John Jay Competes for 35-26 Victory Over Yorktown

With everyone else getting the day off for MLK day, the girls basketball team was on the clock and up at noon for a game at Yorktown High School. But while Jaime Bartley-Cohen acknowledged that it was a little unusual to be playing basketball on a Monday afternoon, she also welcomed the chance to represent on the holiday. “I’m glad we got to play today,” said the junior, and the team did more than just play.

They built a 19-9 second quarter lead and went onto a 35-26 victory.

After Kaitlyn Judge sunk one of two from the line to open the game, Sela Halaifonua picked up where she left off from her 29 point game versus Fox Lane on Saturday. The guard hit from downtown and scored on a layup on Jordan Kauftheil’s long outlet pass.

Alexandra Livadhi did interrupt with her baseline jumper, but John Jay answered with ball movement and defense to go up 11-3. First John Jay got out on the break. Jane Brennan grabbed the defensive rebound, got it ahead to Halaifonua, and she hit Brooke Habinowski on the go for the layup.

Then Halaifonua did some give and take. She caught Natalie Ellrodt on the cut for two across the paint, and after Jane Brennan got the steal, Halaifonua was ready in the paint to go bing bong off the box.

Kaitlyn Judge didn’t relent, though, and even without the dropped three in response, Ellrodt knew what Jay was up against. “She’s good,” the guard left no doubt.

Of course, the Wolves have a few of those, and no surprise, Halaifonua stood out to close the quarter. Seeing the court, she dumped into Habinowski in the low post, and the senior swished a turnaround jumper.

A 13-6 lead, the opening of the second had the point guard showing off her tunnel vision again. Twice she got the ball into Bartley-Cohen and a layup and a foul shot netted a ten point lead with 6:38 left in the half.

So Judge held court again. She launched a three and kept the game in range at 16-9.

Not if Halaifonua could help it, though. Down with the defensive rebound, she led Kauftheil ahead, and her fast break basket doubled up Yorktown at 18-9.

A minute to go in the half and Halaifonua found Bartley-Cohen inside again. A tough roll to the hoop in front of the forward, the sixth man put on the gritty face that is familiar to the John Jay faithful and is commensurate with the way the Wolf feels about playing. “I’ve always loved basketball, and the game makes me more aggressive,” explained Bartley-Cohen.

A made free throw to go with it, John Jay took a 19-11 lead into the locker room after Jessica Crocamo sunk a pair of free throws.

The Yorktown momentum would carry into the third too. Sofia Boucher hit a three to open the scoring, Isabella Walling got to the rim for two, and Judge lofted another three to pull the home team to within one.

Under three minutes left in the quarter, Bartley-Cohen welcomed more dirty work. Brennan passed to Halaifonua in the corner, and the guard’s baseline drive put Bartley-Cohen and her lunch pale on alert. Hard to the hoop on the other side, she drew the foul and put a stop to the Husker run with a one of two from the line.

A 22-20 game, Ellrodt soon found herself in a similar situation and went full blast too. But she did so from her read on the game. “At this point, the referees were calling everything,” she said.

So a slight crevice was a win-win in Ellrodt’s estimation. “I saw the lane, and figured I could probably get an and one,” the junior reasoned.

Well thought out, she did exactly that, and John Jay had some breathing room. Now 25-20, Halaifonua rubbed it in by getting a steal and going to the coast to close the quarter.

A seven point lead, Judge got to the rim for two, and an Annie Cunneen’s free throw got Yorktown as close as they would get at 27-23.

The separation began as might be expected. Halaifonua pulled down the defensive rebound, got the ball ahead to Kauftheil and her penetration straight down the lane freed up Habinowski. Alone on the baseline from seven feet, she let it go and there were just two minutes to kill.

Judge did get to the line to get within four again, so girls went on the run. Halaifonua rebounded the miss, and like she knew before Brennan started to break, the point guard led her teammate for the icing on the cake.

A six point lead with 57 seconds to go, another win had Gallagher revealing the main change made after the tough early goings of the season. “I really challenged them to compete every single day and out work opponents,” the coach concluded. “That’s when we started getting better.”