Bench Powers St. Anthony's Girls Basketball

How do you put the sting of a painful loss behind you? If you’re the St. Anthony’s girls basketball team, you play suffocating defense.

The Friars saw their 36-game league winning streak snapped by St. Mary’s Friday, the second-longest in Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA history. 

Coach Ken Parham’s team started a fresh streak Tuesday night at home against Our Lady of Mercy Academy. St. Anthony’s forced seven turnovers in the opening quarter and then held OLMA scoreless in the second. The result was an overwhelming 35-3 lead at the half. 

“Whenever you lose a game you come out the next with a sense of urgency,” Parham said. “I think at the beginning of the game you saw that.”

With the bench on the court for 24 minutes, St. Anthony’s cruised to a 59-35 win over OLMA in South Huntington.

“They work hard in practice every day,” Parham said of the reserves. “I wanted to give them a chance to play.”

Starters Chastity Taylor, Tyla Parham, Rebecca Musgrove and JoJo Impellizeri accounted for 23 points – all in the first half.

Then the bench made a statement of its own, led by guard Taylor Goode. The freshman from Sachem East had a game-best 13 points. 

“It gives me a lot of motivation,” Goode said of the opportunity. 

She played her part in the second quarter. Seven players had scored by halftime, Goode included, as the Friars ripped off a 25-0 run. 

“She’s talented,” Parham said. “If she keeps working and getting better she’s going to be special.”

St. Anthony’s (9-4 overall, 5-1 CHSAA) suffered through a poor shooting night as St. Mary’s pulled away in the fourth quarter to score an upset. That's how one streak ended.

Four nights later, there were no doubts against OLMA (5-10, 1-5).

St. Anthony’s, the two-time defending league champ, hits the road to face Sacred Heart Academy Friday at 5:45 p.m.

     Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA Girls Basketball

Scoring -- OLMA: Brady 2-0-5, Lehmuller 3-1-9, Lynch 5-0-11, Wildes 1-0-3, Brown 2-0-4, Rios 1-0-3. Totals: 14-1-35. SA: Taylor 4-0-8, Parham 2-0-5, Musgrove 2-0-4, Impellizeri 3-0-6, Goode 5-2-13, Torres 5-0-10, Jones-Pack 1-0-2, Murphy 3-0-7, Vogt 2-0-4. Totals: 27-2-59. Three-pointers -- OLMA: 6 (Lehmuller 2, Lynch, Wildes, Brady, Rios); SA: 3 (Parham, Murphy, Goode).