On This Day In History | 2008
The girls celebrate their Class C County title over Port Jeff earlier in the week
On this day 7 years ago, the girls’ basketball team won the Class C/D Championship with a convincing 54-28 victory over Shelter Island.
Danielle Spiliotis led the Bears’ offense with 28 points while Candace Baker anchored a stingy defense. Here is a recap of the game from Brett Mauser of Hamptons.com.
Shelter Island Girls Downed by Stony Brook
During the regular season, Stony Brook presented the Shelter Island girls basketball team with its toughest competition, defeating the Indians convincingly both home and away. In the Suffolk Class C-D Final, SI faced perhaps the most difficult opposition it will face in the playoffs – the very same Bears.
The result was the same for Shelter Island, this time a 54-28 decision in the teams’ showdown at Center Moriches. Stony Brook revealed exactly what the Indians need to polish up in preparation.
Each team had its star – Danielle Spiliotis (28 points) for Stony Brook and senior guard, Tina Rando, for Shelter Island (6-13). Rando led the offensive charge with 19 points, including four three-pointers. The biggest difference for the Bears was the support Spiliotis’ teammates provided. Candace Baker chipped in with 10 points while Sadie Singer had eight.
“Other girls are going to have to step up in order for us to do well in the D regionals,” Indians head coach Rick Osmer said. “We can’t have one player, and that’s basically all we had that scored today.”
Rando scored 11 points in the third quarter alone, three coming on a one-handed heave from half-court as the buzzer sounded. “That was just luck,” Rando said, “pure luck.”
Stony Brook’s defense held one of the Indians’ top options – junior Kaitie McGayhey – without a point. It was only the beginning of their defensive accomplishments on the day. Aside from Rando, the Indians scored just nine points.
Shelter Island itself did a tremendous job defensively in holding the Bears at bay in the first half. They began finding Spiliotis more frequently in the second half, and Spiliotis found her offensive groove, scoring 20 of her game-high 28 after the break.
“I thought we played a good first three quarters, and then their big player stepped up,” Osmer said, referring to Spiliotis. “We have to play a good game, and [Stony Brook] can’t play their best game for us to win,” she said. “It’s fun playing against them every time. Sometimes we give them a run for their money. It was like a scrimmage. It’s nice to have games. I’d rather have a whole lot of games than practices any day.”
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