After breaking her nose in eighth grade, Pearl River's Christa Scognamiglio had to wear a protective face mask while playing basketball.

The mask made its return Wednesday, but this time after being handed to Christa's younger sister, Marissa Scognamiglio.

“It’s not really easy to play with,” Marissa Scognamiglio said. “I couldn’t really see anything peripherally, when I was dribbling I had to look straight down.”

That did not stop Scognamiglio and the rest of the Pirates from beating Albertus Magnus, 61-43, at home on Wednesday to sweep the season series.

It was Pearl River's second victory over another top contender in Class A this week. It was during the team's 56-53 victory Monday at Tappan Zee that Scognamiglio collided with teammate Allison Cook. She said then and again on Wednesday she thinks it might be broken. She hasn’t seen a doctor yet, but Pearl River’s trainer told her it looks like it might be broken as well.

“The mask is a little cumbersome so it’s a little difficult to see,” said Pearl River Coach Lorraine Moylan. “She has to get used to it. She only put it on [Tuesday]. She had a little bit of difficulty, but she did fine, though.”

Christa Scognamiglio said she thinks her sister will get a bit more comfortable in the mask.

“I told her she has to pretend that it’s not on her face and just play like she normally would,” Christa said.

Marissa Scognamiglio said she was in pain for only a few seconds during the game, after a play when she was bumped. While she netted only three points in the win, she also had three steals in the first quarter alone, all coming in Albertus’ backcourt and leading to points for the Pirates (16-1).

“In practice we focus a lot on getting little picks and steals to get easy layups off them,” she said. “I guess I just timed them right.”

Pearl River forced the Falcons (13-4) to turn it over a lot in the first half of Wednesday’s game, at least seven times, with more than half of those coming before Albertus could get the ball past half court. Falcons Coach Pat Buckley said the team practiced seven-on-five during the week so the first team could practice trying to break Pearl River’s press, but the Falcons still did not handle it well.

It wasn’t just Pearl River’s press that stifled Albertus. When Falcons did manage to get into its offense, it still wasn’t making shots. The Falcons trailed, 34-13, at the half, with just five of those points coming on field goals. 

“I don’t think we came out ready to play,” Buckley said. “Against a team like that you can’t do that. They got every loose ball. Every time we came down we got one shot and they were getting multiple shots down on the other end.”

Albertus came out in the third and closed the gap considerably, trailing by only eight points with about two minutes to go in the quarter.

“Our girls were upset,” Buckley said. “They’re not a bad team. They’re a successful team and they expect to have success. I’m happy we came out with a little bit more edge.”

Pearl River brought its lead back up to 12 before the fourth and started the final quarter on a 16-3 run to break the game open. The Pirates never let Albertus back in, partly thanks to a strong fourth by Kerry Sullivan, who scored eight of game-high 17 points in the final quarter.

Christa Scognamiglio followed with 15 points with Cook netting 12. Sullivan, Scognamiglio and Cook were three of five seniors honored before the game on senior night, along with Christy Carty and Nicole Grossbard.

Kelly Guarino led the Falcons with 11 points, followed by Maeve Parahus’ eight and Glynnis Widmer’s seven.