In her last regular season game on home hardwood, Brannon Burke once again led her team to victory in a 44-36 triumph over Mercy. In a season marked by injury, the girls continued to find ways to win as they finished their League Championship season with an 11-1 record. The girls have been dominant in the league for most of the last decade and despite losing three starters from last year’s squad, seniors Burke, Natalie Istrati, and Jess Winston made sure that the expectations and high level of play did not dip on their watch. How dominant have our girls been? Since January 31, 2005 the Bears have won an incredible 72 of 74 league games for a winning percentage of 97.3%.

Prior to the game Burke was honored for scoring her 1,000th career point in Monday’s win over Southold and she treated the fans to another solid performance as the #10 scorer on Long Island scored 15 points while pulling down 14 rebounds. The Bears jumped all over the Monarchs, outscoring them 11-7 in the first quarter and 17-10 in the second to take a commanding 11-point lead at the break. Mercy battled back with a 7-4 third quarter, but Burke was too much down the stretch as the Bears cruised to another win. Burke led all scorers, Ariana Odom added a season-high 13 points that included three 3-pointers, Winston scored 8, Danielle Pappas contributed 6, and Keara Vancol chipped in 2.

Ariana Odom drills it from downtown! Burke in foul trouble so the 7th-grader, Odom, steps up with 7 consecutive points. She finished with 13 for the game--Odom just 12 years old--that leads Stony Brook to the victory.

~ MSG Varsity SportsDesk

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