Kady Keegan and Grayce Kitchen lead Shoreham-Wading River girls over Bayport-Blue Point

Shoreham-Wading River doesn’t consider itself a three-point shooting team, and neither do many opponents based on how the Wildcats are often game-planned against. But teams may need to adjust that.

Kady Keegan had 21 points, including four three-pointers, and Grayce Kitchen had 17 points, including five three-pointers, as host Shoreham-Wading River defeated Bayport-Blue Point, 56-32, in Suffolk League VI girls basketball play on Wednesday. Keegan and Kitchen each made two three-pointers in a 19-8 first quarter for the Wildcats.

“In the beginning, no one was really paying attention to us up top,” said Kitchen. a senior. “Sometimes we’re not having great shooting days, but today was definitely a great shooting day. So me and Kady just kept shooting.”

That resulted in Shoreham-Wading River scoring 12 of the game’s first 14 points and building a 31-14 halftime advantage. Keegan had 15 of her 21 points in the first half, including four triples.

“She was in rhythm and when she has her feet set, she can shoot and I think with her it’s about confidence,” coach Adam Lievre said of the junior. “When one goes in, she feels good about the next one and the next one and they were big. It was big to get a cushion early.”

“The first one went in and they weren’t really catching onto it,” Keegan said. “So we just kept shooting.”

Shoreham-Wading River (14-1, 10-1) was coming off its first loss of the season after falling to Kings Park, 51-45, on Saturday. The Wildcats didn’t want that losing feeling to linger long.

“Coming off a loss to Kings Park, we really wanted to make a statement,” Keegan said. “This was definitely big for us.”

Ava Meyn had 12 points and Nicole Primavera added 11 points for Bayport-Blue Point, which rallied to open the second half. The Phantoms (5-9, 3-7) went on a 10-3 run in the opening 4:21 of the third quarter to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 33-24, but SWR closed the period on a 9-2 run to take a 42-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

Keegan and Kitchen’s three-point shooting was a key differentiator on Wednesday, and consistency from deep can make the Wildcats an even more dangerous squad.

“I think a lot of teams encourage us to shoot from the outside because it’s not our strength,” Lievre said. “We’re athletic, we try to get up and down and get a lot of points off fast breaks, so I think a lot of teams’ game plan is to let us shoot. But I’ve told the girls all year, if you’re open, shoot. You have to have confidence that it's going to go in."