Pierson Girls Improve to 2-0 After Win Over Hampton Bays

They may not have been the prettiest of wins, head coach John “Woody” Kneeland admitted, but he’ll take his Pierson girls basketball team’s 2-0 start to the season.

After defeating host Center Moriches, 35-31, on December 3, the Whalers hosted Hampton Bays in their home opener on Friday evening and won that game as well, 37-22.

Sag Harbor’s standout sophomores, Josie Mott and Molly Wolfson, fueled the team in both victories last week. Mott scored a game-high 19 points at Center Moriches while Wolfson finished with 14. Against a very active defensive team in Hampton Bays, Wolfson led with 13 points while Mott finished with 11.

Mott found herself in a little bit of foul trouble early in Friday’s game that forced her to sit much of the second quarter. Otherwise she may have led all scorers once again. Kneeland said he’s tried to implore both Mott and Wolfson, who play AAU basketball in the offseason, that high school basketball is a slightly different game than they’re used to playing. The early games this season will be a bit of a adjustment for them, he said.

The game against Center Moriches was another case in point in that the Red Devils scored all 10 of their points in the fourth quarter from the free throw line, Kneeland said, making that game look closer than it really was.

“It’s hard to take Josie and Molly off the gas because they play AAU, and AAU is a different animal,” Kneeland said. “They don’t call fouls like they do here. It’s a bit of a learning curve, and I’ve told them that. They know it’s an adjustment, but they also have reactions and instincts that they’re used to all summer long. And now I’m telling them they can’t do that because they’re going to call it. It’s just a matter of getting used to it.”

Kneeland continued and said it’s tough to get in foul trouble early in the game, and early in the season, when not every player is quite up on the team’s strategies quite yet.

“We haven’t really practiced that much as a team,” Kneeland said. “People with experience can weather, but if they’re in foul trouble we’ve got some catching up to do, and it makes us do some things we haven’t done. Like, we haven’t played a 2-3 zone yet in practice, but we had to do it tonight and didn’t play it well.

“We’ve got some things to work on,” he added. “That’s what these games are for and that’s fine. Everyone knows that wasn’t our best game, not even close to that yet.”

Pierson only led Hampton Bays by five points, 16-11, at halftime, but it cleaned some things right away in the second half. Senior Abby Perello made a three-pointer 10 seconds in and Wolfson added one of her own not soon after to push the Whalers’ lead to 25-12 three minutes into the quarter. A three by senior Shea Egan, who led all Baymen with seven points, made it a 10-point game once again, but a steal and layup by Wolfson pushed Pierson up by 12, forcing Hampton Bays head coach Alexis Fotopoulos to call a timeout.

Fotopoulos appreciated how hard her team played in what was its season opener on Friday night. In many ways her team outplayed Pierson — it most likely outshot and had better looks at the basket and it more than likely outrebounded and caused more turnovers as well. But, at the end of the day, the name of the game is putting the ball in the basket which her team found it difficult to do consistently.

“That is the story of us,” she said, with a laugh, after the game. “We probably outshoot teams, 100-5, our shots just don’t fall. I said defense is what is going to win us games. Our offense is where we struggle.

“It’s early. I think we had a little bit of nerves coming in, being our first game,” Fotopoulos continued. “I thought our looks were open we just have to get more consistent and knock them down. I have no problem with their effort, their efforts great, defense is great, we did well on the boards, for being undersized. We work really hard — we’re going to have to get in the gym offensively and just keep getting shots up, keep getting those reps, cause our defense is what’s going to keep us in games, and then we need the offense to follow.”

The Baymen will have to work on their offense during games as they had four games this week, which began with their League VI opener against Center Moriches on Monday, then a pair of nonleague games against East Hampton and Southampton on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, before hosting Rocky Point this Friday, December 12, at 6 p.m.

As for Pierson, it welcomed in Wyandanch this Thursday, December 11, for another nonleague game at 6:45 p.m. and will host Smithtown Christian in its League VII opener on Saturday at 11:45 a.m.

“We’ll take the wins,” Kneeland said of the start to his team’s season. “Everybody got on the court, again, both games. You’ll see these type of games this time of year, they’re not pretty, all of the scores will be down as we start to build. But I’m just happy they’re not quitters, I’m happy they play together, I’m happy they practice harder than we have in years. Those are the things I’m looking for.”