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Sports

Pearl River Girls Roll To Opening Round Playoff Win

The Pirates beat Brewster 65-31 at home Friday night in the first round of the Section 1 Class A tournament.

With 4:23 to go in the first quarter of Friday’s first round Class A playoff game, Pearl River’s Missy Scognamiglio went up to block a shot and twisted her left ankle while landing.

She was helped off the court, had her ankle taped up and came back in the game to start the second quarter. She quickly calmed any fears her ankle was going to affect her play as she hit two three-pointers and stole an inbounds pass leading to an easy layup.

“It felt a little sore,” Scognamiglio said after the game. “It probably kept me out in the second half a bit.”

Pearl River's dominating performance also made it possible to keep Scognamiglio out in the second half. The Pirates spent most of the second half hovering around a 30-point lead, eventually beating Brewster 65-31 at home Friday night.

Those eight points Scognamiglio scored after coming back from her injury were her only eight points in the win. She said that if the game was closer, she could’ve played more in the second half as well.

“Missy does whatever we need,” said Pearl River Head Coach Lorraine Moylan. “She hits threes, gets to the rim, she’s a super defender. She does whatever is needed to help us win.”

On Friday, that meant getting the ball to her teammates.

“We had great ball movement tonight,” Moylan said. “I thought Jess Neugebauer stepped up big time for us.”

Neugebauer scored 10 for Pearl River coming on a variety of shots, including a few layups, a midrange jumper and even a floater in the lane.

Scognamiglio said a big factor in Pearl River’s effective offense Friday night was moving Amanda DeCourcey point guard. While DeCourcey normally plays the other guard position, she was being defended by one of Brewster’s taller players, Jasmine Pryce.

“When we switched Amanda to point guard, it drew [Pryce] out, it really opened a lot of holes for us,” Scognamiglio said. “She wasn’t able to do as much in the paint.”

DeCourcey scored a game-high 14 points. She and Neugebauer were the only two Pirates in double figures. Scognamiglio and Emma Daly followed with eight points each for Pearl River. All 13 Pirates played and 10 scored.

“We were able to get everyone in there and show them all what it’s like to play in a sectional game,” Moylan said.

Brewster was led on offense by Brittany Deieso’s 13 points, followed by Megan Lueder's 10. Only four players scored for Brewster, which didn’t score more than 10 points in any quarter and was held to single digits in two periods.

Top seeded Pearl River (17-2) will play at home again in the quarterfinals Tuesday at a time to be determined against Hendrick Hudson, a 34-28 winner at Harrison Friday night.

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