South Shore Girls Rout Lincoln, 70-43 To Advance In Playofffs

By Jerry Del Priore

(Clockwise from above)Freshman guard Jasmine Odom scores two of her game-high 17 points on this jumper; Junior Baytania Newman, who matcher her teammates point total, breaks down opponent's defense with agile ball handling and junior Angel Porter hits a jumper. After a three-week hiatus, the fifth-seeded South Shore girl's varsity basketball team faced eleventh-seeded Lincoln High School in the second round of the PSAL playoffs. Despite the long layoff, the Lady Vikings showed no signs of rust as they routed the visiting Lady Railsplitters, 70-43, to move on to the next round.

South Shore took an early 16-6 advantage in the first quarter, and more than doubled that lead to 37-14 by the end of the first half.

The Lady Railsplitters made a comeback of sorts, outscored their opponent 13-9 in the third period, to close the gap to 19 points. However, the resurgence was subsequently derailed as South Shore posted 24 points to Lincoln's 16 in the fourth quarter.

Junior guard Baytania Newman and freshman guard Jasmine Odom paced South Shore with 17 points and five assists each. Junior point guard Angel Porter and forward/center senior Carlotta Mingo chipped in with 11 and 12 points, respectively.

Photos by Ted Simpson Although the Lady Vikings easily defeated Lincoln, head coach Anwar Gladden believes his team can still improve.

"We played good and we were aggressive," Gladden told the Courier. "But we didn't have the same type of rhythm we ended the season with. We played real sloppy (at times). We have to play smarter and limit the mistakes, especially the turnovers."

Gladden attributed the less-than-perfect performance to the time between the regular season and the start of playoffs, saying, "I think (the layoff) had something to do with it. The PSAL has to plan better. You can't have a real long layoff. It's not fair to the kids."

The Lady Vikings meet the fourth-seeded JFK High School Lady Knights this Saturday afternoon in a third-round match at York College in Queens.