Davis has 19 for Center Moriches in Class B loss

March 12, 2010 by COREY McLAUGHLIN / corey.mclaughlin@newsday.com

Amber Davis tried to encourage her teammates all game. She clapped her hands repeatedly on trips up and down the floor and pumped her fist after good plays. And she provided much of the scoring for the Center Moriches girls basketball team, too. But it wasn't enough.

By the end of the fourth quarter, the frustration was evident on her face.

Friday night in the Southeast Regional Class B final, the Red Devils' playoff run ended with a 65-47 loss to Westchester Irvington at Pace University. Davis led Center Moriches with 19 points, but the Devils (17-8) fell behind 25-8 at the end of the first quarter.

"It really didn't matter how many points I had," said Davis, a junior forward who couldn't hold back the tears when she was taken out with less than two minutes left with the Devils trailing by 20. "I just wanted to win."

Nine first-quarter turnovers plagued the Red Devils and helped Irvington build the large lead. Irvington guard Lisa Bucci, who finished with 19 points, punctuated the opening run by hitting a deep three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to put the Devils behind by 17 points.

Center Moriches settled in after that, outscoring Irvington 11-8 in the second quarter and it cut the lead to 12 near the end of the third when Jessica Bandrowski scored five straight points to make it 42-30 with 1:33 to go.

But Bucci hit consecutive threes and hit two foul shots to put Irvington ahead 50-30 heading into the fourth. The Devils briefly pulled within 12 again with 3:50 left in the fourth, but Irvington ended on a 10-3 run.

Bandrowski, a senior playing her final game, had 10 points and Kelsey Glanzman had eight points and six rebounds.

"We fell behind early and that's really what killed us," Center Moriches coach Rich Alifano said. "We played pretty even after that, but couldn't come back. We'll be back here next year."

There's reason to think that's a possibility. Davis was one of four non-senior starters. The young team won its first Long Island championship in program history Tuesday, 41-19, over Locust Valley.

"We had a good season," Davis said. "We should be back."