The Harrison Huskies kept their season alive on Thursday, authoring a decisive 55-40 win over Hendrick Hudson to earn their way to the Class A semifinals at the Westchester County Center this week. But although the Huskies may be one step closer to their goal of hoisting the a Gold Ball, the team is fully aware that they’ll still need two more wins if they hope to call themselves champions.
Mia Strazza led Harrison on Feb. 23, netting a game-high 20 points in the one-sided victory, but the sophomore noted that Harrison’s strength doesn’t necessarily come it’s ability to score. Instead, she looks at defense and energy as the Huskies’ calling cards, citing the team’s relentlessness through four quarters of play as something that will be a main factor in the Huskies’ final push.
“That’s been something we’ve done all year, playing with intensity,” she said. “For us, everything starts on defense.”
Blayse Jennings added 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Huskies moved on to the Class A semifinals, where they will play No. 4 seed Tappan Zee on March 1. The Huskies played Tappan Zee earlier in the season, beating the Dutchmen 52-45 back on Dec. 28. Strazza said that Harrison knows it will be in for a dogfight on Wednesday, with the Dutchmen coming in off an impressive quarterfinal round win over Rye which saw them beat the Garnets 59-29 due in part to a 24-point effort by standout guard Kristen Phelan.
“We know them, we know they’re tough,” said Strazza. “Obviously we know that Kristen Phelan is important to their game plan so we have to be ready for that.”
The winner of Wednesday’s semifinal game will take on the winner of No. 2 Mahopac (17-4) and No. 6 Walter Pants for the Class A title on March 4. Harrison has not yet played Mahopac, but fell to the Panthers on Feb. 6. But Strazza is adamant that the Huskies will not look ahead to the finals with such a dangerous opponent across the floor from them in the semis.
“Since the beginning of the year, we’ve talked about winning a Gold Ball, and making it to the County Center is something we’ve been working for,” said the sophomore. “But we can’t let up yet; we know that Tappan Zee is a great team so we have to be ready.”
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