Northport girls basketball puts up big second quarter en route to win over Whitman

Northport and Whitman both took the court with undefeated league records. And in a matchup of two such evenly matched teams, a few minutes can make all the difference. Luckily for Northport, the Tigers were on the right side of a run that proved too much to overcome.

Host Northport defeated Whitman, 43-36, in Suffolk League I girls basketball action on Monday. It was also Northport’s Suffolk County Coaches vs. Cancer/Score for a Cure Fundraiser game. The Tigers outscored Whitman, 20-4, in the second quarter, which featured a 10-0 run over a span of three minutes.

“This was the game to win,” said sophomore Claire Fitzpatrick. “We knew coming into this we were both undefeated teams and that it would need to be a team win. We really wanted this and we put everything into this game.”

Fitzpatrick scored seven of her nine points during Northport’s dominating second quarter.

“That was a big run,” Fitzpatrick said. “They were playing really good defense in the first quarter. But the second quarter is when we took it to them. That’s when they really noticed we were a really good team.”

Payson Hedges also scored nine points and Kennedy Radziul added eight points for Northport (9-0). Iris Hoffman had 12 points for Whitman (7-1).

“We knew that the second quarter was where we wanted to set the tone and take the lead before halftime,” Radziul said. “This shows the potential we have and how good we can be.”

Northport led 24-12 at halftime but Whitman didn’t surrender. Whitman opened the third quarter on a 12-3 run to cut the Tigers’ lead to 27-24. But Brooke Kershow scored seven points over a span of 1:10 and Northport took a 34-25 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We needed something to boost us and bring us back,” Kershow said. “It felt good to help the team. I was off in the beginning but it was great to get back in there and help us win.”

Whitman went on a 7-0 run to cut Northport’s lead to 37-34 before Kaylee Walsh made a corner three-pointer to take a 40-34 advantage with 2:06 left in the fourth quarter.

Coach Rich Castellano said Kershow had “ice in her veins” in knocking down those shots. He knew this was going to be a tough contest for Northport, which fell in the Suffolk Class AA final last season, and he was “impressed” with his team’s effort.

“That showed [us] we can play with them,” Castellano said. “We grew as a team, we got better as a team and that’s going to pay dividends in the playoffs.”