Dan DeFrancesco here.
Ossining defeated Irvington 90-84 in the Slam Dunk final today thanks to another big day from Saniya Chong (pictured above) who broke the tournament record for points finishing with 51. She also had seven assists and six rebounds. The previous record of 46 was set by Chong in 2010 and tied by her on Friday in Ossining’s win over St. Anthony’s.
Shadeen Samuels had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Andra Espinoza-Hunter added 11 points and four rebounds.
For Irvington, Lexi Martins finished with 30 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and three steals while Brittni Lai had 27 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Chong is now, unofficially, 290 points away from Section 1’s career-points mark held by Karen O’Connor of FDR.
“We’re still working out some things about our role players scoring more,” said Ossining coach Dan Ricci. “We’re still relying on Saniya a little too much. But when she’s that good you can get away with it.”
Irvington held a 25-19 advantage after the first quarter as they had no problem breaking the Pride’s press, leading to unattested layups down the court.
Ossining opened the second quarter with a 16-2 run, as the Pride started to hit their stride shooting the ball. The Bulldogs still managed to trail only by four heading into the half.
Martins proved to be a handful down low as Jalay Knowles picked up her fourth foul early in the the third. Ricci looked to sophomore Madison Strippoli who played well off the bench against the Lehigh-bound senior.
Knowles had an up and down game, finishing with seven points and eight rebounds, the majority of which came in the first half.
“Jalay has her moments when she’s awesome and she has moments when she is invisible,” Ricci said. “Today was a little bit of both.”
Ossining continued to shoot the ball well as they took a 73-56 lead into the fourth. Despite pushing that lead to as high as 20 with under six minutes remaining, Irvington managed to cut into the lead, outscoring the Pride 28-17 in the final quarter.
“To me it’s the two best teams in Westchester county going at it in front of a big crowd,” Ricci said. “Nothings better than this.”
Photos courtesy of Seth Harrison/The Journal News. For the complete gallery click here.
27 Comments
A really good basketball game between two great teams and coaches. This is what high school basketball is about. These young ladies have been knocking heads now for quite awhile and they still manage to bring it every time they play. Thank you both teams for a great afternoon.
Ossining managed to show some depth today even though Saniya lit it up for 51. Terriffic games by Espinoze-Hunter, Samuels and the freshman Madison Strippoli who stepped up big time when Knowles got into foul trouble. Question? Look at the picture of Knowles guarding Martins..who got the foul? Martins is pushing off big time and Knowles is trying to beat her to the spot….Knowles got the foul..why?.... All day long in the paint… Martins is camped…no three seconds.. pushing off…over the back….no fouls….don’t get me wrong she is a very good player but she gets away with alot down low. Might have been Ossining’s best game so far this year…they’ll need the same effort down the road to get to the state finals!
Very good game. Irvington played great.
Ossining used subs, but Irvington played the same five all game. They had to be tired, but the Irvington five played their hearts out. It was a good game between two excellent teams. Irvington’s starting five can all shoot and score. Too bad they rely on Martins and Lai to carry the load.
Fantastic game between Irvington and Ossining. Crowd wasn’t as big as I would have expected but man did those 2 teams battle. Lexi was an absolute force underneath and once Saniya was able to figure out their zone after the first few minutes of the 1st quarter, she was unstoppable! You guys should make it a point to cover their game when they play in Feb, it’s game people don’t want to miss! Even the coach from Stepinac (they played New Rochelle right after Oss) was amazed. Saniya did show she’s still somewhat human when she missed 1 foul shot during the game. She went 28/29 between the 2 games though.
The chances of Ossining winning a state title decrease so much when Saniya goes for 40+. A team with a bench will keep throwing fresh defenders at her to wear her down. Coach Ricci knows (based on his comments during his interview with Lohud) the rest of the team has to continue to get better at making opponents pay for double teams and junk defenses.
Saniya is a great talent, now she has to continue to encourage her supporting cast to play with confidence. Her stat line should be 20+ pts, 10+ assist the rest of the regular season. That will show her team mates are involved in the game just as much as her which will prepare them for their state title run.
Went merely as a spectator yesterday. What a great game!!!
Obviously defense was not a factor in this one—Sounded like it was a great game to watch.
It will be interesting to see how Ossining adjusts next year to the loss of Ms. Chong and how Irvington will fare with the loss of Ms. Lai and Ms. Martins. Obviously both teams count heavily on them for point production and while there is talk of the younger players “stepping up” and filling their shoes, I haven’t seen that yet; I guess time will tell.
If you listen to the comments of the “other” players on the Ossining team they all echo the same…Saniya is a very unselfish player….so many great passes go for naught when the player is not able to convert. Not a knock on the other kids..she’s that good she sees the floor at all times! Spoke to a number of people who had never seen Ossining play…they were very impressed! All commented on….”who was that girl who came off the bench and drained a 3”? or “who was that girl that came in for Knowles’? Unsung kids ready to play when needed. There are seniors on this team who have worked their butts off for 4 years and basically not played..yet if called upon they will be ready, willing and able to fill the shoes needed.
OSSINING RANKED #1 IN NEW YORK STATE POLL.
POSTED TODAY
JJ-EF AT #12
@gamewatcher—I did not mean to imply that the Ossining bench is not a capable group. I agree that they are …”ready, willing and able to fill the shoes needed.” Ms. Chong is not a selfish player, true. I’ve seen her play. I was merely pointing out that she cannot be easily replaced. Ossining will undoubtedly need to adjust their game to maximize their strengths, and I’ll be curious to see the transformation.
