Pierson/Bridgehampton Girls Basketball Tops Greenport/Southold on Spirit Night, Eyes Postseason Berth

Spirit Night couldn’t have come at a better time for the Pierson/Bridgehampton girls basketball team.

The young Whalers, who didn’t win a game last season, have seen their fair share of ups and downs this season. But lately, things may have turned a corner.

It started on January 5, when Pierson only lost by a single point to currently undefeated and League V leader Center Moriches. Then, just last week on January 18, the Whalers earned themselves a victory they could look back on in a few weeks and say it was a turning point for the program, when they defeated host Southampton, 54-50, in overtime.

That all led to Spirit Night on Friday evening, when Pierson was set to take on defending Suffolk County Class B Champion Greenport/Southold. Doubling as Senior Night and the girls’ final home game of the regular season, head coach John “Woody” Kneeland set the tone from the start with an emotional speech about the team’s lone senior this season, Riley Roesel. And right away, from the opening tip-off, the Whalers went to work.

Pierson got baskets from four different players through the game’s first few minutes, capped by a jump shot drained by Roesel that gave her team an early 8-0 lead that the Whalers never looked back on. They led, 30-12, by halftime — Greenport scoring all 12 of its points by three pointers — and led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter to eventually win, 54-43.

It was a memorable night for Roesel, who was one of many contributors for Pierson with eight points.

“It’s kind of crazy. I kind of had to switch from the speech and had to go into game mode,” she said after the game. “It was a little bit emotional, but I’m so thankful for coach and everything he’s done for me. And the game was incredible. The energy that was in here was crazy. A little hot, but awesome nonetheless.”

Ani Bedini scored 11 of her 17 points in the first half, and, along with Coco Lohmiller who also scored 17 points, led the offensive charge for Pierson, taking any and all opportunities she could to drive to the basket, and was also a key rebounder for the team throughout the game as well.

Lyra Aubrey scored eight points in the win and Cali Wilson contributed with five points.

“I feel like all of the people just amps us up,” Bedini said of the Spirit Night crowd. “Our coaches also amp us up a lot, so it gets everyone excited. And our whole team, we’re all good friends, so we all just have a lot of fun before the game and it just gets everything going.

“We also wanted to do this for Riley since it’s her last home game,” Bedini added.

Kneeland said he was immensely proud of his team for really taking it to a good team in Greenport that has a number of shooters, who to their credit, awoke in the second half to score 31 of the team’s 43 points. The Porters, though, had the previous seven days off, Kneeland said, and prior to that had been struggling with numerous injuries to many of their key players, most of whom they got back on Friday night. But Kneeland knew Greenport was going to come in needing to regain some court chemistry and told his players that if they can jump on them early, they’ll have a shot at winning the game. And they did just that.

“We had an unreal practice yesterday. It was the hardest practice they have ever, effort wise, given me,” Kneeland said. “I knew they were going to play well today. And I tell them every time, whatever we do the day before a game, in my mind, is what we’re going to do in that game. And so I challenged them before practice, and every single one of them that was here busted their butts and they fought each other and they gave everything they could in practice. And that’s how they started the game. They set the tone.

“I told them they won the game yesterday,” he added.

And now, all of a sudden, a team that didn’t win a single game last year is now a bonafide playoff contender. At 4-4 in League V play (6-7 overall), the Whalers need to win two of their final four games to clinch a Suffolk County Class C playoff berth outright. Kneeland said that if his team happens to win just one game along that stretch they should still get in through a petition, since League V is a mixed-classification league with numerous Class B teams.

Roesel said she’d love to see her team get into the playoffs her senior year and it appears that may just happen.

“We knew at the beginning of the season that we were young and we were going to have to push through all of the struggles,” she said. “I think the outcome is us winning. We all love each other so much. We’re a team on and off the court.

“Last year was really hard because we were super down and we didn’t win any of our games, so it was super hard because we didn’t think it could ever be possible to win any games,” Bedini added. “This year, we came back really strong. I don’t know what really changed, but we just have a lot more fire in us.”

Pierson will play at Port Jefferson on Thursday, January 26, at 4:30 p.m. before playing at Shelter Island February 3 at 4 p.m. before finishing the regular season at Smithtown Christian on February 6 at 6:15 p.m.