Hicksville 16 - 30 - 56 - 72, Copiague 11 - 23 - 35 - 61. Ug - short for ugly. Hicksville's first 10 points of the game were scored by Kelly Dempsey and Karly Cohen. As you sat watching this unfold, one could only believe that Copaigue was in for a long day. The Comets went up 12 - 5 before Copiague responded with 6 points to close the gap to 1 with 1:40 remaining. Dempsey hit a short jumper and Michelle Kurowski beat the buzzer to give Hicksville a 16 -11 lead. Copiague's Gabrielle Gibson and Chelsea Williams couldn't get anything going. Dempsey baskets were key but her defensive presence in the paint forced Copiague's forwards to put up ill advised shots. Copiague opened the second quarter with two quick baskets to again pull within 1 (16 - 15). Suddenly you got a sense that if Gibson and Williams could get their games going, this might be a barn burner. Hallfway through the quarter, Hicksville's lead would grow to seven as Copiague's defense allowed Courtney Breen to dribble up to the arc twice and nail two big threes. The lead eventually got to nine as Kurowski hit two baskets. If not for the effort of Ieaia Walker, the score at half could have been much worse. For Hicksville their starting five was working very well with each other as they constantly found the open player for easy baskets. Here comes the ugly part. While Hicksville was already warming up for the second half, Copiague trudged out to the court as the horn sounded. Between Breen, Cohen and Kurowski they would outhustle and outscore Copiague 20 to 0. By the 4:18 mark, Copiague was down 50 - 23. Hicksvile held Copiague scoreless until the 3:41 mark. Copiague would outscore Hicksville 12 - 6 to finish out the quarter trailing 56 - 35. From what I witnessed, the scoring was pretty well distrbiuted. Example in this quarter alone - Breen had 8 points, Cohen had 5 points, Erin Breen had 4 points and Kurowski had 9 points while Dempsey was creating havoc for any Copiague player that tried to drive to the basket. As the fourth quarter began, you had to wonder what the Copiague players were going to do - would they mail this one in or attempt to make the game respectable. As for Hicksville they started out the period careless with the ball and shots they had fallen all game were now coming up short. I made a comment to someone sitting next to me that Copiague had to get the deficit down to 10 with 5 minutes left to have an outside chance of winning. They would get close as Copiague narrowed the lead down to 10 on a short jumper by Gabriell Gibson. With 4:36 left, you had a feeling that maybe, just maybe. But the Copiague players were spent from the effort they expended just to get to wthin 10. They probably could have used a timeout just to gather themselves but before that happened, Hicksville ran off 6 unanswered points. Hicksville now led by 16 with 3:36 remaining. Copiague had no more run left in them. Down the stretch Copiague had to foul to stop the clock, Hicksville responded by hitting all 6 free thorws. A couple of late 3's and two free throws by Walker cut the deficit to 11. Despite what some are saying, Hicksville's starting 5 plays very well together. They are experienced and know what it takes to get back to the Long Island Championship game. If they can get any kind of scoring from Dempsey, Erin Breen and Cohen,  Hicksville is going to be very tough when the playoffs arrive. And no Courtney Breen is not under-rated,  she will be up for All-Long Island, and is very strong candidate for Nassau Player fo the year.  Another factor to watch is the defensive presence of Dempsey as she is now over a year removed from her knee injury. As for Copiague, they are going to need more than just Walker. Gibson and Williams have the ability to step up and cannot disappear when the competition gets tougher. Dominique Cunningham has got to continue to be a factor on the boards and in Copiague's defensive schemes - this game she was a non-factorr. The one player that could make Copiague a tough opponent in the playoffs is Jamsine Campbell. Copiague has got to work harder and be better prepared to play. Two league games with North Bablyon could tell how far Copiague will go in the playoffs. Walker and Courtney Breen were named to the All-Tournament team while Michelle Kurowski was named tournament MVP.