Lola Idir, Abbey Rolfe provide spark as Port Jefferson rallies to win Suffolk IV girls basketball title
Port Jefferson's Lola Idir against Greenport in the Suffolk Conference IV girls basketball final at Port Jefferson High School on Sunday Feb 28, 2021. Credit: Yellow House Images/Andrew Theodorakis
In a season full of adjustments it was going to take one more for the Port Jefferson girls basketball team to achieve its final goal.
Trailing at the half and getting beaten by Greenport/Southold’s pressure defense and offensive rebounding the Royals switched it up defensively to get the results they wanted.
After falling behind by as many as seven early in the third quarter, host Port Jeff rallied back behind Lola Idir and Abbey Rolfe to come away with a 51-41 win Sunday in the Suffolk Conference IV championship game.
"We struggled with (rebounding) and it was a real problem," Rolfe said. "We’re not used to playing a 3-2 zone so it was different for us."
After switching back to a 2-3 zone and getting the ball into the steady hands of Idir in the second half things turned around.
"The first half we were playing their game," Idir said. "In the second we settled down and played like we know how to play.
The Royals used a 23-8 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to take control of the game.
Idir had 13 of her 19 points during that run and Rolfe had six of her 14.
"The speed was a little fast in the beginning," Rolfe said. "But we adjusted and did what we had to do."
Adrine Demirciyan led Greenport with 15 points and Brienna McFarland had 12 for the Porters. Evelyn Walker chipped in with 12 points for Port Jeff.
"We really wanted to set up our offense a lot better than we did in the first half," Port Jeff coach Jesse Rosen said. "This is an unbelievably capable and coachable group of girls and I felt like our first half was a little sped up relative to the pace we wanted to play."
"I’ve said it time and time again that they are all about buying into the mentality that is going to get us to leave the court victorious."
It was the second straight Suffolk championship for Port Jeff, which won the Class B title a year ago.
"We fought the whole game," Rolfe said. "It feels so good when you come out on top."
Gene Morris joined Newsday's sports department in September 2012 and covers high school sports. He earned a journalism degree from Stony Brook University in 2010.
