McKenna, Sivilli lead Glenn past Riverhead
John Glenn's Allison McKenna goes up for a basket guarded by Riverhead's Jayln Brown in the Suffolk girls basketball game. (Dec. 7, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The goal was to get the ball inside to Glenn senior Allison McKenna since Riverhead had no height to counter the 6-2 center. That was accomplished.
On the other end, Glenn needed to prevent Riverhead from using its speed to create easy offense in transition. That was also achieved.
McKenna had 23 points and nine rebounds and Mackenzie Sivilli added nine points for host Glenn in a 48-42 win over Riverhead Wednesday in a non-league girls basketball opener for both teams.
"If I have a mismatch down low, they look for me," McKenna said. "It opened up the outside shots and when they hit them, it will get me open more."
McKenna scored 10 of her points in the first half and the score was tied at 16. Glenn, the defending Suffolk Class A champion, opened the third quarter with a flurry. McKenna ignited a 10-1 run and Emma Kils added a layup and jumper. The spurt was capped on a spin move to the basket by Sivilli with 5:21 left to give the Knights a 26-17 lead.
"We wanted to get our half-court sets going and get the ball inside to McKenna," Sivilli said. "They're very good defensively and we needed to move the ball. We came out strong. Everyone played well in that quarter."
McKenna had nine of her points in the 21-10 third quarter that gave the Knights a 37-26 lead. The advantage grew to 13 midway through the fourth quarter before Riverhead was able to play to its strengths.
Riverhead was able to use its press to get offense. Shanice Allen had a steal and layup to slice the deficit to 43-36 with 2:20 left. The Blue Waves forced a miss shot on the other end, but no one covered the weak side and Sivilli had an easy putback.
Jalyn Brown (14 points) scored off an Allen steal with 39 seconds left to pull Riverhead within 45-40, but Sivilli then hit both ends of a one-and-one to make it 47-40 with 29 seconds left.
"She did a great job handling the ball one-on-one," McKenna said of Sivilli. "She set up the offense well and hit some big shots."
Said Riverhead coach Dave Spinella: "It's hard dealing with McKenna even if you have size. We have to use our speed to offset that. They got back on us well. When we score, we can set up our press. In the fourth quarter we were able to score and make some things happen."
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