The Mepham girls’ varsity basketball team had a triumphant 2019-2020 season. Playing a tough A1 conference, the girls pushed through and ended up on top winning the conference with a 12-2 record. Although eventually the team couldn’t overcome the second round of playoffs, they still had quite the memorable season.
Yet the team ended their record with not just a Conference Champion title. Winning the A1 conference title allowed the girls to qualify and earn six other individual awards. Sophomore Riley Clark won All Conference, Senior Jillian Mayer and Sophomore Hailey Guerrero won Honorable Mention, Junior Ali Heller won best defensive player and Junior Julia Rawlinson and Senior Lorrie DellaCroce won All County. Coach Mulvey put all the girls up for these awards. Mulvey said he “knows how hard the girls work and believes they deserve the recognition.” The six Mepham girls who won individual awards were honored at the county dinner. This is also where the team will receive their well deserved Conference Championship award. They will also have their year and Conference title on the banner within the Mepham gym for future years to see.
The Lady Pirates took the title when they finished their second to last conference game with an 11-2 record, which made it impossible for any other team to place first. The season ended with a 12-2 conference and 14-6 overall record. Great Neck South came in second place with a 10-3 conference record.
The Pirates were able to get the 8 seed out of the 22 county teams. The team received a bye for the first round of games. They then played Southside that next Thursday at Mepham’s homecourt. The team played their hearts out as they competed to reach the third round of playoffs. Southside stayed ahead with a steady ten point lead most of the game. Failing to push through, the Pirates ended the game with 37 points and Southside with 52. Sophomore Hailey Guerrero spoke after the game about how the girls “felt stuck throughout the entire game” and how “defeat” truly kicked in for the team. In that very game Guerrero had 8 points, Lorrie DellaCroce added another 8, and Riley Clark had 11. Then the leading scorers for the Cyclones were Bridget Basile with 13 and Katie McMahon with 10. Mepham fell short in scoring, ultimately leading to the devastating loss. The Southside Cyclones then lost to the one seed Floral Park a week later.
The Pirates accomplished a great deal this year, especially when compared to past years. Coach Mulvey had a strong conference winning dynasty throughout his 16 year long career. Throughout 2012-2017 the teams consecutively won the conference with the same group of girls. The final four seniors who contributed to those wins were seniors three years ago and did not win the conference like they were expected to do. Without these girls the past two years they were solely new teams but still managed to have won the last two years. These two young rebuilding period teams kept to the coaches´ and team’s high standards in order to succeed. Next year in 2021 the team will have only lost four seniors but only two of them were starters. Expecting the future team to keep its reputation, the upcoming six seniors will strive to win for it’ll be their team to lead. This period of time for Mepham girls basketball will be rebuilding to make solid teams with solid girls in order to win. During this the coaches will be searching for their next dynasty of players to take over the court. To wrap it all up, this past season was very successful and will definitely be remembered, not only by the girls but on Mepham’s basketball banner for years to come.