Erin Leary’s treys advance Carle Place to Nassau Class B final
Carle Place's Erin Leary sets for an outside shot during a Nassau Class B girls basketball semifinal against Malverne at SUNY-Old Westbury on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The Carle Place girls basketball team never was leery of a letdown after its star point guard was lost for the season in early January, even with county title aspirations and a young roster. That’s probably because of players like Erin Leary.
Leary, a 5-10 freshman, nailed three three-pointers and scored 16 points, leading the top-seeded Frogs to a 57-20 win over No. 4 Malverne in a Nassau Class B semifinal on Saturday at SUNY Old Westbury.
“This year, I was told by my coaches that I had to step up,” Leary said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ve been trying to get better every single day.”
Carle Place (14-6) plays in the Nassau B championship on Thursday at noon at Old Westbury against the winner of No. 2 Oyster Bay and No. 3 Wheatley.
When the Frogs lost Leah Burden to a torn ACL on January 11 in the first quarter against Cold Spring Harbor, they had to call upon other players to fill the void. Leary has done her part, as has Giana McKeough (nine points), who became the team’s starting point guard.
McKeough set the tone and pushed the pace, allowing the Frogs to use a 23-0 run at the beginning of the first half to put the game away.
“We came into this game and we had a mission with the loss of our point guard, Leah,” said Abby Selhorn, who was an inside-out presence with 12 points. “We knew we still want to go far. We’re not ending our season just because we lost a player.”
Carle Place’s offense took advantage of Malverne’s zone defense with quick ball movement and extra passes. Caroline McLaughlin had six points, four of which came during the second-half spurt.
McLaughlin’s biggest contributions, according to coach Mike Bello, came defensively. At 5-9, she was slightly mismatched against 6-foot Alexis Lake but held her to three points. Princia Ulysse picked up the slack for Malverne (3-17), scoring 10 points.
“We always have something to work on, but we definitely accomplished what we had to do here today,” McLaughlin said. “We’re proud of what we did.”
