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DEC. 27TH - ELMONT VS ROOSEVELT |
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Elmont 8 - 20 - 36 - 42, Roosevelt 10 - 14 - 31 - 37. Match-up between two teams trying to find themselves. Elmont, which is coming off last year's tragedy, graduation of key players and playing under new coach Magnone, could be a team that could give others trouble later in the season. Roosevelt has to decide whether they are pretenders or contenders. Both teams are athletic, but each team struggled throughout the game to maintain any kind of consistency - give credit to both teams defenses. Roosevelt's inability to score hurt them throughout the game, while Elmont's offense seemed out of sync at times. The baskets were hard to come by in the first quarter and there were still 5 lead changes. Laura Rivera scored all 8 points for Elmont, while 4 players scored for Roosevelt. Elmont went up 14 - 8 to start the secoind quarter as Roosevelt would not score until the 3:32 mark on a free throw by Samantha Corbitt. Corbitt scored 4 four points for Roosevelt in the second quarter, shooting 2 for 6 from the free throw line. Despite holding Roosevelt to 4 points, Elmont was unable to pull away and would have only had a 4 point halftime lead if not for Rivera's buzzer beater. Roosevelt went 2 for 8 from the free throw line in the first half. Roosevelt's offense definitely was not running on all cylinders as pg Naakita Green was MIA. Without Green to handle the point, Crawford and Henry were forced to run the offense. Both guards struggled all game and never really got in the flow. I kept waiting for Crawford to go off on one of her scoring spurts, it never happened. In the third quarter, the pace of the game finally had a flow to it as both teams were able to score with a little more regularity. Then as easy as it was to score, the scoring stopped as Roosevelt would go the last 2:42 without scoring. Early in the quarter Elmont would extend their lead to 10 points with 6:27 remaining. Roosevelt would pull to within 5 with 4:44 on the clock. Roosevelt would ame another run to pull within 2, but then would go scoreless the rest of the quarter. Toni Ann lawrence would hit 2 free thorws with 30 seconds to close out the quarter, with Elmont up 36 - 31. Elmont extended their lead to 8 with 5:35 to go on a free throw by Rivera. Despite struggling to score, Roosevelt would make one more run to pull within 2 with 2 minutes left in the game, holding Elmont scoreless for over 3 minutes. Roosevelt's next three possessions were back breakers as they turned the ball over and got away from working with each other. Meanwhile, Elmont wasn't exactly nailing the door shut. Over the last 6 minutes, they would not score from the floor and shot 4 for 8 from the free throw line. Elmont sealed the victory by shutting down Roosevelt over the last 2 minutes and hitting 3 of the 4 free throws in the last 1:37. Elmont is atlhetic as always and will rely on Rivera to provide much needed leadership. Roosevelt must get through this part of the season without their best player Simone Thomas and they cannot afford to have Green not on the court.
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