Bayside Girls Basketball Drops “A” Playoff Overtime Thriller To Leon M. Goldstein, 55-52

Not many pundits gave the 15th seeded Lady Commodores much of a chance against No. 2 Leon Goldstein. But, to their credit, they hanged in with the opposition for almost the entire contest.

However, Bayside missed key shots down the stretch, while the Lady Dolphins didn’t, eventually pulling away for the 55-52 overtime win in round two of the "A" playoffs .

Hero
Senior Christina Mckeever drained a game-high 19 points, hitting several crucial baskets when Leon Goldstein needed it most.

Turning Point
With the Lady Commodores up 48-47 early in OT, the Lady Dolphins hit two free throws, followed by a basket to take 51-48 lead with 2:06 remaining in the contest. But Bayside refused to go away, battling until the bitter end.

Bottom Line
The Lady Commodores had their chances to tie — or even win — the tilt, but they went 0-5 from the charity stripe in the fourth period. Plus, they failed to convert a few easy layups in overtime.

Quotable
Although proud of Bayside’s never-say-die attitude, head coach Stephen Piorkowski chalked up the defeat to missed free throws.

"We had a very good chance of winning," Piorkowski said. "We won the second half, we lost overtime and free throws were the difference. You can’t go 0-5 in the fourth quarter and lose by three. You go 0-5 at the free throw line and that’s bad. And that’s what we did."

Piorkowski also said that the Lady Commodores couldn’t get over the hump for the victory.

"What plagued us all season long, plagued us in this game," said the longtime coach of his team’s overall poor shooting effort. "When you play worse than you’re capable of playing, you’re not going to win. We covered things progressively in practice, and we improved a lot. But we still made fundamental mistakes that led to the other team making major opportunities in the game."