast past No. 5 Wantagh, 55-34, last night in a Nassau Class A girls basketball quarterfinal. Fourth-seeded South Side (13-6) will play top-seeded Division in the semifinals Tuesday at Freeport.

"She came out ready to go," South Side coach Kendall Richards said. "I told her I needed her to go all out for the first four minutes. If she got some baskets and created havoc on the defensive end, that would put them out of the game."

Burke delivered. She converted a steal into a layup. After Lauren Lopresti hit a jumper, Burke hit a three-pointer and scored on two drives to the basket to cap an 11-0 run. She helped give South Side a 38-15 lead with 5:29 left in the third quarter to cap a 28-2 spurt.

"We went to a zone to give them a different look after the first quarter," Burke said. "It worked better. With the zone, we intercepted passes more. We boxed out and we hit a lot of shots. We found the open girl."

Everything the Cyclones did worked. Wantagh (10-9) was held without a basket for 12:04. Kaleigh Craig finally scored with 3:56 left in the third quarter.

"The 2-3 zone really shut them down a little bit and we were able to hold them," South Side's Christina Merrifield said. "We got some fast breaks and that got us going. We were hitting most of our shots. We got some key threes. It was pretty nice."

Burke also had six rebounds and four steals, Merrifield had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Megan Lonergan five points, 15 rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Cyclones.

Jackie Sileo (21 points) had the hot hand for Wantagh in the first quarter with 10 points, including two three-pointers. Sileo hit a three-pointer with four seconds left in the quarter to give Wantagh a 13-10 lead.

It was a complete turnaround in the second quarter. South Side opened the quarter with a 15-0 run and outscored Wantagh in the quarter 17-2. The Warriors' only points came on two free throws by Sileo with 45 seconds left in the half.

It was the third time South Side defeated Wantagh this season. The last time the teams met, South Side won, 62-57, in double overtime.

"I think they were on their game," Wantagh coach Stan Bujacich said. "We missed shots, free throws and it started to snowball."