The Pearl River girls basketball team showed again how quickly it can turn a tight game into a blowout in Wednesday's 75-52 victory over John Jay-Cross River in the Class A quarterfinals.

Reagan Knox scored to cut the Pirates' lead over the Indians to two points early in the third quarter, but from there Pearl River buried John Jay under a barrage of defensive pressure and three-point sharpshooting.

"I thought when we went in at halftime, we were in a good spot only down four, but they came right out and scored four quick baskets and the next thing you know, we were struggling the rest of the way," John Jay Coach Greg Blake said. "They just took it right away from us.

"Boom. Two minutes and it was over."

The 24-4 run that lasted most of the period gave top-seeded Pearl River (18-2) another trip to the Westchester County Center for a semifinal game against Albertus Magnus (17-4) Thursday, March 1. Albertus defeated Nanuet, 49-32, Wednesday.

"In the first half, we came out strong, but not strong enough," said Pearl River senior Christa Scognamiglio, who led all scorers with 25 points. "We knew we had to really put them away there and we came out harder. We put hard pressure on them and that got us going."

Senior guard Allison Cook, who set a career high by making six 3-point shots and finished with 20 points, said that third quarter was as well as Pearl River has played all season.

"At halftime, we were saying we can play so much better than this," Cook said.

Coach Lorraine Moylan credited the team's relentless play for turning a close game into a blowout. 

"We played really, really hard," Moylan said. "Our defense upped it a little bit. Everybody was getting their hands on the ball. Everybody was helping. That was the difference.

"And we shot the ball pretty well."

Pearl River made 11 three-point shots as a team, making 52% of its shots from beyond the arc. In addition to Cook's six, Scognamiglio made two and her younger sister, junior point guard Marissa Scognamiglio, made three.

"Everybody shot really well today," Christa Scognamiglio said.

Cook took advantage when John Jay left her open outside early. The Indians slowed her down by playing a triangle-and-two defense to slow her and Christa Scognamiglio, but she started to find openings again as the Pirates' took over the contest. 

Marissa Scognamiglio played a key role in the second half. She was held scoreless in the first half, but finished with 16. She also took over defending Knox, who scored 12 of her 20 points before halftime. 

"We put Missy on Reagan Knox and she did a great job on her, preventing her from getting the ball," Christa Scognamiglio said. "That kind of frazzled the rest of their girls."

Pearl River actually held a 12-point lead in the second quarter at 32-20, but John Jay rallied by forcing turnovers and scoring on offensive rebounds.

"We were just giving them easy put-backs," Christa Scognamiglio said. "Simple rebounds we should have been getting. We weren't playing much help defense."

The Pirates' also rebounded better in the second half. Moylan pointed to strong rebounding games by seniors Kerry Sullivan, who had 12, and Christy Carty. 

"Sully had a couple of steals that were big for us," Moylan said. "It was a group effort." 

Wednesday was the final home game for Pearl River's seniors -- Scognamiglio, Sullivan, Cook, Carty and Nicole Grossbard, who was lost for the season in August due to a knee injury.

"It was definitely more important to me and the rest of the seniors," Scognamiglio said. "It was our last time playing here ever."

"It was a good feeling having our last game here and playing so well," Cook said.