Kasey Wagner pushes second-half surge to lift Whitman over SWR
Whitman's Kasey Wagner puts one up in the fourth quarter during the Suffolk girls basketball overall final against Shoreham-Wading River on Saturday at Stony Brook. Credit: Bob Sorensen
Kasey Wagner started slowly, but she stepped up in a major way in the second half for Whitman against an undefeated opponent and with the title of Suffolk Overall champion on the line.
“Obviously you don’t want to lose this deep into the playoffs, even if it isn’t an elimination game,” Wagner said. “We were already Class AA champs, but we wanted to be the real county champions and that’s what this game was about.”
The Large School champion Whitman Wildcats, defeated Small School Champion Shoreham-Wading River, 50-42, at Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon to claim the title of Suffolk overall champion.
Midway through the third quarter Shoreham-Wading River went on a 12-2 run, fueled by two three-pointers from Sofie Costello, to take a 32-31 lead. Then Iris Hoffman found Wagner in the corner for a three-pointer and Wagner converted a three-point play on a drive to the rim, to grab the momentum back for Whitman.
“I wasn’t hitting shots early on, but I knew eventually they would start falling,” Wagner said. “It was big for us at that time, and it helped the team get back into it.”
Wagner scored nine points in the second half as Whitman outscored Shoreham-Wading River 19-10 over the final 12 minutes of the game. Wagner finished with 11 points and five assists.
Both teams struggled to convert near the rim early on, but Iris Hoffman managed to get to the free-throw line and put points up for Whitman. Hoffman scored six points in the first quarter and knocked down two three-pointers in the second, as she finished with 14 points and five assists.
“I tried to get some momentum going for us, even at an early point in the game it can be important going forward,” Hoffman said. “It clearly wasn’t great to not come out as strong as we want, but we picked things up the rest of the game.”
Both teams will move on to play in the Long Island Championships. As the Suffolk Class A champion, Shoreham-Wading River (24-1) will face Nassau Class A champion, Manhasset at Farmingdale State March 11 at 2 p.m.
Suffolk Class AA champion Whitman (21-3) will face the Nassau Class A champion at Farmingdale State March 11 at 4 p.m.
“No matter who we play next week, we can’t have those stretches of mishaps, with missed layups and turnovers,” Whitman coach Dan Trebour said. “We’re greedy, we want to play a perfect game and it’s just the matter of putting together a full 32 minutes
Christopher Matias covers high school sports for Newsday after spending time in Athletic Facilities and Operation at St. John’s and in Sports Information at CUNY York college.
