Baldwin adds to championship dynasty

Lady Bruins win sixth straight Nassau title

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Baldwin was in unfamiliar territory midway through the second quarter of Sunday’s Nassau Class AA girls’ basketball championship game, trailing Syosset by eight points and trying to regroup during a timeout head coach Tom Catapano used to stress…what else? Defense.

“He told us we were allowing too many easy baskets,” said Kaia Harrison, the lone returning starter from last season’s historic state Federation championship team. “Defense always comes first for us.”

The top-seeded Lady Bruins scored the last nine points of the first half and got two crucial treys from Alexis Aponte in the second half on the way to capturing a sixth consecutive county title, 58-53, at Farmingdale State College. Harrison (21), Aponte (13) and Jamiela Moore (13), all seniors, scored in double figures as Baldwin (20-2) won its ninth Nassau crown in 10 seasons. Junior Kendall Halpern paced Syosset (20-2) with 12 points.

“Obviously we’re a much different team after graduating four phenomenal players now at D-I college programs,” Catapano said. “I’m so happy for this group of girls. They worked really hard going all the way back to last April and wrote their own legacy. It’s something special.”

After trailing 27-19 with 3:38 remaining in the second quarter, Baldwin scored 23 of the next 31 points to lead by seven midway through the third. The Lady Braves inched to within one late in the third on a trey by freshman Lilah Grubman, but Aponte answered with a three-point buzzer beater from the corner and then another, plus a foul for a four-point play, to make it 51-43 a blink of an eye into the fourth.

“This game kinda defined what Lexi’s done all season,” Catapano said. “She stepped up and hit a key shot so many times.”

All of Aponte’s points—with the exception of the free throw—came from behind the arc. And all but three came in the second half. “I felt comfortable on this court and was able to get into a rhythm,” she said.

Six of Moore’s points came in the last 90 seconds of the first half and helped Baldwin grab a 28-27 halftime lead. Halpern, who took an elbow to her left eye in the opening quarter and played the rest of the game with a shiner, regained the lead for Syosset with a trey to open the second half before the Lady Bruins hit five straight shots and six of seven to surge ahead 42-35.

“We expected to see Syosset here from the jump and we expected a close game,” said Harrison, who scored 11 first-quarter points. “They’re big and they played great. We knew we had to grind it out.”

Baldwin led by 10 with 2:03 remaining but missed five late free throws and saw its lead shrink to 57-53 with 32 seconds left after Halpern converted a driving layup. Then Harrison, now a six-time county champ, drew a foul and hit one of two from the line to provide the final margin.

Senior Mariah Benavides added eight points for the Lady Bruins, who will battle Longwood for the Long Island Class AA championship this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Farmingdale State. Baldwin defeated Longwood, 56-47, as part of its holiday tournament Dec. 28,

“It’s amazing to be county champs again,” Aponte said. “A lot of people doubted us and we had something to prove.”