Jolie Boyle of Half Hollow Hills East, right, celebrates with...

Jolie Boyle of Half Hollow Hills East, right, celebrates with Rose Azmoudeh after their team's 32-24 win over host Huntington in a Suffolk League I girls basketball game on Wednesday. Credit: James Escher

The Half Hollow Hills East girls basketball team is going to the playoffs, and, among other happy feelings, Jolie Boyle and Rose Azmoudeh are proud.

The two Thunderbirds, who joined coach Adam Cirnigliaro's team in ninth and eighth grade, respectively, remember sitting back and watching older players lead the team.

Boyle and Azmoudeh, now a senior and a junior, were those leaders for Half Hollow Hills East (9-5, 9-7) in Huntington’s Louis D Giani Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

Azmoudeh scored a game-high eight points, and Boyle scored six to lead the Thunderbirds to a 32-24 win over Huntington (3-9, 5-10) and a playoff berth in Suffolk I.

“Some games don’t go our way, but we pushed through, and we’re both really proud of our team for this,” Boyle said. “Especially Rose. I’m proud of Rose.”

“I’m proud of Jolie,” Azmoudeh added with a smile.

Huntington posted the first seven points and led 10-4 after the first quarter. But Half Hollow Hills East limited the Blue Devils to three points in the second quarter and built a stable lead behind a 12-0 run.

The two schools combined for 37 free throws. Half Hollow Hills East hit eight of their 14 foul shots. Huntington knocked down six of 23 shots from the free-throw line.

“It was a very physical game, but I thought my girls responded well to it and played through a lot of adversity today,” Cirnigliaro said. “It’s always the goal at the beginning of the season to clinch [a playoff spot] and, hopefully, we can build on that and take it from here.”

Half Hollow Hills East claimed its first lead with 1:34 left in the second quarter and did not relinquish the advantage. Still, Huntington, led by Kaylee Smalling’s six points on two three-pointers, forced the Thunderbirds to hit their late shots.

The Thunderbirds held on, though. Earlier this month, Half Hollow Hills East lost to Central Islip after leading by seven points at the start of the fourth quarter.

“I think that’s big for us,” Cirnigliaro said about holding off Huntington on Wednesday. "I feel like we learned from [the Central Islip game].”

For Boyle and Azmoudeh, Wednesday night’s win and the 2022-23 season have been about their teammates. Past and present.

"We want to do this for the previous teams that worked so hard every day to do this," Boyle said. "We just want to make them proud and show everyone that we’re not done."

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