Garden City's Kerry McCarraher, who had 13 points and six...

Garden City's Kerry McCarraher, who had 13 points and six rebounds, drives to the basket while being covered by Syosset's Camryn Monfort. Credit: Bob Sorensen

Entering the fourth quarter between Garden City and Syosset, Garden City’s Kerry McCarraher knew her team had scoring options. By game’s end, it became clear that she would be the choice of the day.

McCarraher scored five of Garden City’s nine fourth-quarter points and, along with a late basket from Kelly George, lifted the Trojans (2-1) to a 38-34 victory over the Braves (0-1) at Garden City High School Saturday. She had 13 points and rounded out a game that started with Shannon Kelly as the hot shooter.

“We’re all pretty equal, so we all know we have different strengths and different weaknesses,” McCarraher said. “We try to spread it and if Shannon hits a couple, then I’m open, Bruno’s open, so it all works out.”

The fourth quarter was preceded by eight total points in the third quarter — five by Garden City. There wasn’t a basket for the first 5:10 as the Trojans led the Braves by no more than four points. Then momentum swung at the start of the fourth.

McCarraher hit a shot with 6:20 left in the game, followed by a layup from Kerry Defliese. McCarraher went to the line and made 1-of-2 for what equaled Garden City’s biggest run of the game — five points.

She went back to the line moments late, hit both shots and followed them up with a steal on the other end of the floor. George’s shot put the game out of reach, but a basket from Syosset’s Rachel Mahler at the top of the post made it a four-point game. Garden City put on one last defensive stop over a 15-second Syosset possession to seal it.

“We played pretty good, solid half-court defense,” first-year coach Tim O’Hagan said. “It’s going to keep us in the games, every game.”

Kelly had eight points, seven rebounds and three steals. Defliese had seven points and five rebounds, and George added five points. McCarraher had six rebounds along with her 13 points.

“None of us is really the core shooter, so it’s good to see who steps up in what games, and today it happened to be those two,” Bruno, who had three assists, said of McCarraher and Kelly.

Syosset point guard Sarah Solomon pushed the pace for Syosset all day, while Mahler led the team with 12 points.

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