Erin, Amanda Leary lift Carle Place in Nassau small schools final
Erin and Amanda Leary’s mother was in the stands for the previous Carle Place girls basketball game, a come-from-behind county championship victory over Oyster Bay.
Karin Leary had a different vantage point for Thursday night’s Nassau small schools final, coaching her East Rockaway Rocks against her daughters. Despite the coach’s best efforts to limit the impact of Erin’s outside shooting, she still produced 18 points and shot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, leading the Frogs to a 52-36 win at Farmingdale State.
Both teams advance to Long Island championship games on March 7 at Suffolk CCC-Brentwood. Carle Place plays Mattituck at 5 p.m., and East Rockaway faces Mercy at 7.
“It’s stressful,” Karin Leary said of coaching against her daughters. “I hate it, especially when you have to come out in a box-and-one, diamond-and-one on [Erin]. It’s not easy, but she played well. They both played well.”
Amanda, an eighth-grader, played quality minutes off the bench and set the tempo at point guard. Erin, a freshman, was the go-to scorer for Carle Place (16-6), a role she has carved out this season as a 5-10 forward with range.
The Frogs used a 17-6 third quarter to break the game open, entering the fourth quarter with a 41-22 lead. Abby Selhorn scored five of her seven points in the third, including a three-pointer from the right corner after some nifty ball movement.
“Their defense was tough to work with at times, but we put in different plays,” said Carle Place’s Giana McKeough, who scored nine points. “It took us a few tries to run the right plays, but we got it.”
Brooke DeGiulio (13 points) and Hunter Vertuccio (12) found ways to score for East Rockaway (9-11), but Caroline McLaughlin’s interior defense often disrupted the Rocks.
The two-time defending Nassau Class B champion Frogs faced Mattituck in the last two Long Island title games, falling short both times. McLaughlin said a win like this provides a boost.
“Our team right now has been together for a couple years now,” she said, “so we’re definitely confident that we can come in and do what we have to do.”
Erin Leary agreed, even if it came at her mother’s expense.
“I do feel bad because she’s my mom and I love her, but we did what we had to do,” she said. “We had to win this game so we can play Mattituck confidently.”
