It was one month ago that the Floral Park girls’ varsity basketball team suffered its only loss of the season. Kaela Hilaire’s school record 50-point effort was not enough to overcome the hot shooting performance of the defending Nassau County Class A Champion North Shore Vikings.

What a difference a month makes.

Behind a lock down defensive effort and unselfish offensive passing display, the Knights had their best game of the year, defeating North Shore 64-52.

“The best performance by far for us this season,” said junior Natalie Hickman who finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

In the first matchup, Floral Park played zone for most of the first half, and saw North Shore put up 38 points. This time, coach Spina switched to an aggressive man to man defense, holding the Vikings to a mere 15 points at the half. North Shore was coming off a victory over Glen Cove in which it scored 90 points. One of the keys was allowing Hilaire to guard North Shore’s best player, Gabrielle Zaffiro.

“I took it as a challenge,” said Hilaire about guarding Zaffiro. “We all played tough defense. It was the key to the game.”

Hickman, Faith Balletta and Aideen Gill controlled the boards while Marykate Guerriero and Hilaire (30 points and ten assists) prevented the North Shore guards from getting to the basket. Laura Streiber and Laura Ortiz provided valuable minutes off the bench, allowing the entire team to play with great intensity for the entire game.

“The whole team contributed to this win and our communication and team chemistry has never been better,” said Hickman.

The win leaves Floral Park and North Shore tied atop Conference A3 at 9-1 with four games remaining. If the two teams continue their winning ways, they just might meet one more time in the playoffs, one month away.