Lauren Donaghy leads Huntington girls to victory over Copiague

Lauren Donaghy of Huntington puts up a three-pointer against Copiague during a Suffolk League III girls basketball game at Copiague on Tuesday. Credit: David Meisenholder
Lauren Donaghy was in control like someone with the teacher’s edition. She had every answer.
When Huntington needed a play in the fourth quarter, Donaghy was there with the solution. She had 16 of her 22 points in the second half, including five points in the final 90 seconds, as Huntington defeated host Copiague, 57-46, in Suffolk League III girls basketball action on Tuesday.
Huntington took a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter but Copiague scored the first seven points of the period to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 46-37. Then, Donaghy found Grace Gordon for a layup to halt that run.
But the Eagles weren’t done with their comeback effort. Copiague cut Huntington’s lead to 52-46 with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter, but then Donaghy knocked down a jump shot from the top of the key followed by a three-pointer on the ensuing possession with 55 seconds left for the game’s final points.
“They were gaining momentum so just to hit those shots and let us know we had this felt great,” Donaghy said. “I felt that sealed the deal for us.”
Donaghy scored 11 points in a third quarter where Huntington outscored Copiague 20-11.
“I was a little frustrated that some of my shots weren’t falling (earlier), but I told myself to be a little more aggressive, go to the basket, take the shots I know I can make,” Donaghy said. “And that’s what I did and they went in. That helped not only myself but the team.”
“That was big from Lauren tonight,” coach Perry Marinelli said. “She was there when we needed her. We slowed the offense down, we got a couple of looks for her and when she had the looks, she knocked it down and sealed it for us.”
Madyn Kalb added 13 points, Ava McDonald had 11 points and Sabrina Boyle had nine points for Huntington (11-5, 5-3). Janiya Morris had 17 points for Copiague (6-8, 1-6).
Huntington closed the final 3:22 of the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 26-19 lead at halftime. That answered a 12-7 Copiague run over 2:20, which led to the Eagles tying the score at 19.
The Blue Devils were coming off a 63-54 overtime loss to North Babylon on Thursday and the team didn’t want that loss to linger.
“We had a tough game against North Babylon and toward the end, it started getting crazy and we lost our composure a little bit,” Marinelli said. “But tonight, we really stayed together as a team and were smart in those last few possessions.”