Once again, the smallest player on the court made the biggest impact for Baldwin.
Senior 5-foot-3 guard Keira Corbin scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half and had six steals to lead the Lady Bruins to a 44-31 victory over Deer Park in the Long Island Class AA girls’ basketball championship game Friday night at Hofstra.
Baldwin (20-1), which led 14-13 after a sluggish first half, sealed its first-ever L.I. crown by going 9-for-10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. Junior guard Alex Hampton added 11 points and senior forward Katie Greene chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for the Lady Bruins, who advanced to the state Final Four at Hudson Valley Community College next Friday.
“We’ve worked really hard to get here,” said Hampton, who sank a three-pointer in each half. “Last season I think we were just happy to be Nassau champs. We wanted to take the next step and win this game.”
Deer Park (20-4), which got 13 points from junior guard Andrea Desvignes, never led and slipped behind by double digits, 31-21, with 7:10 remaining after a steal and layup by Corbin. “They took us totally out of our offense,” Lady Falcons head coach Mike Gennaro said. “Some of our kids had tough shooting nights, but their defense had a lot to do with it.”
Said Baldwin head coach Tom Catapano: “We’re all about grit and defense. We impose our style on teams. A low-scoring game suits us just fine. Once we started to hit some shots in the third quarter, we knew we were in good shape.”
