Payton Tini finishes Locust Valley's quest to get to Nassau Class B final
Danielle McHugh puts pressure on point guard Payton Tini, who helped Locust Valley come back from a 13-point deficit on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2013. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Locust Valley stood about 12 minutes away from missing out on a pass into the Nassau Class B final and a chance to defend its title. Seaford led by 13 in the third quarter, and the Falcons’ standout senior point guard, Payton Tini, was parked on the bench for a four-foul timeout.
“Our whole team kind of looked around at each other,” Tini said, “and we were like, ‘We’re not losing this game. We don’t want our season to be over today. We have a lot of unfinished business.’ ”
The second-seeded Falcons chipped it down to seven after three, got Tini back for the fourth and pulled out a 45-40 semifinal win over No. 3 Seaford Wednesday at Hofstra.
Reily Roberts scored seven of her 19 points in the final quarter and Tini delivered six of her 15. So this basketball team will have a rematch against No. 1 Cold Spring Harbor (15-3) at 4:30 p.m. on March 1 on this same court. Locust Valley (16-3) took last year’s final, 56-16.
“We want it very, very badly,” said Tini, who added nine rebounds, six steals and four assists. “They beat us during the regular season.”
These teams split their two games.
“I think it’s truly the two best teams in our conference going at it,” Falcons coach Michael Guidone said.
Ciara Coen converted a layup with 2:23 left to give Guidone’s team a 39-37 lead. Coen made another layup with 51.4 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game. Tini hit two free throws at the 27.1 mark — 43-37.
Danielle McHugh, who paced Seaford (12-8) with 12 points, nailed a three to cut it to three. But Tini and Kate Nabet each hit a free throw to set the final margin.
“I think we got tired,” Seaford coach Stephanie Bartkus said.
The Vikings shot out in front 18-7 after one quarter.
“We came in here extremely confident that we were going to do it,” Bartkus said.
They built the advantage to 15 in the second.
“Everyone was a little jittery,” Roberts said.
Locust Valley still trailed 32-19 in the third. Tini sat about two minutes in.
“Any coach who says they’re not concerned or worried is a liar,” Guidone said.
But he saw the Falcons rally from double-digits down twice before, and they did it again.
“On this stage, it’s very difficult to do,” Guidone said. “But we stuck to the plan.”
