The Sewanhaka girls’ basketball team defeated Conference AA2 rival Carey Dec. 16, 41-35.
After a 1-3 start to the season, this was the second consecutive victory for Sewanhaka, getting it back to the .500 mark just six games into the 2024-25 campaign.
Junior Lilah Lopez led the way in scoring for the host Ravens with 13 points, while Laila Paz scored 14 for Carey.
Sewanhaka head coach Alex Soupios knew stopping Paz was going to be the biggest key to success. “The whole strategy was to stop their best player,” he said. “Laila Paz is an incredible basketball player and we knew that coming in. We worked on hedging on screens while having five players guarding one.”
Soupios went on to say how impressed he was with Carey’s improvement over the last couple of season. “Carey has gotten better and better every single season,” he said. “A lot of credit to head coach Anthony Turco and the hard work that the players have put in over there.”
Sewanhaka also got big performances from its seniors. Center Saniya Moreau finished just shy of a triple double with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 blocked shots. Aniya Marriott chipped in with nine points, and Janiya Grant had seven points. Junior starting point guard Tamia Williams also played a big role facilitating the offense despite not scoring.
Grant gave credit to her teammates. “It was a great team win for us,” said Grant. “I’m really proud of everyone.”
She also has high hopes for the Ravens’ expectations going forward. “This team has the potential to go really far,” she said. “If we continue to play well, this team can do really well in the playoffs.”
After back to back wins, Soupios wants his team to continue to trust the process. “We just have to stay the course here,” he said. “There’s always things to improve on with this team so if we can learn from our mistakes, it will really go a long way. I like the direction that we’re going.”
For Turco and the Seahawks, who opened the season 5-1, it was a valiant effort despite the loss. “We always have great battles against this team,” said Turco. “I’m proud of the girls because we did not give up and worked hard despite going down by as many as nine at halftime. That’s really the biggest takeaway for me.” Turco also praised his team’s toughness. “We were tough today and gutted it out,” he said. “For them to realize that we can play and compete is really all I could ask for.”
It was a balanced effort for Carey, which contributions from plenty of others besides Paz. Amelia Kalamaris had seven points, senior captain Alessandra Varuzzi chipped in with 6 points, and Andrea Arias, Sophia Barrera, Daisy Buja, and Mikayla DePaolo who each got on the scoresheet with two points.
While the Seahawks did all they could, there still are ways to improve going forward. “We missed a bunch of shots early on,” Turco said. “If we don’t fall behind in the first half, the outcome could have been different.”
Carey hosts the rematch Jan. 27 at 5 p.m.