East Hampton Girls Reach Final

East Hampton's defense was its best Tuesday night in the opening round of the 19th Annual Liberty Bank Holiday Tournament. With the Amistad Academy girls' offense barely functioning, the combination did not lead to riveting competition.

The Bellringers were crisp enough on offense to handle the Wolves with ease in a 47-5 victory that moves them into the championship game Wednesday night in East Hampton. They will meet Lyman Memorial (3-3), 58-50 winners over Old Lyme, at 6 p.m.

Senior Kelsey Booth scored 21 points to lead East Hampton (3-2) and was the only player to score in double figures. Amistad Academy (0-5) got four points from Carlina Jenkins. Tashiyra Freeman made a free throw for the Wolves' first offense of the game, which came with 2:18 remaining in the first half and the Belllringers leading, 23-0.

Most of Amistad Academy's shots failed to hit the rim or backboard. The East Hampton defense created plenty of turnovers. The Wolves, with only one senior, and she did not play, entered the game averaging 16.7 points a game.

"We had some mental breakdowns here and there, and that hurt us," Amistad Academy coach Robert Brooks said about his offense. "Our wing players kept clogging the floor. We did not spread the floor properly."

East Hampton did not allow any points in two of the four quarters – the first and fourth. The first quarter ended with East Hampton up, 14-0. The lead was 41-5 entering the fourth quarter, in which East Hampton mostly played five freshmen.

Bellringers' coach Shaun Russell knew about Amistad Academy's struggles on offense, through scouting one of the Wolves' games.

"I was looking for a certain level of intensity and togetherness on defense," he said. "We made things difficult on them, and we were able to do that to them in their half-court offense."

Both coaches noted how Amistad Academy's defense did not let up at any point, regardless of the score.

"There was definitely some raggedy play at times," Russell said about the Bellringers' offense. "We had a few hiccups. It was a ragged ride at times – but we kept it going in the right direction. It didn't hurt us long-term. We wouldn't have two or three bad plays [on offense] at a time. But we were stagnant at times."

With comfortable leads throughout the game, Russell played his bench a lot. He was impressed with the group of five freshmen who played together at several junctures – Megan Close, Taryn McCabe, Brynne Owen, Hailey Picking and Sarah Piscatelli. Owen scored four points.

"They get into the offense, they don't improvise, and tonight they had a lot of good ball movement," Russell said. "That group always gives great effort. They're happy to be out there. Happy to be working."