Center Moriches' Takia Plummer controls the ball during her team's...

Center Moriches' Takia Plummer controls the ball during her team's 51-46 win over Wyandanch in the Suffolk high school girls basketball game. (Feb. 11, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

After carrying Center Moriches for most of the game, Takia Plummer made an ill-advised pass at the end of the third quarter that gave Wyandanch the lead. The Center Moriches sophomore point guard put her head down and trudged back to the bench.

She started the fourth quarter on the sideline and returned 34 seconds later only to dribble the ball out of bounds on the baseline. One of the big reasons Center Moriches has been successful this season is Plummer, in her first season as a starter.

Plummer brushed it off and scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to give Center Moriches the lead for good in a 51-46 home win over Wyandanch on Friday to clinch the Suffolk League VII girls basketball title. Center Moriches (15-2, 9-0) gets the top seed in Class B and a bye into the county final Feb. 26.

Plummer scored a career-high 20 points and added six assists, and is averaging 16 points the last four games.

"I was really down on myself after the third quarter," Plummer said. "I knew had to put it behind me and my teammates really picked me up."

Plummer scored on a fast-break layup to pull Center Moriches within 41-40 and then scored on another open layup off a pass from Loren Smith with 5:09 left in the game to give the Red Devils the lead for good at 42-41.

"It shows the growth she had made," teammate Emma Whittle said. "She was lacking confidence earlier in the season, but she has it now. She showed it."

Center Moriches has a good tandem of Amber Davis (10 points) and Kelsey Glanzman. The question mark was replacing All-Long Island point guard Jessica Bandrowski and Plummer has filled the void well.

"We have such high expectations for her and sometimes you forget she's a 10th-grader," Center Moriches coach Rich Alifano said.

Said Wyandanch's Warren Fuller: "Everyone was watching to see if she would step up. She's done an outstanding job."

As did Whittle in the fourth quarter with six of her 11 points. She nailed a three-pointer with 2:55 left to push the lead to 45-41 and after Glanzman went 1-for-2 from the foul line, Whittle scored on a drive to make it 48-41 with 1:30 left.

Wyandanch (11-6, 7-2) led by as many as 13 in the second quarter and had a three-point lead in the fourth quarter. After a 28-point first half, it was limited to 18 second-half points.

"We don't rely on just two scorers anymore," Whittle said. "We have a few ways to beat you."

Plummer is one of them.

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