The Great Neck South Rebels girls varsity basketball team, now (3-3) on the season, dominated the winless Bellmore JFK Cougars 47-17 Tuesday evening at Great Neck South High School.
The Rebels’ overpowering defense and size advantage forced the Mustangs into turnovers, long-range outside shots and few offensive rebounds.
Offensively, the Rebels consistently penetrated the Mustangs defense and were able to score inside the paint.
Going into halftime facing a 31-10 deficit, Bellmore JFK had an intense uphill climb if they were going to walk off the court victorious. It was not to be. Midway through the third quarter with the Rebels leading by 19, both coaches starting playing their second teams.
Betsy Tanenbaum led the Rebels with 13 points and eight assists. Alexa Epstein scored 10 points and Daisy Xu contributed eight points and 11 rebounds. Epstein and Tananbaum each chipped in a three pointer as well.
“The game was as expected,” said Cougars head coach John Dell’Olio said. “We played hard, but were unfortunately outmatched.”
Carly Klein scored a team-high four points for the Cougars, followed by Emily Lawrence with three points, scoring their only three pointer.
“We stayed on them hard, and worked on offense much more than defense,” head coach for the Rebels Tom Umstatter said. “We’re a very fast team, so we had to slow down half-court and make those key offensive plays.”
The Rebels had lost to Mepham (6-0), 71-42, the No. 1 seed in their Nassau Conference AA-III last Friday. The Cougars will face Herricks (6-2), the No. 2 seed on Thursday evening at Bellmore JFK High School.
The Rebels will face Long Beach (4-2) on Friday evening.
