Stony Brook Girls Advance with 40-21 Win Over Southold

A game tied at halftime could have been anyone's to run away with, and a pair of Stony Brook School seniors did a lot of that running away in a 40-21 win over Southold on Saturday in a Suffolk Class C girls' basketball semifinal.

Brannon Burke scored 12 second-half points and Jessica Winston held Southold's top shooter scoreless after halftime to help No. 1 Stony Brook (13-5, 11-1) advance to the Suffolk Class C final on Tuesday, where it will face No. 2 Pierson/Bridgehampton.

"Senior leadership, I think, was the biggest difference in the second half," Stony Brook coach Amy Helm said.

Southold (7-11, 6-6) played Stony Brook to a 15-15 tie at halftime, bolstered by 10 points from senior Sarah Smith in what was otherwise a cold-shooting first half for both teams. But Winston focused all her defensive energy on Smith, who didn't score again in the game.

"We knew they had a phenomenal shooter, Sarah Smith. Our goal was to make sure she got the ball as little as possible," said Burke, a Wheaton College-bound player who scored her 1,000th career point Feb. 14 during a 49-41 regular-season win over Southold.

The seniors may have led the charge, but it was a pair of underclassmen – seventh grader Ariano Odom and sophomore Keara Vancol – who filled in some of the gaps.

Odom scored the last five points of Stony Brook's 11-1 third quarter run, which pretty much put the game away, and finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds.

"She made some great shots and some great moves," Burke said of her teammate. "Just to see her develop, it's been very rewarding to watch."

The six-foot-tall Vancol ended the game with 20 rebounds, stepping up in place of injured senior starter Natalie Istrati. Istrati had been cleared to return after suffering a muscle injury but only played a few minutes on Saturday.

"I was really excited about Keara," Helm said. "She's made some great strides and adjustments with Natalie being out. That's great for our team as a whole."

In the first quarter, Nicole Busso and Smith sank shots to give Southold an early 4-0 lead. Southold's defense didn't give up a single field goal in the first, but Stony Brook caught up with freethrows by the end of the quarter.

Smith nailed a pair of three-pointers in the final two minutes of the first half that tied the score at 15. The outcome was far from certain at that point, but Southold coach Dennis Reilly saw his team tiring.

"We played a tough first half and got a little winded," he said. "It's tough to play both sides of the ball like that."

The win marked Stony Brook's third over Southold this season. Stony Brook split its two regular-season matchups with Pierson/Bridgehampton, losing 35-33 on Jan. 11 but winning 40-28 on Feb. 8. Helm is well aware of that team's double scoring threat of Sarah Barrett and Samantha James.

They operate with a lot of "quick guard play," Helm said. "Defensively, we want to put a lot of pressure on them."

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