East Takes Down McKee at Bergtraum Tourney

Sachem East traveled to New York City to take on McKee/Staten Island Tech Wednesday morning and after a hard fought contest came away with a thrilling 48-47 victory.

East had to battle Kaitlyn Astel, one of the better players in the city, along with a slew of skilled shooters and struggled early in the first quarter before getting within three. In the second, East managed to get going and grabbed a three-point lead. Kathleen Everson hit a reverse layup to cap off the first half and send East into halftime with a 21-18 lead.

"I think we were still on the bus with about two minutes to go in the first quarter," head coach Matt Brisson joked. "We hadn't stepped out on the floor yet but we got it to 11-8 at the end of the quarter. They hit a couple shots early on and we weren't able to make shots. It was just a rough quarter."

In the third quarter, things took a turn for the worst for East when McKee hit 10 field goals in the quarter. East previously had not allowed 10 field goals in an entire game. Fortunately for East (3-1), the fourth quarter would be a different story.

Emily Carmel turned it on and hit a big three from the left off a dish from Meagan Doherty late which ended up being East's last field goal in the game. She was six-for-six from the line in the fourth and 12 of her 17 points came in the final quarter. Carmel stepped up to the line with her team down 47-46 and hit both to give East the lead. Her and her team held on and stopped McKee on two more opportunities before time expired.

"It was a very hard fought game," Brisson said. "The end of the game had a couple controversial calls. We lost the ball underneath the basket, they had a baseline out of bounds play with very little time remaining and we made a great defensive play and they had to throw it away and that was a big spot for us. We had to make two stops to protect the one point lead."

Astel had 17 points for McKee and scored her 1,000th career point in the first half. Doherty had four threes and two field goals on her way to a 16-point game. She added three steals. Everson had 15 points and eight rebounds in the win.

 "You take her for granted but she's like a Cadillac," Brisson said. "She's getting her legs back and Everson had probably the best game she's played at varsity today."

East will return to league action on Tuesday, Jan. 4 at home against Floyd. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Check Sachem Patch for coverage.