New Hyde Park Girls Basketball Beats Jericho, 59-40

The won against Jericho at Jericho Friday evening by a score of 59-40. New Hyde Park now improves to 4-2 in Conference A-1 play and 7-4 overall. This game put them in four way tie for first place in a close conference. Jericho falls to 1-4 in conference play and 3-7 overall.

Hero: Ciara McCullagh was the leader for New Hyde Park Friday evening. She shined under the Friday night lights scoring 34 points and tormenting Jericho in the paint. She also pulled in 15 rebounds on her way to a double double. McCullagh also provided tough interior defense, recording three blocks. She seemed near impossible to stop as she scored nearly half of her teams points.

Head Coach Hugh Flaherty said of her performance, “She gets a lot of rebounds. They sometimes double or triple team her, so it’s really a team win because they have to step up when they have the open shot.”

Guards Maria Katsoulis and Gabriella Tomasini both had good games as well. Katsoulis had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Tomasini had seven points and seven assists.

Turning Point: It was tight at the half with New Hyde Park beating Jericho 23-19. The first half consisted of multiple fast breaks and high octane offenses from both teams. Sasha Silber of Jericho lead most of the fast breaks for Jericho, compiling 12 points on the night.

However, the third quarter featured McCullagh’s dominance. She had a huge quarter scoring 14 points inside. She also had two blocks and five rebounds in the quarter. This put the game out of reach for Jericho by the fourth quarter. McCullagh continued her hot scoring on her to 34 points.

Quotable: “We ran a 1-3-1 out there," Flaherty said. "My two guards did a great job trapping the ball and getting the ball downcourt. They remain under control and know what they’re doing. It was a good win for us, we needed that. I think we are right where we want to be in the conference right now. We had a good win against Garden City last week. It’s tough out there with teams like Jericho, Division and Wantagh. We just have to keep playing hard.”

Bottom Line: McCullagh showed how powerful of a center she is on Friday night. She showcased her talents wonderfully as she lit up the scoreboard. She was able to run the fast break and can also post up her defender. She gives her team multiple ways of scoring and opens up the game for the rest of her teammates.

Who's Next? New Hyde Park will take on Division on Jan. 21st at 4:45 p.m. @ home.

Teams                            1                 2                  3                4                       Final
New Hyde Park          15                8                20               16                        59
Jericho                          9                 10              13                 8                         40

NHP: McCullagh 30-4-34, Katsoulis 8-5-13, Tomasini 4-0-7, Caroline Rodgers 2-0-2, Shelby Platia 2-0-2, Janelle Gibbs 0-1-1. J: Silber 8-1-12, McCormack 6-3-9, Curley 6-1-7, Tils 6-0-6, Ballen 2-0-2, Neimer 2-0-2.

Three pointers

NHP: Tomasini, J: Silber