Cold Spring Harbor rallies late to reach Nassau Class B girls basketball final
Cold Spring Harbor's Cleo Dallaris and Emma Poland of East Rockaway wait for the rebound during a Nassau Class B girls basketball semifinal at Hofstra on Wednesday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
The No. 1 seed looked in trouble on the basketball court inside Hofstra’s Mack Sports Complex, down seven with six minutes left in Wednesday’s Nassau Class B girls semifinal.
“I was definitely a little worried,” said Cleo Dallaris, Cold Spring Harbor’s 6-1 junior center. “… But I had faith in my team.”
The team could have faith in her, too. Dallaris scored seven points across the final five minutes and nine of her 15 in the fourth quarter. Cold Spring Harbor rallied for a 39-35 victory over a young No. 5 East Rockaway team.
“We’ve been resilient all year,” Seahawks coach Rory Malone said. “In close games, we’ve been able to pull them out. We never lacked confidence. But we kind of buckled down and made big shots.”
They survived an 11-point, 10-block game by Emma Poland. So Cold Spring Harbor (15-3) will be back at Hofstra March 1 at 4:30 p.m. for the title round. The Seahawks, who fell by 40 in the final to Locust Valley last year, will face the Falcons again. No. 2 Locust Valley beat No. 3 Seaford, 45-40, in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
“Definitely better equipped [this time],” Malone said.
Cold Spring Harbor trailed East Rockaway, 26-22, after three. Malone had a message for his players:
“This is it. We have one quarter for our lives.”
They still trailed, 31-24, two minutes into the fourth. Then the Seahawks went on a 14-2 run.
After two baskets by Dallaris, Ryan Reynolds gave Cold Spring Harbor a 35-33 edge on a jumper with 2:30 left. Dallaris’ layup made it a four-point lead with 36.4 seconds to go. Jillian Goldman followed with steal and Maggie Spehr hit a free throw — 38-33.
Poland’s two free throws cut it to three with 7.2 seconds left. But Jenna Kessler made one with 3.7 seconds remaining to clinch it.
“I thought we did a nice job,” said East Rockaway coach Cheri Poland, who is Emma’s mom. “The kids really worked hard. A lot of mistakes today were inexperience.”
The Seahawks began the second quarter by missing their first 14 shots. The Rocks (9-13) led, 12-6, after a three by Maya Motherway, who topped them with 14 points.
But Goldman nailed back-to-back threes. East Rockaway’s lead was just 15-14 at halftime.
“I think it was really important,” Goldman said of the surge. “I think if we didn’t finish the half [strong], it would’ve been hard to come back.”
