Hampton Bays defeats Lady Indians

The girls varsity basketball team’s last game of 2009, the day before New Year’s Eve, was no occasion for celebration. The girls lost 54-30 on Hampton Bays’ home court.


The loss perhaps has to do with the team’s inexperience. The squad is a younger group than last year: after four seniors graduated in the spring, only three girls — seniors Katie Siller and Emily Gibbs and sophomore Kelsey McGayhey — were on the team last year. Furthermore, the team had only played two league games before this one, so it’s still early in the season.


But no one can deny that the Baymen played well: “Hampton Bays has some very good size, they rebounded well, they were definitely a very aggressive team,” said Coach Peter Miedema. This aggression kept the Indians’ scoring to a minimum: “They played a very good man-defense, and it was very hard for us to get in our offensive set because they put lots of pressure on us.”


But the girls kept fighting until the end, and scored more points in the fourth quarter than in any of the previous three. “We did well in that the girls stayed involved, they never quit on the team,” said Coach Miedema. 


Sophomore Kelsey McGayhey continues to be the team’s top scorer, putting up 13 of the team’s 30 points, including the only three-pointer of the game. Following closely behind was junior Stephanie Vecchio, who added another 7 points, while senior Katie Siller scored 6. Juniors Stacey Clark and Rachael Heinze each sunk a basket, too.


The loss was a learning experience, said Coach Miedema: “The one thing I guess we can take away from it is that they need to keep improving, they can’t get complacent, and I think it always helps to kind of refocus our practice,” adding “you need to constantly keep … improving the intensity of practice.” 


The team’s league record now stands at 1-2 after their loss to Pierson/Bridgehampton on December 15 and their victory over Ross on December 18 (the scores of yesterday’s varsity and junior varsity match-ups against Stony Brook weren’t available by press time). The December 30 girls junior varsity game against Hampton Bays was cancelled.


The girls play Port Jefferson tomorrow on the Indians home court. JV tips off at 4 p.m., varsity at 6:15 p.m.