Girls basketball: Beberman, stingy defense sees Mahopac steal way to win over Somers
Neither team could buy a basket for nearly the first two-and-a-half minutes.
Then underdog Somers was winning. Mahopac was off.
The script wasn't right.
And so when Mahopac star Lauren Bebermen appeared to go after a loose ball half-heartedly, coach Mairead Hynes made her displeasure known, even though the ball ultimately squirted out of bounds last touched by Somers.
"I think everyone heard me," Hynes later said with a smile.
Beberman, who'll play next year for Adelphi University, said of her coach's short but pointed berating, "I'll be replaying that in my head."
It was, Beberman explained, a "wake-up call."
And one that she quickly answered by, seconds later, driving the lane for the first of what would be her game-high 16 points in a 42-29 win.
What it means
With the loss, the Tuskers finished the season 8-13.
Mahopac, now 16-4, will host No. 7 John Jay-Cross River (17-4), who won 54-44 over No. 10 Lakeland, in a quarterfinal game Thursday.
Player of the game
Momentarily in the coach's dog house or not, Beberman was the game's top star.
She had nine rebounds. And flying everywhere and anticipating Somers' plays as if she had memorized its playbook, she recorded four steals.
She also had several blocks.
By the numbers
Beberman's were four of Mahopac's remarkable 16 steals.
And those steals turned the game around.
Somers led Mahopac 14-13 with fewer than four minutes left in the second quarter. But a steal by Gianna Rispoli and a Rispoli feed to Beberman led to a Beberman bucket and a 15-14 Mahopac lead.
That was a lead that Mahopac would never relinquish as it would swipe five more balls in the quarter while building a 25-16 halftime.
That run would include Kristina Rush's only two buckets (she also made a free throw) of the game, one being a score off a long fast-break feed.
And Beberman, who had a sweet feed to Fiona O'Boyle for two of O'Boyle's 10 points, also scored off one of her own steals.
Seven Mahopac players recorded steals with Rispoli being the top theft artist with six.
O'Boyle was a huge presence under the boards with 10 rebounds on the day.
Senior Ava Giudice, a four-year Tusker varsity basketball player, who'll play soccer next year for Division I Fordham, led Somers with 11 points.
Lyndsay McCullough, who had a beautiful deke of a Mahopac defender on a pull-up jumper, had seven points.
Bailey Atkinson hit for six and Sydney Ingraham for five points.
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They said it
Giudice, who embodied Somers' hustling style, which carried through to the buzzer, was warmly greeted post-game by Rush and Beberman, former teammates when all were very young.
"I think it came down to defense," she said, pointing to how Mahopac had won.
Hynes liked her team's defensive effort, which has been strong virtually all year.
"We only allow 36 points (a game) on average. It's our defense we really rely on when our baskets are not falling," Hynes said.
She and Beberman talked about the squad's goal of reaching Westchester County Center and winning the Class A title, Berberman noting that after the center was closed to high school basketball for two years as a COVID testing and vaccination site, her team badly wants to play there.
For that to happen and for Mahopac to ultimately win the Class A title, Hynes said her team would have to be "relentless" on defense, no matter what happens on the offensive end.
It will all boil down to playing, she said, with "energy and heart."
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.
MAHOPAC — Halfway through the first quarter of the Section 1 Class A first-round game between No. 2-seed Mahopac and No. 15-seed Somers Saturday and the score was 5-1 Somers.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Section 1 girls basketball: Mahopac over Somers in sectionals
