Briarcliff Girls Trounce Harrison in Final Home Game of the Season

The Briarcliff Lady Bears celebrated their seven seniors on Friday night with a 69-36 victory against Harrison in what is their final scheduled home game.

The first quarter was a virtual draw thanks in large part to Harrison’s interior defense led by Shawn Caparelli and the fact that the Huskies were able to get open shots and make baskets against the Briarcliff man defense.

“I honestly thought that Harrison played really well in the first quarter, they hit their open shots and we missed a few,” said Briarcliff Head Coach Don Hamlin. “We made an adjustment defensively, we were playing man and we were about two steps slow so we went to the zone and that kept them on the outside, and lucky for us they weren’t hitting their shots.”

The defensive switch by coach Hamlin and the Bears forced Harrison to start their offense from the outside, and when the Huskies couldn’t make shots it allowed for the Bears to run. The Briarcliff transition offense worked well, because Harrison had trouble getting back into position on defense, allowing for easy baskets or opportunities from the free throw line.

“This has been our problem all year long,” said Harrison’s Head Coach Ervin Braun. “We somehow hit these slumps where we just can not make shots. Our girls are a little too robotic on offense and they just lose that ability to create when things aren’t working well. We started missing shots and that was it.”

In the second half the Husky offense continued to be anemic while Briarcliff was able to capitalize in transition, scoring easy baskets on fast breaks. Briarcliff pulled away, and by the start of the final quarter the game was already over, as Harrison’s offense could never get in sync while Briarcliff’s was clicking on all cylinders en route to the 69-36 victory.

In the winning effort Kasey Heyda led all scorers with 20 points while fellow seniors Liana Cornacchio and Savina Reid were also in double digits, with 14 and 13 points respectively. Point guard Andi Moschetta led the Harrison team with 13 points.

As for his seniors, Hamlin was clear when discussing their contributions to the program and what the group meant to him as a team.

“I’ve coached some of those kids since the forth grade so it’s like my kids leaving me," he said. "It’s going to be hard, and I’m going to miss them. They’re good basketball players, but they are awesome kids and I am lucky to be around them.”

Harrison will look to get back on track at Port Chester Monday afternoon while Briarcliff will look to continue their success into the playoffs.