The fact that John F. Kennedy’s performance Sunday was better than its PSAL predecessors didn’t provide much solace for coach O’Neil Glenn. He was infuriated after his team’s 48-36 loss to St. John the Baptist (L.I.) on Sunday at the Under Armour Classic in West Islip, L.I.
“Kids are just being selfish,” Glenn said. “There’s gonna be changes. We work on press break and kids are not doing what they’re supposed to.”
Kennedy’s defense was fine, as it normally is. But the Knights struggled on offense. They had a hard time breaking the Cougars’ press and were stagnant in the halfcourt against a very good SJB defense. Whatever worked offensively – moving the ball, making the extra pass, etc. – in a big win against Mary Louis last week, wasn’t done Sunday.
“I don’t know what it is,” Glenn said.
Kennedy (14-6), ranked No. 7 in the city by The Post, trailed, 25-15, at halftime and was far from out of the game. But the Knights turned the ball over on their first three second-half possessions and St. John the Baptist (10-9) capitalized with a mini, 6-2 run. In a game with so little scoring, that was significant. Kennedy cut the SJB lead to 10 twice more, but never made it double digits despite a myriad of opportunities in the second half.
“They wanna do what they wanna do and that’s unacceptable to me,” Glenn said.
Sophomore guard Deaisia Acklin had 11 points and Shaquaya Daniels added eight for Kennedy. Kamala Thompson had 15 points and Alexis Smith had 12 points for St. John the Baptist in an event that was rescheduled from Dec. 20 due to inclement weather.
The Knights have a pivotal game coming up Wednesday at Manhattan Center, which beat JFK the first time the teams played back in December. The contest will have serious seeding implications. But it doesn’t matter to Glenn.
“To me, whatever seed we get is fine,” he said. “We still gotta play the game. It’s on them. My thing is just getting better.”
North Babylon (L.I.) 60, Francis Lewis 32: Tyese Purvis had eight points and Sabrina Jeridore and Tatiana Wilson had six each for Francis Lewis (15-3) in the Patriots’ worst performance of the season. UConn-bound Bria Hartley had 27 points and Katrina Plummer added nine for North Babylon (12-2).
“It’s not what other teams are doing to us, it’s what we’re not doing,” said Tsai, whose team was routed by St. Peter’s last weekend. “We just start imploding. … It was kind of like last year all over again.”
Lewis folded repeatedly against a solid North Babylon press. The young Bulldogs have improved exponentially since falling to Midwood over the holiday break. They held the Patriots without a field goal for 12:25 between the second and third quarters.
Lewis’ signature win against Mary Louis during the holidays seems like a long time ago. The Patriots are really missing star point guard Kelly Robinson (torn ACL).
“I didn’t think that was great basketball either [against Mary Louis], but at least we had heart,” Tsai said. “At least we fought. That didn’t happen [today].”
Sachem East (L.I.) 67, South Shore 37: Jasmine Odom had 11 points in her return from a knee injury and Shelby Powell added nine for South Shore (11-7). Kristen Doherty had 28 points and Caitlin Hopkins had 13 points for Sachem East (13-3).
The Vikings, true to their recent form, got down, 32-9, in the second quarter and trailed, 45-14, at halftime.
“We gotta get off to better starts,” coach Anwar Gladden said. … “I thought we played harder. I saw a better effort. We just gotta follow up.”