Spallino leads Locust Valley to upset

Already putting on one of her top performances, Locust Valley junior Brooke Spallino put an exclamation point on the final seconds of yesterday's game to make it the best of her career.

With her team leading by one, Spallino made a game-saving block at the top of the arc with 11 seconds to go.

"I was really happy that I got that block," Spallino said. "I thought she was going to pass it at first but then I saw her trying to shoot it so I tried to put my hand up and I got a piece of it."

Spallino had a career-high 23 points, including the game-sealing free throws with 7.8 seconds left after she made the game-saving block, as No. 3 Locust Valley upset No. 2 Carle Place, 45-42, in a Nassau Class B girls basketball semifinal Saturday at Port Washington.

Locust Valley (13-5) advances to the finals to face defending county champion and top-seeded Cold Spring Harbor (16-2) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at LIU Post.

"Brooke is the type of player other teams key on her offensively but her defense in the most under rated part of her game," Locust Valley coach Michael Guidone said. "She has stepped up this year and made steals at crucial times that have put us in the position that we're in. She has an uncanny knack for making the big play at the big time."

After Sammy Altimari (five points) gave the Falcons a 43-42 lead with 20.9 seconds to go, Guidone asked his team how they wanted to defend on the ensuing possession and they chose to stick with their game plan of containing Carle Place's Samantha Burden (17 points) over man-to-man defense or fouling in an attempt to get the ball back with a chance to win.

"They executed it perfectly," he said. "Whatever was happening we were going to make them play and not give them an opportunity to stop the clock and get points on our watch."

Burden had 13 of her 17 points in the first half and Carle Place (14-4) led 25-20 at halftime. Locust Valley went on a 12-3 run to take a 32-28 lead with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter.

The Frogs regained the lead early in the fourth and Spallino tied the game at 42 with 1:08 left. Marissa Reyes (10 points and 11 rebounds) came up with a steal which led to Altimari's free throws.

Even after avenging two regular-season losses to Carle Place, Guidone said his squad will have to be even better if they want to do the same against Cold Spring Harbor in the county final.

"Opportunity is the word. It's an opportunity," Guidone said. "We're going to have to play a lot better than we played tonight in terms of not turning the ball over and be sharp. They're a great team with a lot of weapons but the one thing we have going in our favor right now is we believe in what we're doing. That belief hopefully will carry us but Cold Spring Harbor, they're undefeated [in the league] for a reason."