On Thursday afternoon, the girls’ basketball team showed their character by taking down Lawrence Woodmere, 32-12, 24 hours after a frustrating loss at Waldorf. Niamh Scanlon spearheaded the Blue & White offense with 22 points while the Bears’ defense continued its habit of pressuring opposing offenses into submission.

The Tigers got the scoring started with a 3-pointer on their second possession, but would be held scoreless until just four seconds remained in the half. In the intervening 15 minutes the Bears went on a 16-0 run to take control of the game. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Scanlon gave the Brook the lead for good at 6-3. Wura Obasanjo followed with two blocks on a single possession before the Bears induced a five-second violation on a baseline out-of-bounds play as they began to impose their will. Nadia Hall and Obasanjo combined for three free throws the rest of the quarter to give the Brook a 9-3 edge after one.

Obasanjo opened the second frame with a pair of layups to give the Brook a 13-3 advantage. Scanlon then connected on her third 3-pointer to stay perfect from behind the arc, building what felt like an insurmountable 16-3 cushion in the low-scoring affair. The Bears were four seconds away from holding the visitors scoreless in the frame, but conceded a foul on a layup attempt. The Tigers hit 1-of-2 to trail 4-16 at the break.

In the early moments of the third quarter, Woodmere equaled their production from the game’s first sixteen minutes with a layup and a jumper to pull within 8-16. Scanlon canned a jumper with one minute remaining to push the lead back to 18-8, but those would be the only points the Bears mustered in the period.

Any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Scanlon drilled consecutive 3-pointers to open the fourth, her fourth and fifth long balls of the game. After an Obasanjo free throw made it 25-10, Scanlon hit a layup, her sixth 3-pointer, and a jumper to close out the 32-12 win.

Scalon’s 22 led all scorers while Obasanjo finished with 7 points, 3 blocks, and 3 steals and Hall with 3 points and 2 steals. This is the fewest points the Bears have allowed since a 36-10 win over Shelter Island on January 22, 2013.

The Bears are back in action on Monday in a home non-league match-up with Smithtown East.

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