Postgame: Sachem East vs. Ward Melville

Not everything can make it into the game story. Here are some more quotes and insight from Sachem East’s 63-30 win over rival Ward Melville on Tuesday.

Sachem East is making it difficult for anyone to argue their status as the best public school team on Long Island. Since their season opening loss to Bishop Ford the closest anyone has come against the Flaming Arrows was Commack’s 18-point loss in which the Cougars trailed by only eight after three quarters.

Meagan and Katie Doherty paced Sachem East (10-1, 8-0) with 19 and 18 points respectively and Kathleen Everson added 14 points and nine rebounds. The 2-3 zone was simply fantastic on the defensive end, forcing numerous Ward Melville turnovers, blocks and difficult shots. Caysea Cohen was the only player in double-figures for the Patriots (5-5, 4-4).

Sachem East’s offense was impressive not only in its output, but their plays were dizzying at times. On one play during the third quarter, Flaming Arrows guards made a series of passes while circling around the perimeter and Ward Melville defenders actually ran into each other trying to keep up.

Sachem East coach Matt Brisson:

On his team’s performance:

I’m just happy with the way they played. They played very team oriented. I think Caysea (Cohen)  is a very good player so to contain her and still control the pace of the game was important for us and I think we did both of those things.

On containing Caysea Cohen:

One of the things we concentrated on the last couple of day is number 11, where is number 11? Even though you’re playing zone, I think one of the misnomers is that you can’t pressure out of a zone. I think as long as you know where that kid is you can apply as much pressure as you possibly can. It was a good night for us to come over here and get out of here with a good win, I’ll take it.

On Meagan and Katie Doherty:

They love to play. The two of those kids love to play. They’ve got it in their soul. They take to coaching very well. They’ve become more patient with each other. I think Katie, just being a sophomore it’s tough to realize that things don’t happen over night. She’s had a couple of games where she’s gotten frustrated and shots haven’t come her way. As she’s matures and sees the floor better and distributes the ball better it seems to come back to her too. It seems to all come back to her too. Tonight she served notice.

On the ‘Beat Sachem’ sign in the visitor’s locker room:

You look at it and you do a little double take but at the same time I look at it with a little bit of pride. It’s one of those things that you know when you come in you got a dartboard on your back and you have to deal with that. I think anytime you make the kids deal with adversity, it only makes them better.

On if his squad is the best public school team on LI:

I’m not willing to say that. I think we have a lot of work to do. On any given night, teams step up and play very well and play hard. Tonight was our night. Lindenhurst is a fabulous team, Riverhead is a fabulous team, Hauppauge hasn’t lost yet. In our league, Longwood is one injury away from being a team that’s going to be reckoned with too. That being said, I like my kids’ chances if they’re playing well.

Sachem East guard Meagan Doherty:

On the win:

It feels incredible. They took something that was really important to us last year and it stung for a while. It hurt me, I never got over it and I’m still not over it. We came into it, it was a statement game. We wanted to beat them and we wanted to show them that we are better than we showed them last year. We wanted to prove ourselves to them and to everybody that was at this game. My team played amazing and it was incredible.

On the rivalry with Ward Melville:

It builds up a lot. I’ve been around for five years and this matchup has been intense. This is definitely what I would call a rivalry and sometimes it gets taken to an extreme. I always tell the girls, ‘just take it one play at a time, don’t let the emotions of a rivalry get in the way of our game.’ Take the lead from two all the way up to 30 and show them who’s the better team.

On her and Katie’s play:

It’s really exciting actually. We both have worked very hard throughout the years and Katie deserves that and it’s really exciting for the family. We wouldn’t have done it without the rest of the girls on our team. They couldn’t double us, they couldn’t throw any girls at us because they throw two at us, Kathleen and the Drakes and Emily are going to score too. We have six girls on this team that are a threat so if we all play and we play as a team no one can play with us.

On containing Caysea Cohen:

We have a lot of communication of the court. We always know where she is, we’re always talking to each other. We’re always having a girl if we’re not on her, that can get to her by the time the pass is made and not let her ball fakes and her quickness stop us. When that happens she’s not going to score on a team that plays team defense.

On whether she thinks Sachem East is the best public school team:

I think if we play like we’re capable of playing yes. Every game, anybody can win and if we come out mentally prepared and focused like we did today I think we are the best team and we are the team to beat no matter what the rankings are.

Sachem East guard Katie Doherty:

On the win:

It’s definitely exciting. It’s great to come out and have a great win. It makes a statement and we’re going to come out strong every game and continue all the way through playoffs.

On whether Sachem East is the best public school team:

We’re definitely up there. We’re going to continue to play hard, we’re going to continue to take each game one by one till we’re up on top.