The Port TIMES RECORD Port Jefferson • Belle terre • Port Jefferson station • terrYVille December 17, 2015
$1.00
14 4298
Volume 29, No. 3
For the love of bulldogs
Crossword, Visions of the North Shore, SBU Sports, Holiday movies come to the CAC
PAGe B1
Photos by Bill Landon
Clockwise from left, Jocelyn lebron races between Miller Place defenders; Courtney lewis goes for a layup; and Jillian Colucci maintains possession.
Meet the Met
Madame mascot visits Comsewogue for antibullying recognition
PAGe A8
Lewis scores 23 points in Royals win Port Jefferson . . 61 Miller Place . . . . . 55 BY Bill landon
Behind junior Courtney Lewis’ game-high 23 points, Port Jefferson led most of the way, until late in the third quarter when Miller Place rallied back to take a three-point lead, but the Royals bounced back midway through the fourth, defeating their nonleague challenger on the road last Saturday morning, 61-55. With a roster void of seniors, the Royals played beyond their years as they controlled the tempo of the game, leading 1910 after the first quarter, and took a 31-25 advantage into the halftime break.
The Panthers closed the gap with two minutes left in the third quarter, when sophomore Ally Tarantino scored a put-back off a rebound to tie the game at 37-37, and senior Milan Hatcher answered next, driving the lane and muscling her way to the rim for the score to put her team out front for the first time in the game, 39-37. Hatcher had a hot hand in the third, scoring 11 of her total 15 points, including a pair of three-pointers. At the end of the stanza, Miller Place held a 40-39 lead. “I told my players to keep running plays; keep calm, and we had to play good defense because [Port Jefferson has] good shooters,” Hatcher said. “They like to drive and kick out. They’re a good team.” With 4:09 left in the game, the Panthers clung to a threepoint lead, out in front 49-46.
The free-throw performance was bleak, as both teams left points on the table. With her team leading 50-49, Hatcher went to the stripe shooting two, and missed both.
With just over two minutes left in the contest, still trailing by one, Port Jefferson junior Siobhan Petracca went to the line shooting two, and she too came away empty. “It was a disappointing loss,” Miller Place senior Jessica Powers said. “We knew exactly what they had. We came up short, which hurt us, and we didn’t play as a team.” Port Jefferson junior Gillian Kenah, who scored 16 points in the game behind Lewis’ 23, said she was impressed with the Panthers’ offensive effort. “We played a really solid game — we came out pressing immediately and I think that worked really well for us,” Kenah said. “But they came back at us, even after our press, so I applaud them for that.” Both teams traded baskets, GIRLS’ HOOPS continued on page A15