In Aponte, the Lady Bruins have a dead-on outside shooter who has made teams pay for dropping back into a zone defense, and the frontcourt has gotten production from senior Chelsea May, Ashley McAdams and sophomore Tiara Place. As the team rounds into shape, Catapano’s rotation has also included a pair of seventh-graders — Jenna Annecchiarico and Aziah Hudson — who’ve been productive in their time on the floor. Hudson tied her season-high with eight points in the win over Valley Stream Central, while Annecchiarico has topped out at six in a game. “They’re able to compete at a very young age and that shows how talented they are,” he said.

Following an early season test against MacArthur, also unbeaten entering the matchup after presstime, the Lady Bruins are slated to host Port Washington on Friday for a 7 p.m. tipoff and then travel to East Meadow on Jan. 25 for a 6:30 p.m. start. “You can really see the growth at this point in the season very quickly,” Catapano said of working the new faces into the lineup.