Pierson Girls Eye Playoff Push; Boys Seek Big Jump After Rebuild

For the past two years, the Pierson girls basketball team has lost by just a few points to their opponents in opening-round playoff games, first at Babylon two seasons ago, then most recently last season at Mattituck.

With four of their five starters returning, this could be the year that the Whalers finally break through.

“Mattituck was supposed to blow us out. Same with Babylon the year before that, and in both games we had a chance to win in the final seconds,” head coach John “Woody” Kneeland said on Monday night. “We’re definitely moving in the right direction. I’ve got to say, I think Babylon was hoping to play Mattituck instead of us last year in the county championship because we were definitely one of the hottest teams at the end of the season.”

Part of that hot finish to the season was the addition of Molly Wolfson to varsity. Now a sophomore, Wolfson proved to have a deadly shot from beyond the arc, but she could also go to the basket. If it wasn’t Wolfson, it was classmate Josie Mott leading the team in scoring, as she did in that playoff game at Mattituck last season, tying a game-high with 20 points.

Also returning are starters Lola Eldridge and Skye Smith, both juniors now who have been on the team for four years already. Kneeland said senior Abby Perello will be the team’s other starter, for now. As he’s said in the past, it’s not so much who is starting the game, but rather who is finishing that is more important. But everyone is going to get ample playing time, he said.

Senior Ally Cottrell, juniors Ayla Jordan, Evolet Sigcha and Meadow Osborn and sophomores Georgie Finelli and Maggie Greenwald round out the roster.

Pierson, which is made up of strictly Sag Harbor student-athletes this season, no Bridgehampton players, will play in League VII with alternatively placed East Hampton (AA), Babylon (B), Mattituck (B), Greenport/Southold (B), Port Jefferson (B), Southampton (B) and Smithtown Christian (D). Since the Whalers are the only “C” team in Suffolk County, Kneeland isn’t quite sure what that means for his team beyond the regular season.

“I haven’t looked into it. I’m trying not to look too far ahead, I’m not focused on anything but trying to win the league,” he said. “Regardless of what class we’re in, what school size we are, we’re just trying to win the league and I think we can definitely do that.”

Pierson opened the season with three nonleague games, first at Center Moriches on Wednesday and then it will play its home opener this Friday, December 5, against Hampton Bays at 6:15 p.m. before hosting Wyandanch on December 11 at 6:45 p.m.

At the inaugural Suffolk Boys and Girls Basketball Coaches Association Media Day on November 22, which Pierson did not attend, opposing coaches not once mentioned Pierson as a potential threat this season.

“Maybe they’re not worried about us, it doesn’t mean anything to me,” Kneeland said. “We always feel disrespected. Josie should have been at least All-Conference last season and she was no more than All-League. And I remember turning around and telling her, ‘we get zero respect, so let’s use that as a chip on our shoulder next year as some motivation.’ We’ll take it one game at a time, but they’ll know who we are at the end of the season.”

Everyone’s Back for Boys

From the outside looking in, with a 2-10 League VII record, it may have looked like a total lost season for the Pierson boys last season. In reality, they were one win away from having a winning record against fellow Class B teams, which would have qualified them for the postseason, but a three-pointer with five seconds remaining in regulation led to a 50-48 loss at Port Jefferson that ultimately ended their playoff hopes.

But last season’s team was made up almost entirely of first-year varsity sophomores, and their first go-around on the varsity circuit proved to be fruitful.

“I think we’re all definitely more accustomed to the pace of the game, our conditioning has gotten better, and the game itself, you had to keep it up mentally just as much physically, and I think we’ve all gotten to that point,” junior Casey Finelli said. “It’s pretty rare to have as many sophomores as we did last season, so having that additional year I think gives us a leg up against some of these other teams.

“We just have to stay dialed in throughout the whole season,” he added. “If we win a couple games in a row, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. Just like if we lose a couple games, we can’t get too down. And I think that’s what happened after that loss to Port Jeff. Everyone kind of just packed it in. But we all know what it takes now.”

Finelli is one of eight juniors on this year’s team, joining Nate Culver, Kai Genender, Jack Kamimura, Joel Mather, Nico Pontecorvo, Brian Schroeder and Max Vogel. Sophomore starter Orion Aubry has also returned, while classmate Sebastian Cardenas and senior Spencer Cavaniola round out the rest of the team.

Pierson has dropped down to Class C from Class B due to lower enrollment and is one of just three “C” teams in the county along with Greenport and Southold. That doesn’t necessarily mean making the playoffs will be easy as both teams have perennial playoff squads, but it certainly puts it in a prime position to start turning the program back in the right direction.

The Whalers will play in League VII, in which the smallest Class D schools now outnumber the Class C schools. Returning state finalist and neighboring Bridgehampton will play in the league along with Ross School, Smithtown Christian, Shelter Island, St. Pius V and a new school, Our Savior New American. Upper Room Christian Academy was expected to join the league, but has since folded.

“We are deep. I can play 10 guys,” returning head coach Dan White said. “We are solid individual defenders and are improving as team defenders. I expect us to play at a fast pace and share the ball well.

“The kids had a great offseason and are eager to get back to being a winning team,” he continued. “I’m impressed with this group going through a rough year last year and making a significant effort to improve. If we stay healthy I expect us to compete in every game we play in. Fun coaching this group — they love their hoops.”

“I think things are going pretty good,” Finelli said. “We’ve definitely improved our chemistry playing together the past year in summer league and spring and fall ball, AAU, all that stuff, so we really work well together. I also think everyone’s improved individually.”

The boys officially opened their season on Tuesday in a nonleague game at Connetquot. It will play at Ross on Tuesday, December 9, at 6:15 p.m.