Wolves heat up, but fall to Irvington

Helena Schembri scores inside for the Wolves. Gabby Camaj scores two of her team-high 17 points against Irvington. Bea Hill shoots a jumper in the lane.

By JIM MACLEAN 

The John Jay girls varsity basketball team had been on a roll, winning three of their last four games, but the Wolves ran into a red-hot Irvington team on Monday at home and suffered a 61-37 setback to the Bulldogs.

With the loss to Irvington, John Jay fell to 6-13 overall, but that is a big turn after starting the season with a 1-8 record. The Wolves had a big week heading into the Irvington game with a pair of wins over Somers and a win over Nanuet combined with a tough 3-point loss against a good Lakeland team, but Irvington couldn’t miss in the first quarter scoring 24 points and never looked back.

“They didn’t miss, layups, at the rim, 3 pointers, we knew they were good and they are an incredible program, and they shot the lights out,” John Jay coach Matt Gallagher said of Irvington. “I think we played really hard, but they just kind of took us out of our system and we struggled. We’d make a run, cut it down to like 10 or 12, and they’d find a way and hit two threes, so that was hard to make a comeback.”

Irvington came out firing with Kayla Clinton hitting a pair of 3-pointers to help the Bulldogs open up a 12-2 lead in the opening minutes. By the end of the first quarter it was 24-10.

Gianna Pelosi hit a 3-pointer for the Wolves to open the second quarter, but any thoughts of a comeback were squashed by an 11-3 run for Irvington to open up a 35-16 lead. John Jay six-straight points, but the Bulldogs answered with the last five of the half for a 40-22 lead at halftime.

The Wolves opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Gabby Camaj, but once again Irvington answered with six-straight points to make it 46-25. Camaj hit a pair of threes and scored 8 points to help the Wolves rally and cut the lead down to 48-35, but Irvington went on an 8-0 run and closed out the 61-37 victory.

Camaj had the hot hand for John Jay as she led the Wolves with 19 points, including five 3-pointers and 13 points in the second half. Pelosi also finished in double figures with 10 points. Helena Schembri, Bea Hill and Lina Halaifonua each added 2 points for John Jay. It wasn’t enough to match the Irvington inside-outside duo led by Clinton, a four-year varsity starter at guard as she finished with 24 points and Emi Doncov had 16 points for the Bulldogs.

“Gabby has been awesome the whole season, she’s been kind of our anchor, she’s playing unbelievable and shooting with so much confidence now,” Gallagher said of Camaj. “Gianna is hustling all over the court, she can’t help herself, even in practice she’s diving into the bleachers.”

Prior to the loss to Irvington, John Jay traveled to Somers on Feb. 6, and the Wolves rallied for a 50-43 victory on the road over the rival Tuskers. The Wolves trailed 25-20 at the half, but came on strong with Camaj leading the way scoring 14 points. Charlotte Omin also finished in double figures with 10 points, while Pelosi scored 7 points and had seven assists.

At home against Nanuet on Feb. 3, John Jay came out flying and opened up a 30-11 lead in the first half on its way to a 56-36 victory. Kylie Bishop scored 13 points to lead the Wolves, while Camaj scored 12 points.

“We’re playing well, finding our confidence, moving the ball really well with a ton of assists which I love,” Gallagher said of the Wolves hot streak. “We beat Somers twice, Nanuet, lost a tough one to Lakeland by only 3 points, we can compete if we play our game, trust ourselves, and take care of the ball.”

John Jay had one more game on the regular season schedule against Pleasantville on Wednesday, Jan. 11, before a week off waiting for the playoffs.