Ward Melville Girls Grab Upset Win over Sachem East

Ward Melville pulled off a 47-39 upset over Sachem East on Friday, winning a tightly contested game that came down to the final minute and snapped East's 60-plus league winning streak.

East's Katie Doherty shot a contested three down four with 25 seconds remaining that sailed long and all but wrapped up the game. Ward Melville’s Casey Cohen stepped to the line and calmly drained two free throws to give her team some breathing room.

“Every possession counts, especially against a team like that,” Ward Melville head coach Lawrence Combs said. “I didn’t underestimate them until there was two seconds left in the game, to be honest.”

Combs also had nothing but praise for Cohen, who finished the game with 19 points, eight steals, and five assists. “Casey Cohen was unbelievable,” he said. “She’s our floor leader and she just took over the game tonight.”

Cohen was helped along by Vanessa Pryor, who had 14 points, and Megan Murtagh, who contributed eight points and 13 rebounds for Ward Melville (7-6, 7-4).

Much could be said about Sachem East’s (12-1, 9-1) leader Meagan Doherty, who led her team with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Doherty caught an elbow to the face with four minutes remaining in the game and went out to receive treatment to stop the bleeding. She left with her team down seven and checked back in with them down four with 45 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for the Sachem East girls, it was not enough.

“Meagan’s a warrior,” Sachem East coach Matthew Brisson said. “These girls have a sense of responsibility, not only to each other but to those who come before them. None of them want to be the one who loses on their watch. So I feel for them for that reason.”

With the loss, Sachem East dropped to 9-1 in league play and find themselves in an unfamiliar position ... dealing with a regular season loss at this point in the year.

“If everything plays out to plan we can still play for the league championship, which is very important to us,” Brisson said.

Emotions were high on both sides after the game. Cohen said the victory “means the world to us.” She said that after losing to Sachem East over the last two years and losing two all-county players coming into this season, “we never thought we would win.” But win they did. “We came out playing really hard today and wanted it,” she said.

Sachem East is young – it started two freshmen and two sophomores – and still capable of winning a league championship. But now that will be the team's first goal, no longer carrying that league winning streak with them.

“Sooner or later all streaks end,” Brisson said. “Of course it stings like hell right now but we’re hoping that failure is fertilizing. If I had to have a sting like this I’d rather have it now than have it down the road. We’ll pick ourselves back up, we’ll be okay.”