East Hampton Girls Basketball Team Falls to Hampton Bays

The East Hampton girls basketball team may have lost, 56-32, to Hampton Bays last Thursday, but head coach Samantha James said there’s a lot of positives for her Bonackers to look toward.

“We played tough,” said the coach, who also leads the East Hampton field hockey team. “This is my second year coaching basketball, and this group of girls has really come together.”

The team is steered by senior guard Chloe Swickard, who recorded a team-high 12 points on five field goals and two free-throws.

“Chloe played really well, especially bringing the ball up the court,” James said. “She was a leader out there for us today, and we really needed that.”

Freshman forward Kaili Moore also impressed — earning 10 points off four field goals and two free-throws.

“She’s definitely stepped up,” James said of her first-year starter. “She played really well and she has such a presence on the court. We’re trying to work her into the offense more.”

The pair were key in East Hampton’s comeback, making it a much closer game heading into halftime. The Bonackers stayed in it through much of the first, but a 10-3 run by the Baymen to close out the opening stanza put Hampton Bays ahead, 18-11. Swickard scored five points on a layup, a field goal and a free-throw, and Moore made two buckets of her own on a 9-3 East Hampton tear that made it a 27-24 game before time expired in the first half.

“They’re really getting along — becoming a nice little family — so that’s what I like to see, the positivity,” James said.

Hampton Bays received output from its top scorers in senior forward Sophia Corredor (14 points, eight steals, four assists and four rebounds) and sophomore forward Asha Pensa-Johnson (14 points and 16 rebounds) to reextend the Baymen’s lead. Corredor swished a three-pointer and grabbed a jump ball that led to sophomore forward Asha Pensa-Johnson’s field goal in the opening minutes of the third, and Pensa-Johnson hit a layup before Corredor’s jumper, steal-and-score and fast-break bucket. Pensa-Johnson also took the ball all the way off Corredor’s steal of an East Hampton inbounds pass to cap that 10-point scoring streak that put Hampton Bays ahead, 42-27.

The Bonackers were held nearly scoreless in the fourth, with junior forward Katie Kuneth hitting a three-pointer for East Hampton’s lone points of the quarter.

“We were definitely tired from our game on Tuesday and life in general, but we hung in there,” James said. “We knew they were going to be aggressive and we were looking to play our game and move the ball, but we definitely got frustrated within each other, and that kind of lost it for us.”

Hampton Bays head coach Darryl Johnson said his team is starting to put it all together.

“They’ve been playing with a lot of energy. They’ve been taking more shots, but also quality shots. And we did a great job shooting outside,” he said. “We’ve also been getting a lot of people in the game, which is great, and our bench has been helpful. The more we get the bench up to speed and get those players some exposure, the better off we’ll be down the road.”

James said her team, which ended nonleague play 1-2, will look to learn from its mistakes heading into the regular season. The Bonackers traveled to Babylon Tuesday, but results were not available by press time. East Hampton visits Mattituck next for a 5:45 p.m. matchup on Friday, December 16.

“We wanted to try to run the fast break, the motion — everything, so we will take a lot away from this,” James said after last Thursday’s loss. “I’m excited to see what we do.”