A Quick 60
The Challenge
MSGVarsity.com Sports Talk
High School SportsDesk
Irvington returns to Section 1 final
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – When a team faces the Irvington girls’ basketball squad, it’s no secret who they need to prepare for. The entire year, Lexi Martins, Brittni Lai and Marley Giddins have dominated their opponents, consistently controlling the game on both sides of the court.
Tuesday night’s Section 1 Class B semifinal between Irvington and Kennedy Catholic was no different. The trio pulled it together after a slow start to help Bulldogs defeat Kennedy, 56-35, and return to the championship game for the fourth straight year.
“We play really well when we play team ball,” Martins said. “You can see it really helped us succeed tonight. We ran our offenses all the way through. But despite the fact we were the only ones scoring, in practice it’s the other seven girls on the team that make us better. We owe a lot of our success to them.”
Martins finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three blocks, Lai had 15 points, six assists and three steals and Giddins added 11 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. The numbers are impressive, but they’re something Irvington coach Gina Maher has come to expect this season.
“Having those three is big; it’s huge,” Maher said. “Brittni stepped up at the end (of the game), Lexi was sort of in the middle and Marley controlled the game at the beginning. It’s a nice luxury to have three players like that.”
While the big three put up the big numbers, junior Alyssa DiCampli helped Irvington break the game open in the second quarter. DiCampli scored nine of her 10 points in the second period as Irvington ended the half on a 14-0 run.
“Alyssa was great for us in that first half,” Maher said.
Martins, Lai, Giddins and DiCampli combined for 53 of Irvington’s 56 points with Ryan McMahon burying her only shot of the game – a 3-pointer – to round out the Bulldogs scoring.
Kennedy got great efforts from Sara Dowd, Shayna Gaskins, Kiera Hennessy, Leah Greene and the rest of the rotation, but the Gaels just couldn’t keep up with Irvington’s firepower. Dowd scored a team-high 12 points and had four rebounds, Gaskins added seven points and four rebounds and Hennessy had six points and five rebounds.
“(Kennedy coach Al Morales Jr.) is a great coach,” Maher said. “They came with a really great game-plan and it worked for them.”
Irvington advances to the Class B championship Saturday at 7 p.m. and will face Blind Brook which defeated Dobbs Ferry 69-66 in overtime earlier in the evening. Irvington is no stranger to the section finals, but will not let the past years’ successes have any impact on the outcome of this year’s game.
“It’s a new year; anything can happen, any game,” Lai said. “We’re gonna scout Blind Brook and just see what happens.”
