MARCH 05, 2009 • TIMES OF NORTHPORT • PAGE A5
SPORTS Sachem knocks out Northport GIRLS’ HOOPS BY ROBERT LEUNER katsports@tbrnewspapers.com
Sachem East made all the right adjustments. The Flaming Arrows came back from a six-point half time deficit to overtake Northport, 58-42, in a girls’ Suffolk County Class AA basketball semifinal game played at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue on Feb. 28. Sachem will take on Copiague, a 58-49 upset win over North Babylon in the other semifinal game, for the Suffolk County championship this Friday. Sachem junior Kristen Doherty led all scorers with 31 points while Caitlyn Hopkins added 10 points and rebounds. Northport senior Leah Kepping finished with 17 points. Fellow senior Samantha Breidenbach chipped in with eight points and 15 rebounds. The Tigers powered their way to a sixpoint halftime lead behind Kepping and Breidenbach. The duo played a frenetic first half as the Tigers slipped past Sachem’s trap defense. But an early omen of things to come appeared in the first two minutes of play as senior Amanda Bender missed on two easy baskets underneath. After Northport led for most of the first quarter Sachem finally took the lead at 13-12 and 20-18 at the end of one. The Tigers then took over, limiting the Flaming Arrows to but four points and just one field goal in the second quarter. Northport opened the frame with a dominating 10-1 run as Kepping appeared to drive at will to the basket and Breidenbach was equally dominant off the glass. By the half the Tigers were up by six at 30-24 and appeared to be headed to their first Suffolk County title game in four years. But their first half effort may have exhausted the Tigers. Northport managed just 12 points the rest of the way. They opened the third quarter cold and became uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball. The combination led to a reversal of fortune for the Flaming Arrows. Sachem erased Northport’s six point lead behind a dominating 12-2 run, lifting them to a 36-32 lead. The Tigers scored just one more time in the quarter — a Kepping three-pointer — that cut the Sachem lead to three points at 38-35. Unfortunately, Kepping’s basket failed to ignite Northport’s offense and Sachem continued to pour it on. The Flaming Arrows opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run. Northport didn’t score until Kepping hit a free throw at the six minute mark. Unable to penetrate and cold from the outside, the Tigers frantically searched for an answer to their offensive woes. “They really clamped down on defense and I think that we were gasses out,” said Northport head coach Rich Castellano. “We tried to stay within our phi-
Photo by Dennis Whittam
Northport’s Leah Kepping scored 17 points in the Suffolk County semifinals against Sachem East on Feb. 28.
losophy of one basket at a time and when we were down 38-35 we needed a basket and didn’t get it.” The Tigers trimmed Sachem’s lead to five points at 45-40 but would come no closer. In fact, Northport scored just one more basket the rest of the way as Sachem ended the game on a 10-0 run. The season, however, wasn’t a complete loss for the Tigers. Northport fin-
ished the year with a superb 19-3 overall record, including a regular season League II title behind a perfect 14-0 mark. Castellano earned his 500th career coaching win on Jan. 20 with a 6834 victory over Walt Whitman. Castellano’s record now stands at 510-125. “I’m very upset,” Castellano said. “It’s tough to say goodbye and it was tough to watch. This group made it very easy
to coach them every day. People would jump up and down to be 19-3.” When asked if he believed his team should have won the game, Castellano quickly replied, “I think we should win every game,” which further underscores his “we don’t rebuild, we reload” philosophy. Reloading next year will be difficult as the Tigers lose seven seniors, including four of five starters.