Lady Bonackers Win and Lose in Hampton Hoops Classic

In their first games of the season, the East Hampton High School varsity girls team played in the Hampton Hoops Classic at Southampton High School on Friday and Saturday. They lost their first match-up in overtime, in a suspenseful game against the Lady Hurricanes of Westhampton Beach, but came back on Saturday to beat Pierson in the consolation game.

The Lady Bonackers were off to a slow start on Friday, giving up rebounds to the Hurricanes, making numerous turnovers, as well as their plays fell apart. At the end of the first quarter the Hurricanes had more than doubled the points of the Bonackers, leading them 15 to 7.

The story continued into the second quarter, where Westhampton scored right out of the gate. A full two minutes in, the Lady Bonackers had scored only a single point. East Hampton's Kaelyn Ward helped energize her team with a three-pointer halfway through the quarter. Four additional points came from Ward with less than 40 seconds remaining on the clock. At the end of the first half, East Hampton had closed what was once an 11 point lead to end the half trailing 22 to 20.

In the second half, East Hampton came out meaning business but Westhampton had something to say about it. The lead traded several times. East Hampton's Indrea Stephens powered through a crush of Hurricanes to nail a short jump shot, got an offensive rebound and put it up for two points, and made an assist to Mazie Makrianes for two. East Hampton led 33 to 26 at the end of third.

Determined to keep the lead, Sarah Johnson crashed the boards for offensive rebounds and scoring. With 4:30 left in the game, she got three points for her team with an "and-1."

Nevertheless, East Hampton slowly gave up their lead. With just 20 seconds left in the game, Westhampton took the lead, 42 to 41. Makriane drew the foul with less than two seconds on the clock. She made the first and the crowd erupted when she made the second to keep her team alive by to tying the score at 43 and sending the game into overtime.

Ultimately East Hampton was befallen by turnovers and seemed to lose their composure. They lost to the Lady Hurricanes, 52 to 48.

They fared better when they returned Saturday night for the consolation game, beating Pierson's Lady Whalers. The Lady Bonackers took the lead early on and kept it close it in a slow paced game.

In the second quarter, Pierson's Sarah Barret fought back. She stole the ball and the lead and scoring a three pointer with a jumper from the outside. But, East Hampton's Bonnie Spink- O'Brien helped rally her team. She got two points after an offensive rebound, scored again, tied the game at 15 from the foul line where the first half ended.

Ward started the second half by scoring two for the Lady Bonackers and breaking the tie. A solid performance by the Lady Bonackers let them end the third quarter leading 28 to 19. They continued to step it up in the fourth quarter where they commanded a steady lead and defeated Pierson 49 to 32.

Lady Bonackers'assistant coach Louis O'Neal said his players are showing promise. "We have a lot of girls who are going to compete," he said. Coach Howard Wood said, "We got to find someone who is going step up along with Kaelynn and Mazie." He added, "We got to be tough mentally. It's also mental toughness."

The Southampton Lady Mariners presented players with medals and t-shirts for participating in the tournament. Ward received the distinction of making the All Tournament team for her exceptional performance. There was also a special acknowledgement of Rev. Marvin Dozier for his extensive work with the youth of Southampton.