Uniondale upsets Massapequa

The lead changed hands several times in the game, but in the end Uniondale rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter to defeat host Massapequa 49-46 in a Nassau Class AA quarterfinal.

Aliyah McDonald scored eight of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, including two layups in the final 1:12 of the game to tie the score and give No. 6 Uniondale (10-9) the lead for good at 47-46 with 49 seconds left in the game.

Uniondale outscored No. 3 Massapequa 14-3 in the final 4:30 of the game.

"We got a lot of stops and went to the basket," Uniondale senior Myajha Elston said.
"I knew we were still in the game. We just needed some stops."
 

Massapequa (15-3) opened the game with an 11-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Uniondale tied the score at 11 early in the second quarter and the lead changed hands nine times in the quarter.

Uniondale took a 21-19 lead at the half. Massapequa opened the second half with a 12-3 run to take a 31-24 lead, Danielle Doherty scored seven points in the run.

Sakara Hester-Torres hit a three-pointer off the glass with 3:04 left to bring Uniondale within 31-28 before Massapequa extended the lead to 40-30 with 6:55 left in the game.

"We pushed ourselves to win it," McDonald said. "We didn’t want it to end here.
We started playing help defense and rotated and got some rebounds. We know we’re better than this. We need to show people. It’s a regular win. We still have more games to come. We’re trying to go to the finals again."
 

Uniondale will play No. 2 Farmingdale in the semifinals one week from today at 7 p.m. at Oyster Bay. The teams split in the regular season and it's the only loss for Farmingdale this season.