Floyd girls basketball team's Gabrielle Bell-Eleazer, a seventh-grader, clamps down on defense to beat Ward Melville
Gabrielle Bell-Eleazer of Floyd advances the ball in the first quarter of a non-league matchup against Ward Melville on Friday in Mastic Beach. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Gabrielle Bell-Eleazer is nowhere near done with middle school, but she already is helping the Floyd girls basketball team win games at the varsity level.
The seventh-grade guard played a major role in Floyd’s 49-47 overtime win over visiting Ward Melville in non-league action in Mastic Beach on Friday afternoon. Her defensive gems late in the fourth quarter helped keep her team in the game and send it to OT, and she secured the win for the Colonials (7-1) from the free-throw line.
Ward Melville rode a 12-4 run to tie the score at 40 with 4:18 left in regulation, and the Patriots had a great chance to take the lead when senior guard Jaclyn Engel drove toward the basket in transition. However, Bell-Eleazer chased her down and swatted her layup out of bounds to keep the score tied. She then picked up a steal after the ensuing inbounds pass to again prevent a go-ahead score.
On Ward Melville’s next possession, with the score still 40-40, Engel had a similar opportunity, but Bell-Eleazer again caught her and erased her layup.
Bell-Eleazer’s three splash plays spearheaded Floyd’s late-game defensive effort as it held Ward Melville to two points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
“My teammates were just telling me to just keep calm and play my game, to stay composed,” Bell-Eleazer said.
A minute into overtime, Bell-Eleazer scooped up a deflection by freshman guard Taleah Coppola and raced to the basket. She drew a foul and knocked down both free throws to give Floyd a 44-42 lead.
The Patriots tied it with 1:41 left in overtime on a pair of free throws by senior guard Kaitlyn McNeil (14 points), but Coppola put the Colonials on top for good with 1:19 remaining. She drove, pushed up a shot through contact and banked it in for a 46-44 lead.
Junior forward Savannah Pantry (10 points) then intercepted a pass and took it all the way before laying it in with 13.3 seconds left to make it a two-possession game at 48-44.
Quinlan Heilbron hit a three-pointer with 7.4 seconds left to bring Ward Melville (5-1) within 48-47, and the Patriots fouled Bell-Eleazer with 6.7 seconds remaining. She missed the first free throw but made the second.
“That was such a relief,” Bell-Eleazer said.
She then stole the ensuing inbounds pass to seal it and finished her second varsity start with three points, three rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
“It feels good to play a big role,” she said, “but I feel like it’s really more the team that’s pushing me to get myself to that level.”
Coppola, who scored nine points, banked in the tying basket with 1:33 left in regulation to tie it at 42.
Milania Farrow had 13 points for Floyd.
“We never really doubted ourselves,” Coppola said. “We knew we couldn’t have our heads out of the game because we could still come back and win it.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
