Half Hollow Hills East girls basketball defeats host Kings Park behind Alex Brown's 22 points, 23 rebounds

Alex Brown personifies the term relentless on the basketball floor, making it a fitting first word to come to mind for coach Adam Cirnigliaro in describing his senior player.

Brown, a 5-11 forward for Half Hollow Hills East, knows how to use her size to her advantage and that was displayed as the RedHawks defeated host Kings Park, 50-39, in non-league girls basketball action on Friday.

Brown finished with 22 points and 23 rebounds, including scoring the first eight points of the second half.

“I think Alex is the best forward in Suffolk County,” Cirnigliaro said. “Just a complete physical force. She has good footwork and she’s gotten so much more agile this year from last year. It’s improved her game so much overall.”

Brown tries to keep the game simple. She attacks the rim when there’s an opening and wants every rebound to be her's.

“I just know I need to go get it,” Brown said. “I need to jump higher, I can’t let anyone else get it. I think that’s my best quality.”

Brown scored 14 of Hills East’s 25 second-half points. Ariela Hamilton added 17 points, including a corner three-pointer at the buzzer to give the RedHawks a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“That was definitely a burst of energy for our team,” Hamilton said. “It hyped ourselves up coming into the next quarter. It got us going. But even if I missed it, my team was going to have my back.”

Kings Park (7-3) opened the second quarter on an 8-2 run to tie the score at 14 before a pair of three-pointers by Rabani Arneja helped Hills East take a 20-16 advantage. The RedHawks (6-3) closed the final 3:26 of the second quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 25-16 lead at halftime.

Both Hills East and Kings Park wanted to challenge themselves with a tough non-league contest. Hills East was the top seed entering the Suffolk Class AA playoffs and Kings Park won the Long Island Class A title last season.

“Win or lose, these are the games we want heading into league play,” Cirnigliaro said. “Playing a team that won a Long Island championship last year, you can’t ask for more. Then to come out with a win is obviously even better, so these are the types of games that will prepare us.”

Gianna Zawol had 17 points for Kings Park.

Hills East won 16 games last season before losing in the Suffolk Class AA semifinals. It’s a result the team is using as motivation this winter as Hills East continues to chase its first county crown in program history.

“The way last year ended was devastating for them and it took a long time to recoup from it for all of them,” Cirnigliaro said. “They really want this, they want to continue it and they want to be the first team to win the county championship.”