Lets hope they can finish there. Irv and Hamilton too. Happy New Year to all!
Ah but you see CHSAA that’s just it, if you look at the stat line there were a few players for Ossining who showed up on the stat sheet. Saniya had 51, yes but several other players contributed. There’s so many players besides her that do things that don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet. Whether it be throwing a key pick at a crucial time or even just coming in as a fresh body to give that 1 player a rest for a bit.
As far as their chances decreasing drastically goes I respectfully disagree. I don’t think it really makes much of a difference.
Ossining has 8 seniors on the team but are still considered VERY young. 2 of their starters are in 8th and 10th grades with several freshmen/sophs on the bench. They have a lot of talent on the JV team that will be coming up to Varsity in the coming years too.
Colonial, maybe I wasn’t clear in my explanation. I am referring to this year, not the future. You are correct, the team does do the little things necessary to win but, in my opinion, Saniya should set a goal for the rest of the regular season of 20+ points and 10+ assist and continue to encourage other team mates to get comfortable producing on the offensive end. It will only make the team better and more prepared come post season – Preparation is the key to success.
We can agree to disagree but there is proof in their 3 losses (arguably against better competition than they may see in their run for the State Chip) that Saniya can’t do it alone all the time. Remember, St. A’s shot 20+ more shots, if they convert half of them we possibly see a different result but that is water under the bridge. Just know, the state has teams that are better than St. A’s.
I’d love to see her go for 40 in a championship game for the State. She has worked hard to become as good as she is, now she can become even better by making the players around her better than they were when the season started.
Also…the O defense needs to get better…another goal against better teams…under 50 points allowed.
CHSAA The Pride defense is the heart of the teams success. It is the reason why they score so many points and the reason why good opponents score as well. The opposing team goes to the foul line far more times as a result of the frenetic pace of the O defense. Another reason other teams score is because there are far more “loose ball” and “jump ball” turnovers that result in more points. Saniya is a defensive monster…she is hawking the ball, rebounding the ball and more often than not the first one back on defense on the fast break.
Unsung Danny Gervacio is a defensive specialist. She’s on the ball and on the floor forcing turnovers all game long. When you run 100% of the time you will score quickly and thus the opponent will score more points as the ball turns over quickly. Also with the three point shot so prevalent now teams with good shooters will score more.
Lastly, Ossining can’t play defense hard all the time because their style leads to more “cheap” foul calls in the midcourt. When they play hard defense the officials start blowing too many blocking fouls. They have some tough games coming up against some good teams. CTK this week, Hamilton soon and of course Irvington again along with a couple of teams from Jersey that will test them. They don’t play enough games to really show what they are capable of.
Ossining beat Malloy by a nice margain as well. There really are not that many better teams in the state better then St Ant’s and Malloy. Maybe 2 or 3?
Sorry, no disrespect to the school, spelling horrible, meant Archbishop Molloy.
saw jjef vs fdr…they are good but thats it….will not be able to handle ossining. Play way too aggressive and will get in foul trouble. Have some good talent and coaching but not anywhere near ossining.
Fair enough, I can give you that
Gamewatcher – great defensive teams don’t take pride in giving up 70+ and 80+ points in two games. Great defenses don’t take pride in having two players from one team score 30 and 27 points against them in the same game. Great defensive teams don’t look for a steal every possession.
Think about their future, Ossining loses 30 ppg next year. They need to learn to defend better. It will keep Knowles on the floor and the team in games when their offense isn’t clicking.
As entertaining as their games may be, individual defensive skills are lacking.
Just sayin’
I don’t have a problem giving up 70 as long as you score 80. They have the best offensive player in the state, so they figure to give her as many chances as possible to make something happen. Also they have a bench (subs anyway) and like to wear teams down. That is their strategy. They beat 2 top teams in NY already (Molloy and St ant). They lost to 3 national powers. They look fine.
Cuse, DITTO.
Time to relax and just enjoy the end of this current and remarkable 4 year run.
I agree with Cuse. Ossining has been coached the same way for years. Helter skelter in your face and let the chips fall where they may. They have been very successful with this style of play and will out work and out score you most of the time. I agree that they might have to make some defensive adjustments in the future but with Chong in the pilot’s seat I think the plane eventually lands with the Pride’s first state championship. Other than the possibility of an upset at the Federations, who beats them in the post season?
Cuse – I agree with you – they look fine – because they are winning. I’m looking past the X’s and O’s and refer to player development and helping prepare kids for the next level. Remember, at the next level coaches look for defenders because in college you can have 4, 5, 6 Saniya’s (offensive threats) on the floor at once. Having that tool to be able to defend may keep you on the floor.
Lets not lose sight of the kids overall development for the good of just winning.
Well said Stanner.
All, good to see opinionated posts that do what is intended – generate conversation about the game, teams, predictions, etc without loss of respect or degrading any team, player or coach.
Looking forward to an exciting 2nd half of the season and run to the county center and states for all section 1 teams.
CHSAA, Can’t argue with that for the long run. Given this team’s current composition, I think you try to win a state championship with the horses you have. I can’t disagree with your overall point however.
As we move into the future Ossining has more than a few kids coming who can play defense. they will score less but win just as much because of their D.