{"id":60727,"date":"2025-12-04T14:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T14:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/60727\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T14:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T14:33:17","slug":"staten-island-hs-girls-basketball-susan-wagner-breezes-by-new-dorp-in-psal-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/60727\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island HS girls\u2019 basketball: Susan Wagner breezes by New Dorp in PSAL opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 Susan Wagner opened PSAL 4A Conference play in a big way on Wednesday evening, cruising to a dominant 71\u201337 victory over visiting New Dorp.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always great to get that first league win out of the way, especially with a new team like ours. You want to go out there and hopefully send the message that you\u2019re going to be fighting for that playoff spot somehow,\u201d Falcons head coach Tom Rizzo said after the game.<\/p>\n

Wagner, with only three seniors on its roster, showed a bit of early season yips as New Dorp opened the game with a quick 7\u20130 run. But after Rizzo called a timeout to steady his team, the Falcons responded with a scorching surge. Once they tied the game at 10\u201310, they poured in 22 unanswered points, ultimately carrying a commanding 41\u201317 lead into halftime \u2014 one that must have felt insurmountable to the visitors.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1\/10<\/p>\n

Susan Wagner vs. New Dorp Girls’ Varsity Basketball<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a freshman\u2013sophomore backcourt learning on the fly, and they definitely answered the bell. We made a few adjustments, went to a press, and I think that was the difference,” Rizzo said of his game-changing bench talk.<\/p>\n

The Falcons\u2019 guards may be green, but Casey McKinney, Wagner\u2019s go-to senior center, looked like the best player on the floor with a team-high 18 points. Her biggest challenge was staying on it, however, as early foul trouble limited her minutes mightily before she picked up her fifth in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go as far as Casey goes,\u201d Rizzo explained simply.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeague-wide, even the best players have off games. She was under the weather tonight \u2014 not that it should be an excuse, but it definitely slowed her down; sometimes those fatigue fouls are the worst kinds, and they can get into your head fast. But we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more of her.”<\/p>\n

The Falcons\u2019 defensive effort on the night was relentless. In addition to generating much of their offense from turnovers, they also limited New Dorp\u2019s Olivia Andruszkow \u2014 easily the tallest player on the court with McKinney sitting \u2014 to just eight points.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves on defensive fundamentals, which is something that you definitely need when playing a quality team like New Dorp,\u201d Rizzo shared.<\/p>\n

The head coach also pointed to his role players for having a massive impact on the game in terms of stepping up during McKinney\u2019s absence, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve got to point to our bench. Jenna Salahaldin came out and gave us a huge spark.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially when Casey went down, the girls went on that run rather than folding, which was huge. It gave a lot of other players confidence and allowed them to start playing the way they were capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to McKinney\u2019s up-and-down night, fellow senior Danielle Harrell also reached double figures with 14 points, rounding out a rock-solid performance for Wagner\u2019s fourth-years.<\/p>\n

After a statement opening-night win and with 3-0 Stuyvesant up next, Rizzo returned to the facet that has defined the team\u2019s DNA when asked what the Falcons will focus on in practice before Friday\u2019s clash with the Phoenix \u2014fundamentals.<\/p>\n

\"SusanSusan Wagner head coach Tom Rizzo addresses his bench during a meeting between Wagner and New Dorp on Dec. 3, 2025.Michael O’Brien<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend most of our practice time on the fundamentals, learning defense and all the little things that make a difference in a game. We\u2019re not the most talented team this year, but we\u2019re going to bring our best effort every night,\u201d Rizzo concluded.<\/p>\n

As the Falcons look to move to 2-0, New Dorp (1-1) will attempt to rebound with a meeting against HS Health Profession\/Human Services up next on Dec. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 Susan Wagner opened PSAL 4A Conference play in a big way on Wednesday evening, cruising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-60727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}