Though it was senior night at Mattituck high school, a freshman stole the show, as Mattituck’s Lizzie Dwyer put up a career-high 31 points to lead the Tuckers to a 60-34 victory over Wyandanch Friday night.
The win lifts Mattituck’s league VII record to 6-1. They have already secured a spot in the playoffs a year after making it to the county championship.
With the Tuckers missing their starting point guard, Katie Hoeg, who was on an official recruiting visit to the University of North Carolina for lacrosse, Dwyer, who normally plays forward had to step in and play the point.
And layup after layup, Dwyer thwarted any comeback attempt by the Warriors.
“Lizzie took the reins and flew today,” head coach Steve Van Dood said. “She made great passes all night, scored 31 points, I had a hard time taking her off the court. She just makes everyone around her better.”
She could have had 33 points but was called for a travel after hauling in a deep pass on a fast break. She took three steps, made the layup and the whistle blew. The crowd quickly contested the call, sparking a Wyandanch player to walk past Dwyer and yell “Travel! It’s a travel!” her hands waving in the air in disgust. But the damage was already done and the scoreboard reflected it. Dwyer simply shook her head, smiled, and walked to the bench as the third quarter came to a close.
“We have a lot of kids that are buying in and they know the winning tradition here at Mattituck,” Van Dood said. “They work as a team, they work as a family, and we have some older kids, some young kids — and the older ones are really leading by example because we have success in the past.”
The Tuckers are tied with (6-1) Hampton Bays for first place in the league. Despite losing to them early in the season, Van Dood believes they can win the rematch on January 29.
“We’re a completely new team now,” he said. “We made personnel adjustments and I think we have girls contributing more now than in the past, which should gives us a good chance to win the second time around.”
But first they’ll need to get past Center Moriches. The Tuckers will travel there on Tuesday for a 6:15 p.m. tipoff.
SoutholdLOCAL photos by George Faella
