Glenn Girls Basketball Beats Huntington, 46-29

The girls basketball team defeated the , 46-29, in a non-league game Saturday at Glenn High School. Glenn allowed Huntington to take a one-point lead early in the third quarter before they closed the door with some tough defense and effective outside shooting. 

Glenn won its 13th straight game to open the season as its run at perfection continues. Meanwhile, Huntington fell to 5-5.

Heroes: Emma Klis lead the Knights offensively, scoring 18 points, all on the strength of six three pointers. The Huntington defense double-teamed 6-foot, 1-inch Allison McKenna, allowing Klis to get open and have success with her perimeter shooting. Klis also had 5 rebounds

McKenna finished with 7 points and 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, forward Monica Eugene led the way inside the paint with 19 rebounds. 

Point guard Danielle Evers contributed with 11 points and also had a nice game defensively, coming up with 7 steals.

Leading things on the other side of the court for Huntington was Jacklyn Waldron. She finished with a double double for Huntington as she scored 11 points and came up with 10 rebounds.

Courtney O’Brien finished with 8 points and Heather Forster grabbed 8 rebounds.

Turning Point: After going into halftime down three points, Huntington scored the first two buckets of the second half to take a one-point lead. From there on the Knights buckled down on defense, only allowing Huntington to score two more times for the remainder of the period as they went on a 15-4 run. Evers put an exclamation point on the third period by draining a three-point shot with 1 second left on the clock as Glenn caught Huntington in transition.

Quotable: “They were double and triple teaming Ally McKenna,” Klis said.  “So once I was open my team got me the ball and just I shot and it went it. It works great. If they come back out towards me then I get Ally the ball and she can try to get to the line.”

“We played good defense today, as they did,” Glenn coach Andy Athanas said.  “We had a lot of trouble breaking, getting press and getting the ball to our bigs.  But we played pretty good defense as well. We’re not a pressing team. We play half court defense and we played pretty well.”

“The first half we were working our spread offense, and in the second half we probably got a little flustered,” Huntington coach Mike Kaplan said. “It was a tough situation for them, but I think the team played great and played hard and that’s what matters.”

Bottom Line: Huntington had an impressive game, as they were able to hang tight with the undefeated Knights for almost two and a half quarters. The double-teaming of Ally McKenna was an effective defensive tactic for the Blue Devils until Klis began draining the 3-point shots that were being missed earlier in the game. 

With such versatility in their repertoire, McKenna controlling the paint, Klis working the perimeter and Evers controlling the offensive tempo, Glenn will be a tough team to beat for the remainder of the season as the move towards the playoffs with title hopes looming. 

On the other side of the court, Huntington hopes are still alive as the Blue Devils can take care of business by winning league games to earn a playoff berth. They played some impressive defense today and were beat by a very good team. That should give them some confidence moving forward.

Key Stat: Glenn won despite only shooting 61 percent from the free throw line.

Who’s Next?: Glenn’s plays its next game at home this coming Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against Westhampton as the Knights look to win their 14th and keep their undefeated season alive.

Huntington goes on the road this coming Thursday to take on Hauppauge for a 5:45 p.m. game.

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