Marascia Leads Blue Devils into County Finals
Midway through the third quarter Huntington girls’ basketball coach Brad Reminick had seen enough. He called time-out and loudly implored his team to “snap out of it” and start playing with confidence. The Blue Devils did just that, toppling defending Suffolk Class A champion Harborfields, 43-39 before a crowd of 1,200 to advance to the county finals Tuesday against John Glenn at Center Moriches High School at 7:30 p.m.
Huntington came out hustling and took an early 4-0 lead, but struggled for most of the first half, suffering from errant shots, botched passes and countless missed opportunities.
Harborfields (16-4) managed to open small leads several times, but the Blue Devils made just enough shots to keep the game close. Yet, Huntington (16-5) clearly seemed off stride, with a frustrating series of misplays.
“I was so nervous when I was shooting,” said Maria Marascia, who scored a team-high 12 points. The junior guard knew what was riding on every ball that left her hands, especially with last year still on her mind. In that game, Harborfields edged the Blue Devils, 49-48 to claim the Suffolk crown. Huntington has been on a mission every since.
“After losing to them last year by one point, there was no way we were going to lose again,” Marascia said. “But, they’re a tough team and it was a tough game.” Marascia, like her teammates, never slowed down even once, chasing after and diving for loose balls, picking up a half-dozen steals and forcing numerous other turnovers.
With the Blue Devils’ main offensive threat effectively stymied, the rest of the team had to play that much harder. Russ Tietjen, the Tornadoes’ coach, who is widely regarded as a defensive genius, used one of his creative schemes that helped neutralize Huntington’s all-state guard Kerry Hicks, who was limited to six points.
Casey Scully, who doesn’t want her Blue Devil career to end just yet, played like there was no tomorrow, scoring nine points and contributing a steady stream of assists and rebounds. The senior, a warrior in every sense of the word, has nerves of steel, and it showed. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” she said. “None of us panicked when we were behind. We knew the shots would start falling.”
Many thought the game would be a defensive struggle and that’s what it turned out to be. But, while Harborfields made life miserable for Hicks whenever she had the ball, the feisty junior returned the favor with one of the best defensive efforts of her career.
Following Reminck’s dramatic time-out, Huntington seemed like a completely different team as players used a combination of outside shooting, sharp passing and inside play to gain control of the game. The team’s fortunes rose for good when junior forward Julie Forster was able to start working her magic in the paint. Forster, who scored 11 points and fought for every rebound, has played a critical role in the Blue Devils’ late season surge.
Despite its uneven play, Huntington only trailed at halftime, 19-18 and somehow managed to pull ahead by the end of the third quarter, 30-29. Then the Blue Devils went on a run, methodically building an eight point lead with 1:30 left in the game. Harborfields gallantly fought back, but by then, it was too late.
Blue Devils Notes: Matt Scully contributed four points and lots of physical play on both ends of the court . . . Coming off the bench, Jane Mitchell went 1-for-2 from the foul line . . . John Glenn (18-2) advanced to the Suffolk final by defeating Shoreham-Wading River, 38-36 . . . Huntington and Harborfields split a pair of regular season games, with each winning on its home court . . . Caitlin Ortiz contributed her usual exceptional hustle off the bench . . . John Glenn is ranked third in Class A in the latest New York State Sportswriters’ Association poll . . . The full poll can be found at www.newyorksportswriters.org. The Knights are coached by retired J. Taylor Finley Middle School social studies teacher Andy Athanas, who more than 25 years ago coached the Blue Devil girls’ junior varsity team.
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