WHITE PLAINS — Before last season, success for the Peekskill girls was a .500 record and competing in a first-round playoff game..
But the current core of Red Devils hadn’t won one yet despite oodles of young talent and swelling interest in the program. That was until they rolled to last season’s Class A final.
Now, just thirty-one games into Rodney Headley’s tenure as coach, the 2003 Peekskill grad has his lady Red Devils in position to state a once outrageous claim: That they are the best team in the section.
The latest proof was Thursday’s survival of another Saniya Chong onslaught to top Class AA favorite Ossining 70-66 in the championship game of the Slam Dunk at the Westchester County Center.
“I don’t want to say that (we’re the best) because I don’t want to jinx it,” said Headly, who just turned 26 and played for Lou Panzanaro in the school’s renowned boys program. “But we’re definitely in the top five.”
Peekskill (8-1) needed a big effort from its top five to stymie Chong. The super sophomore, who broke the Slam Dunk girls record for points scored when she dropped 40 on Baldwin Tuesday, set a new mark with 46 yesterday. But the Red Devils’ extended 3-2 zone forced Chong into 10-of-37 shooting, including 4 for 20 from 3-point land.
The 5-foot-9 Chong finished with 12 rebounds, three assists and five steals before fouling out in the final minute and went 22 for 26 from the line.
“I know we did a good job,” Headley said. “If one person scores 46, where is everybody else? They’re basically ghosts on the court. Right now we have four players averaging double figures. It’s hard to stop a whole team vs. one player.”
Peekskill was led by 20 points from MVP Asia Jackson, and Tasia Nolan added 16 points and 12 boards, while Sheridan Taylor had 14 and 12.
The Red Devils finally took control of a nip-and-tuck game when they pulled ahead 64-56 on two free throws by Jackson with 2:24 left. But Jackson appeared to foul out 40 seconds later when Chong was fouled as she made a 3 from several feet behind the line. But the foul — one of 53 in the game — was charged to a teammate.
Danielle Gervacio went on to sink a pair of layups for Ossining (7-1), which shaved the deficit to as little as two points. But once Chong missed a tying 3 with about 15 seconds to play, Peekskill iced its victory.
“We have a list of goals and this was one of our goals,” said Jackson, who had eight rebounds and four assists. “We wanted to beat Ossining and we want to beat teams that we haven’t in the past. And we have done it.”
Ossining coach Dan Ricci was disappointed tournament officials did not award the MVP to Chong, who finished the tournament with 86 points and 21 rebounds in two games.
“Their whole defense was geared to focus on her. They said they were going to hold her to 15 and she almost had 50,” Ricci said. “But it’s not about Saniya, it’s about Ossining. I’ll take the loss to get better, and this should help us get better for later in the year.”
You can check out the Girls’ Slam Dunk Highlights and some of LoHud’s other videos here