The Vets girls basketball team cruised past Park View 54-33 to win its first round playoff match last week at home.

The Hurricanes would piece together an 18-10 run late in the first half to take a 26-17 lead into the break. Park View would come out strong in the second half and push the score 34-28, however, Vets would surge down the stretch and go on a 20-5 run to secure the win.

“(Park View has) some big girls so we knew that we would have to get them covered because they can just drive. They have two girls (in the backcourt) that can play, so we played man defense and tried to put bodies on them all game. We were keeping them off-guard, we didn’t let them get into a routine. When we had the ball we did a good job of setting up our offense, moving the ball, passing and cutting, we never gave them a chance to get their offense set up,” said Vets coach Rich Hough after the win.

Amelia Polichetti led Vets with a game-high 18 points, while Armani Rivera added 14, Faith Meade 10 and Carmyn Acarregui six.

Hough was excited to see his team’s offensive outburst in the second half.

“We did exactly what we wanted to do. We ran our offense and we dictated their defense. We ran it flawlessly, we got the shots we wanted, we got the layups we wanted, sometimes they went in and sometimes they didn’t but that’s not the problem, the problem is getting the shot. They played their best game of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Hough.

The Hurricanes got off to a shaky start this season, kicking things off with a 1-3 record. However, Vets has not lost since, and has emerged as one of the top contenders in the tournament.

“Playing together has been the difference. They play travel ball but playing together in the middle school environment, it’s different. I run things that their travel coaches may not run, but once we got everything defined and they started playing together it worked out,” said Hough. “We also had to play the three toughest teams on our schedule in the first four games and we started 1-3 and haven’t lost since. Coming together, knowing the system, trusting the system and going for it, the more we play together the better we get.”

The Hurricanes went on to face Western Hills on Monday evening. Hough felt that the club’s confidence has also grown throughout the season.

“We’re confident. We’re in the playoffs and we know that we can compete with anybody. That’s the mentality they have,” said Hough. “(The opposition) is going to go out there and perform just like we are, and if we give 100 percent and lose that’s fine, but if you give me 85 percent and lose, we know that we could have been 15 percent better. Confidence is huge and they think they’re as good any anybody.”