Pearl River used sharp jump shooting from seniors Christa Scognamiglio and Allison Cook to take charge in the second quarter on the way to a 51-39 victory over Arlington in the Slam Dunk Tournament Championship Tuesday at the Westchester County Center.
“Allison [Cook] gets hot and that helps us a lot," Scognamiglio said. "We hadn’t been shooting well so it gave us a lot of confidence when our shots started falling. They fought really hard and weren’t going to give up so we
The Pirates did continue the pressure throughout the entire second half and forced Arlington to commit 30 turnovers on their way to a victory.
“You always come away from a game with things to work on,” said Pearl River Head Coach Lorraine Moylan. “Arlington is a very good team. We played hard and you hope a win like this will give the team confidence going forward.
Despite Arlington’s feisty defensive play, the Admirals had no answer for Pearl River’s ability to spread the floor and drain open shots. The Pirates made six of 11 from 3-point land in the first half while the Admirals were 0-for-4 from deep.
That discrepancy paired with the 19 turnovers by Arlington allowed the Pirates to pull to a comfortable, 31-17, lead at the half.
Arlington trimmed the lead in the third quarter and went into the fourth trailing by single digits, but it was not enough.
“Playing on the County Center floor is awesome,” said Moylan. “Playing the quality of teams we did in Brewster and Arlington is very good experience for us.”
Scognamiglio made six three-point shots and led all scorers with 25 one day after a stomach ailment and foul trouble limited her to five in a first-round victory over Brewster. She was named the game's MVP. Cook made three 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.
Jocelyn Strack led Arlington with nine points.
