In a game where both teams were fighting to break even in Suffolk III, East Islip and Deer Park did not disappoint.
East Islip came out on top of the overtime thriller, 53-49, at home on Thursday. Eighth-grader Pia Smaldone led East Islip with 16 points.
Though East Islip led 33-22 at the end of the third, Deer Park put up a 22-point performance in the fourth quarter to bring the Falcons within reach. A technical foul shot from Jenna Delargy put Deer Park up by two before East Islip’s Cailyn Talt netted the step-back jumper to tie the score at 44 with less than five seconds remaining.
“I’m not a jump shot shooter,” Talt said. “I love to get in the paint, my teammates know that’s where I play my best, but I decided to take the risk. It was the play I had to make. When I saw the ball go in, the screams and the joy from my team made it worth it.”
Talt totaled 11 points on the day. In overtime, Smaldone put up the final basket to seal the deal and improve East Islip’s record to 4-4 in league. Deer Park drops to 3-5.
“We knew we needed to push, we needed to play hard, we needed to rebound and we needed to value the ball,” Smaldone said. “(Deer Park) had come back once already and we couldn’t give them an opportunity to do that again.”
East Islip held a commanding lead throughout the game before Deer Park’s fourth quarter comeback. The team outscored Deer Park 15-4 in the second quarter to give East Islip a 24-13 lead at the half.
Impressive efforts from senior Delargy and junior Jamirah Jones kept the Falcons in contention. Delargy and Jones tallied 12 and nine points, respectively, in the fourth quarter alone.
Including Smaldone, East Islip’s lineup features three eighth graders and a seventh grader. As a senior captain, Talt says it doesn’t make a difference.
“All I want them to do is to keep shooting and keep their heads up,” Talt said. “The fact that they’re young doesn’t take away from their ability to play. If they didn’t have the ability to be here, they wouldn’t be. I have full faith in each of them.”
To coach Mike Petre, it’s those performances that make it all worth it.
“I’ve been doing this for 37 years, and that was one of the best regular season games I’ve ever been involved in,” Petre said. “I couldn’t be happier with the team, with the chemistry, with the leadership and, most importantly, with the win.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday’s high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
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